A Nest of Singing Birds: exhibition and book
Jack Lasenby’s Foreword to A Nest of Singing Birds
Contributor function 2007
Meet School Journal Editor Tricia Glensor
A note on commissions for international markets
Māori writers’ workshop
Contributor profile: Sharon Holt
Contributor profile: Donovan Bixley
New Zealand Post Book Awards
Barnaby Bennett in international exhibition
Copyright Amendment Bill
Learning Media Te Pou Taki Kōrero is in party mood! As many of you will be aware, May is the centenary month of the School Journal, and festivities are underway. The exhibition ‘A Nest of Singing Birds: 100 years of the New Zealand School Journal’ opened on 23 April, and the accompanying book will be available from 10 May.
These visual and literary celebrations remind us of New Zealand’s rich creative heritage. They celebrate you – our contributors, past and present – and the work that has inspired, challenged and nurtured generations of New Zealanders. So thank you again – and keep those submissions coming! Don’t forget the next party on the horizon… We hope you can join us to celebrate the Journal’s birthday at our 2007 Contributor Function on 30 May.
Gillian Candler, CEO
The exhibition:
This exhibition, celebrating 100 years of the School Journal, is now open at the National Library Gallery, Wellington. Featuring artwork, manuscripts, letters, and original copies of the School Journal from 1907-2007, it brings to light creations by many luminaries of New Zealand literature and art – including early work that until now has not been the focus of study. Some of the content also appears in Gregory O’Brien’s accompanying book. The book and the exhibition are designed to be complementary, however, there being too much of beauty and interest to fit into one forum, and so neither are to be missed! The exhibition is curated by Gregory O'Brien, Susanna Andrew and Jenny Bornholdt, and runs until 21 July, 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, 9am-1pm Saturday. Entrance is free.
The book:
A Nest of Singing Birds: 100 years of the New Zealand School Journal will be launched by the Prime Minister on 9 May. This full-colour, lavishly illustrated book by award-winning writer Gregory O’Brien celebrates, in words and images, New Zealand authors and artists and the publication that, more than any other, has shaped the country we live in. The book will be on sale at our Contributor Function. A special preview is included below – Jack Lasenby’s Foreword. For more details of the book, see the centenary website.
Jack Lasenby’s Foreword to A Nest of Singing Birds
A Nest of Singing Birds is a gorgeous honouring of the centenary of the School Journal. It reminds me of James K. Baxter’s child’s view of school: “a hot jungle, full of life, colour and noise, smell, violence, joy and grief, where alligators and birds of paradise swap yarns daily”. 1
At ten, I read my older brother’s 1941 Part 3 School Journals, glutting myself on the remarkable selection of poems by Davies, E. B. Browning, Scott, Swinburne, Thackeray, Belloc, Cowper, Longfellow, Mary Lamb, Drayton, Dekker, and Clare and extracts and adaptations from Cervantes, Shakespeare, Addison, Austen, Swift, Dickens, Reade, Marryatt, Defoe, Leigh Hunt, Zola, Twain, Hawthorne, Borrow …
Eurocentric the Journal may have been, dubious on Māori matters but, unlocking a gateway beyond Waharoa, it helped me understand something of myself and others through story which, in Margaret Mahy’s great words, “confers structure upon us”. I have those Journals still, strung in their ink- and tear-blotted folder. After leaving the bush, I developed much of my teaching around the School Journal, became its editor, encouraged students in its use, and wrote for it. While I havered and dithered over the risks, it was Tolstoy’s “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”, which I first read in the School Journal, that clinched my decision to accept the vow of poverty and become a full-time writer for children.
Gregory O’Brien’s text is moving, stimulating, provocatively arguable. Should the Journal’s didacticism increase or lessen? What is its pedagogic justification? Should teachers control it? Should this national treasure be given to private enterprise? Should it be an instrument of cultural nationalism? Like it or not, the School Journal has always been a vehicle for propaganda, for social engineering, yet the doctrinaire and politically correct have been unable to repress its bursting vitality.
The Journal of my childhood had few illustrations; my imagination was nourished by having to provide them. Today’s Journal is image-loaded, befitting an age in which the picture dominates the word, the wrapping supersedes the contents. In the less verbal and more illustrative nature of today’s Journal, I see a move from the Apollonian to the Dionysian, but then I’m a grumpy old joker who knows that literacy is the master tool and that good illustration is its own justification rather than a futile competitor with technology. I comfort myself with the thought that what the child takes from the Journal, as from our teaching, is not always what we intend, and I remember Dr Beeby’s wise words: “In a school book a small child from a barren home may make his first contact with literature and the arts”. 2
A Nest of Singing Birds – squawking, cheeping, jabbering, alone or in occasional sweet harmony – is a centennial Hooray! for the School Journal that – like the child itself – is anarchic, vigorous, and fertile as the New Zealand bush.
1 James K. Baxter, “Time and the Bell”, Education, vol. 5 no. 3, October 1956, p. 47.
2 C. E. Beeby, Introduction, The New Zealand School Publications Branch, Educational Studies and Documents, no. 25 (Paris: UNESCO, 1957), p. 7.
Contributor Function 2007
Come and celebrate the centenary! Those who currently contribute to Learning Media Te Pou Taki Kōrero’s publications in all languages are warmly invited to join us for drinks and nibbles on Wednesday 30 May at the National Library, Wellington, from 5.30-7.30pm. There’ll be opportunity to view the School Journal exhibition, introduced by author and curator Gregory O’Brien. RSVP by 16 May to contributors@learningmedia.co.nz or call Sarah on 04 472 5522 x 8202. We look forward very much to seeing you there!
Meet School Journal Editor Tricia Glensor
I’ve been editor of the Parts 1 and 2 School Journal since 1994, and it still seems like one of the best jobs in the world.
I feel especially honoured to be editing the Journal in its 100th year. Gregory O’Brien, who has written a centenary history of the Journal, has described it as having something “mysterious and clandestine” about it. Peter Campbell, an illustrator for the Journal in the 50s, described School Publications as “both a Crown Jewel for the Dept of Education and a recalcitrant child”. As we head into the Journal’s second century, I feel a certain responsibility to make sure that it lives up to its reputation in all these areas!
I started work at Learning Media in 1990, working part-time as an editor of curriculum materials while my three children were young. Before that, I taught at primary schools and in the English Department at Victoria University. I also worked for two years at the Book Council, coordinating the Writers in Schools Scheme.
I live on Wellington’s wild south coast, in a tiny house with big windows looking out towards Cook Strait. When I’m not working, I enjoy walking and tramping, especially on the coast or in the Wairarapa bush.
The best thing about the editor’s job? Reading a new batch of scripts and finding an exciting new piece for the Journal. The worst thing? Having to turn down a promising script for one of 999 different reasons that may have nothing to do with its quality.
Advice to anyone who wants to write for the Journal? Read the guidelines for writers on our website. Read recent issues of the Journal. And don’t be afraid to give it a go.
A note on commissions for international markets
Our international publishing team sometimes commissions writers and illustrators to provide material for a specific project. If you’ve accepted a commission, always feel free to contact the editor or art editor, especially if you’re unsure about the brief. Many of these projects, particularly for North American clients, need to meet some very tight parameters. So if you ever have any questions or issues around the brief we send you, please just give us a call.
Māori Writers’ Workshop
You haven’t missed out! Our Māori Writers Workshop had to be postponed due to unforeseen circumstances, and so we plan to hold this in August instead.
Contributor profile: Sharon Holt
Author
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t dreaming of being a writer. The dream was so strong that I always believed it was meant to happen. As a child, I was a regular at our school and public libraries. The library is still a place where I feel safe, warm and happy. Most of my school holidays were spent reading books and writing stories. In those days, I made up the words and illustrations for my original picture books. I read them to my three younger sisters, as we 'played school' every holidays.
When I left school I realised I couldn’t suddenly 'become a writer', so I trained and worked as a teacher and a journalist. I also opened a children’s second hand book shop. During that time I attended a course on writing for children with Dorothy Butler. Dorothy encouraged us to use our childhood memories as inspiration and recommended Learning Media as a good publisher to start with. I wrote some stories, but never got around to sending anything to a publisher.
Rediscovering picture books with my own children rekindled the passion to write and be published. In 1999, I sent several manuscripts to Learning Media. Three were accepted in quick succession. My biggest early success came with the Skipper books in the Ready to Read series. These books were originally about our cat Moose, but the editor asked if I could change the main character to a dog, as they had already published six books about another feline of strong character, Greedy Cat. I did, and Skipper the mischievous border collie was born. I continued sending manuscripts to Learning Media and now have a literary agent who sends my work to other publishers as well.
I work from my home office in Kihikihi in the Waikato. My son Gregory is 10 and my daughter Sophie is 9. Most of my ideas come from things that happen in our family. In fact, the idea for my play “Superglue”, published in the School Journal Part 2 Number 3 2003, came when we were talking about buying some superglue to repair an ornament. Gregory asked if Superglue wears a cape and suddenly I had a wonderful idea for a play! My daughter Sophie’s kindergarten antics were the inspiration for a picture book in the My Feelings series called Off you go, Auntie Ma! The only way I could leave her at kindergarten was to let her watch me fly, bounce or swim up the driveway!
Many adults and children ask me how to get published. I always say the best thing is to read a lot, write a lot and then post the best you’ve written to Learning Media. The editors give constructive and encouraging feedback. But, most of all, there’s plenty of opportunities to be published with Learning Media, more so than any other New Zealand publisher.
I am brimming with ideas for stories and sometimes struggle to find the balance needed to be a wife, mother and author. Fortunately, I have an understanding husband and two enthusiastic children who are very proud of their 'writer mum'.
Contributor profile: Donovan Bixley
Illustrator, Author and Designer
Truth be known – no one leapt to employ me when I graduated from AUT School of Art and Design. I resolved this problem by setting up my own company. Initially working in design and advertising, I quickly fell back on my natural drawing skills doing storyboards and visuals.
A large dose of perseverance and luck as well as natural aptitude are involved in becoming established as an illustrator. I happened to be at “The Listener” showing my (then) pretty thin portfolio when an art director raced in wanting an illustration of author Patricia Cornwell by that afternoon. So began a five-year stint doing editorial illustrations for “The Listener”, during which time I was nominated for two Qantas Media Awards. Since I’ve never won anything I’ll maintain my view that I don’t believe in awards.
Meanwhile, I became frustrated with the transient nature of advertising work. I decided that I wanted to become a book illustrator, to use my talents to create something lasting and meaningful that would still loved by children fifty years after it was made.
I set to task writing and illustrating several children’s books. I was ridiculously naive about the fact that most publishers aren’t looking for unsolicited manuscripts – let alone finished books. My first two attempts were rejected by every publisher in the country. By taking my ideas through to completion, however, I learnt a tremendous amount and gained fantastic portfolio pieces. These helped me win commissions from Learning Media and Hodder Moa Beckett.
Since making the move to book illustrator I’ve had the pleasure of working on over seventy stories and books – a great many of them for Learning Media. All contributing illustrators will be familiar with having to come up with imaginative compositions to fit into the crazy shapes that the School Journal designers come up with!
My most significant personal project has been Faithfully Mozart. I wrote, illustrated and meticulously researched the book over five years as a deliberate attempt to break into the global market. I was passionately convinced that the life of this great man would make a great illustrated book and in stubborn style I just went ahead and did it without any publisher’s backing. My biggest challenge was convincing people to accept an illustrated book aimed at an adult audience about a dead Austrian. Thanks to a chance meeting with the wonderful guys at PQ Blackwell, it is now published in eight countries. It was a finalist in last years Montana Book Awards, and I’ve been able to get more interesting work as both an illustrator and author having now proved what I can do.
The internet means I no longer have to work in a big city, and I live in my old home town of Taupo with my wife and our three lovely daughters – who all stand in as models (and critics) for almost everything I work on. My wife and I run our business, Magma Design, doing design and illustration work for clients all over New Zealand. My next personal project is the Alfred Noyes poem The Highwayman, which I’ve wanted to illustrate since I was seven.
New Zealand Post Book Awards
Congratulations to our contributors whose books (below) are finalists in the 2007 New Zealand Post Book Awards: Jennifer Beck, Gavin Bishop, Ben Galbraith, Sharon Holt (see profile), Janice Marriott, Ali Teo. We wish you all the best for May 16, when the winners will be announced!
Picture book category finalists include:
Junior Fiction category finalists include:
For a full list of finalists, see the Booksellers New Zealand website.
Barnaby Bennett in international exhibition
Barnaby Bennett, written by Hannah Rainforth and illustrated by Ali Teo (Huia Publishers) has been chosen as one of the titles for The White Ravens 2007, the annual selection of outstanding international books for children and young adults, which is on display at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. The books for this year's exhibition, 250 titles in 30 languages from 45 countries, have been selected from thousands of books sent to the International Youth Library in Munich. Congratulations Hannah and Ali!
Copyright Amendment Bill
In March Learning Media made its submission to the Commerce Select Committee on the Copyright (New Technologies and Performers' Rights) Amendment Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to update Copyright statute law to address the digital world we live in. (For more information, see the Copyright Amendment Bill web page).
Learning Media supports the intent of the Bill as it appears to maintain the balance of protection and incentives for copyright owners provided for in the Copyright Act 1994. We have asked that Clause 24 of the Bill (section 44 (1) of the proposed Act) be more carefully drafted to make it clear that, for educational purposes, only one copy of a publication can be made. We thought that the currently drafted clause implied that by copying incrementally at different times, multiple copies could be permissible, resulting in a potential loss of revenue to copyright holders and publishers.
We also asked for clarification of Clause 25 (new section 44A, subsection (1) (d)), which relates to Storing for Educational Purposes. As it stands the clause is unclear in its intent and will be confusing for educational establishments. Learning Media is frequently consulted by schools for assistance in interpreting the Act in relation to permitted educational copying, and we will be in the same position of uncertainty if the section is enacted as currently proposed.
Learning Media is currently amending its licences, consents and agreement letters to include a confidentiality clause. The current terms and conditions of our contracts remain unchanged. The addition of a confidentiality clause means that Learning Media is better able to protect its publishing business in a competitive marketplace. From time to time we get queries about issues such as royalties and copyright. We're very happy to answer your queries at contributors@learningmedia.co.nz.
