The sun shines with forcible brightness here in SE Queensland most days but at times, the radiance of those that I meet in my quest to fill pages for young people with my inner most hopes and dreams, outshines it all. Two such luminaries within my tribe are author, photographer, June Perkins and fine artist and children's book illustrator, Helen Magisson.
June Perkins, a recent ASA mentorship award recipient, is planning to self-publish her very first full colour illustrated poetry book for families and children Magic Fish Dreaming. Brimming with the themes of nature, family and environment, Magic Fish Dreaming is inspired by the North Queensland, Australian, community, environment, and creatures it shares.
After eight years of writing, and sharing poetry for families and children in the Cassowary Coast, June, a long time poet now resident in Brisbane, felt the time had come for this poetry and the place and people it represented to be shared with the world for its beauty, diversity and inspiration.
Award winning, Brisbane based illustrator Helene Magisson, was captivated by June’s poetry when asked if she would like to come on board as the illustrator. She has done some wonderful initial water colour illustrations which represent her interpretations of the text.
This book is
designed especially for reading aloud with your nieces, nephews, children and
grandchildren, and if you are a primary school teacher, students. MagicFish Dreaming encourages readers to search for poetic inspiration in their
everyday surroundings.
Poetic
techniques are varied beyond rhyme and include: personification, address,
metre, simile, metaphor, lyrical language, and repetition. Some of the forms in
the book are: address, narrative, apostrophe, lyric, ballad, question and
answer and haiku.
But it’s not just for children, June feels you will enjoy Magic Fish Dreaming if you are any age and curious about the Cassowary Coast, North Queensland and love illustrated books.
June is using Kickstarter to fund this venture.
Kickstarter is a crowd sourcing site designed to fund creative projects. It's not about donations. If you contribute, you get exactly what you pay for and if you opt for it some delightful rewards to make your day.
June is using Kickstarter as poetry books for children are an extremely difficult genre to have any mainstream publisher pick up unless you are an already established poet and have an agent. But she feels that poetry has just so much to offer the world especially a poetry celebrating environment, peace and diversity and is proud of the works she has crafted and had professionally edited. Some of them have been previously published in other anthologies.
The book is written and edited and almost ready to print. The Kickstarter will assist in paying for the rest of the illustrations, the prepress layout and some of the printing costs.
Amongst the Kickstarter rewards there are native animal soft toys, prints, stickers, bags, totem inspired creations, and a beautifully hand crafted cassowary. There are also a few workshop options, done by skype, email or in person.
The top level
rewards are strictly limited. So head
over to the campaign and find out more and if you love the book - make your
pledge.June, Helene, and the rest of the Magic Fish Dreaming Team would love it if you can spread the word on Twitter or Facebook or Google+ and by word of mouth to the many people, schools, family and friends you know would love this book!
Details of the Book
A 36 page, 210mm X284mm, full
colour poetry book, inspired by the diverse people of Far North Queensland and
their tropical environment. This book is written by poet June Perkins and Illustrated by Helene Magisson.
Magic FishDreaming is for lovers of nature and language, children, family, teachers,
educators, parents, grandparents, and just anyone who delights in illustrated
words.
It will appeal
to those who love people of all cultures and want to support multiculturalism
and the creation and distribution of diverse books.
It is for every
person who loves to go hunting for poems and aims to encourage many more children
to become poets.
#magicfishdreaming #kickstarterbooks #kidslit #poetry4family
