Fresh inspiration for young scribes

OLIVIA WANNAN - The Dominion Post -  07/03/2014

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ

SOMETHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT: Kathryn Carmody wants to pass on her passion for book to the next generation.

Kathryn Carmody has loved books ever since she can remember.
"My mother took me to get my first library card as soon as I was eligible. You had to be 2," the New Zealand Festival's Writers Week programme manager says.
She remembers me walking out with "a pile of books I couldn't see over".
In her first year running the Writers Week programme, Carmody is in a perfect position to encourage the next generation of bibliophiles. The festival will include several national and international children's authors.

"We're definitely opening it out further than we have been able to in the past."
One event will see a number of young scribes spend tonight at Te Papa, honing their craft with some celebrated Kiwi authors.
Similar to the newly published children's fiction compendium Curioseum, 11 to 13-year-olds will go behind the scenes to explore the museum's collection for inspiration to write their own stories during the sleepover.

"It's about the young at heart, I think, and also helping people share their interests with those nieces or nephews or children or grandchildren.
"It doesn't matter how old you are, there's still things about the life of a child you hold dear."
The festival is counting on this nostalgia for such childhood icons in another collaborative event based on a Maori translated version of Where The Wild Things Are.

As well as Maurice Sendak's beloved tale of Max and the monsters, te reo versions of popular storybooks We're Going On A Bear Hunt and The Very Hungry Caterpillar have also been released. "We're supposed to be a bilingual nation," Carmody says.
Carmody, who has been working with the festival since 2007, says children's writers have always been a popular drawcard of the event.

But - as author Gavin Bishop will argue in his Janet Frame memorial lecture - as much-loved as the local and international children's writing may be, there are fears it may be a dying art.
"We're taking it for granted, I think, is his starting point."
 
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Kei Reira Nga Weriweri: Where The Wild Things Are at the Hannah Playhouse, on Sunday at 10.45am.

2014 Janet Frame Memorial Lecture: Gavin Bishop at the City Gallery Wellington, Monday at 6.15pm