Interview with Kevin Burgemeestre, Author/Illustrator

This is Kev at a library visit, yep that is a pencil through his head
This is Kev at a library visit, yep that is a pencil through his head. Photo: Nadine Cranenburgh 2013

Today, I’ve got Kevin Burgemeestre visiting my blog, celebrating the release of his new book ‘Kate’ published by Morris Publishing.

Kevin has illustrated over 50 children’s books since 1985. He wrote his first book ‘B is for Bravo’ in 2003 and illustrated it using amazing dioramas. He loves doing workshops for all ages. His other titles include ‘Antarctic Dad’ with Hazel Edwards and ‘The Uncle Eddie’ books with Lucy Farmer (Walker Books). Kev is an absolute performer at school workshops. Children (and adults alike) love him. He’s funny and inspiring, encouraging children to have a go at writing and drawing.  

I was lucky enough to meet Kev as part of my Maurice Saxby Mentorship last year and he’s very generous in his support of emerging writers.

Congratulations Kev on the launch of your new YA novel, ‘Kate’.

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A dangerous boy, an abandoned dog and one girl’s perilous road trip to personal growth. Meet Kate.

This is a story of growth and mistakes. Kate’s lucky to find Wilde, a battered, heroic hound she rescues from the streets, and Mal a troubled young man with a dark past. When things go really wrong they’ll need each other and they’ll have to run!

“Kate dug her hands deep into the pockets of her hoodie and sniffed; she hated how the cold weather made her nose run so freely. Her eye caught a motor-oil rainbow shimmering across the soft sheen on the damp asphalt and wondered briefly how it was that ugly things could sometimes appear so beautiful.”

‘Kate’ is also an illustrated novel, dotted with beautiful, dark and gritty, black and white images reflecting Kate’s dire situation.

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Kate’ and read it in one sitting. I’ve got a few questions for you Kev… just hang on a tick while I get myself together. Okay.

1. Tell me, how did you evolve from being an Illustrator and becoming an Author/Illustrator? Did you always write?

Good question Neridah. Perhaps I didn’t always write, but even in primary school I told stories. If they were a little exaggerated perhaps I knew even then that even though I had deep enthusiasm and respect for non-fiction, fiction would always be my thing. I wrote remarkably pretentious, wordy and impenetrable poetry through my secondary years and wrote years of correspondence back to Australia whilst living and studying in Holland. It was all preparation for eventually taking up the pen and key and wielding the word.

For example, I illustrated Susan Kurosawa’s column in the Australian Newspaper for years. When I heard she was going on holidays I sent an email suggesting that I take over the writing of the column while she was away. So, whilst the editor had enough sense to not even acknowledge my offer (what did he know?) even then I felt that it was inevitable.

But wait, there’s more. I have always listened to and copied others speech patterns and am a little too probing when asking about people’s lives and experience. I love to stretch a tale, and am still a tad too pleased when I can make myself cry when writing. Are they the marks of a writer or what?

 Absolutely they are. Making yourself cry is a skill.

2. How did the idea for Kate first come along? It feels and reads like a true story. What’s your advice to writers trying to achieve this?

Firstly, thank you for that compliment; I appreciate that specific endorsement of my characters from another writer. Kate feels real to me because she is an amalgam of girls I knew when I was growing up. She is also in part the friends of my children, my children, and young women I speak to when visiting schools.

I feel for the profound challenges they face growing up in our time. There is so much scrutiny and intrusion into their lives and yet they face so many disturbing chapters of their lives unseen and alone. I don’t think we manage the transition to puberty at all well and Kate reflects this.

We over protect them right up to pre-puberty, and then suddenly all ties are off. They have phones, almost unfettered access to the internet, an aggressive media modeling bizarre behaviour to them in prime time and magazines that describe a model of femininity that’s prime material for psychotherapy.

I also really like women and have many female friends, and they are all strong and capable. They are not without their insecurities but in spite of this they achieve highly, and on top of this they are loving, loyal, and at times very brave. Here’s to them.

How do you write characters like that? Pick some sound female friends. And don’t be afraid to listen to them.

Good on Kev. And I agree the challenges facing our teenagers are so different from our own.

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3. You obviously love dogs, because Wild is a gorgeous creature. Do you have a dog? 

When I was young both mum and dad worked, and after schools it was often our two very large dogs who greeted us when we came home. They were excellent companions, jealous protectors and entirely forgiving of our mean tricks and callousness.  They taught us to be better people.

They were also a very soothing presence. School was such a confusing experience, and as a migrant others were often not as gracious as they might have been. Having a dog around you after a bad day is like taking an aspirin for a headache.

I don’t currently own a dog but speak to them often and everywhere. And of course as you might know money from this project goes to the lost dog’s home. We have never had an animal that hasn’t been rescued or inherited.

 It’s a wonderful cause. Check it out at Lost Dogs Home in North Melbourne.

4. I found your book pretty fast paced. How do you approach writing that sort of action and dialogue? Do you stop to sleep?

ZZZZZZZZZZ. Oh sorry, I seemed to have dozed off.

Michael Dugan, whose work I illustrated early in my career was a perceptive and generous mentor. When we drove off into the country to conduct workshops we talked about all things.

He was a very successful writer and gave me some excellent advice. He said that especially when writing for young people it was important to make something happen on every page. As it turns out that’s not bad advice for any writer. When writing Kate I tried to keep pushing my characters Kate, Mal, Jess & Wilde into situations beyond where they were comfortable. It manufactured a tension that I kept trying to resolve in the writing. It created a sort of roller-coaster effect.

The other thing he stressed was to keep the language simple, sentences short but not to be afraid to launch into complex subject matter. When writing Kate that’s what drove the process.

Dialogue is very important to me. I am impressed how both Michael Dugan and John Marsden write clipped, elegant dialogue that infers so much more than it says. It is something I will always aspire to.

I agree, they’re amazing writers.

Well, thank you so much Kevin for so generously giving your time to answer these questions for me. I feel I know you so much better and there is some great writing advice in here. Good luck with your next project, I can’t wait to read to see it.

Kev & I at Toorak Library where I watched Kev take a school workshop. He was awesome fun!
Kev & I at Toorak Library where I watched Kev take a school workshop. He was awesome fun!

If you’d like to buy a copy of Kate, she can found in any good bookstore or you easily can buy it on-line at Morris Publishing Australia.

Also, at this site you can read the first Chapter of  ‘Kate’ and read a great review by Jill Smith.

Check out some of Kev’s other books. They’re absolutely wonderful.

‘B for Bravo’

Is an alphabet book that teaches the phonetic alphabet, celebrating 100 years of Australian aviation.

Published by Hachette/Lothian, 2003
Published by Hachette/Lothian, 2003

‘Antarctic Dad’ written by Hazel Edwards & Illustrated by Kevin Burgemeestre

Published by Hachette/Lothian 2005
Published by Hachette/Lothian 2005

‘The Uncle Eddie’ Books written by Lucy Farmer & Illustrated by Kevin Burgemeestre

Published by Walker Books
Published by Walker Books

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Nadine’s Cranenburgh’s ‘Ten Graphic Novels & Visual Stories’

Following up from my interview with Children’s Writer, Nadine Cranenburgh…

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Nadine has very kindly put a list together for us of ‘Ten Graphic Novels and Visual Stories: by Australian Creators’.

Thanks Nadine, I can’t wait to work my way through this list if books.

Hi Neridah, some of these aren’t really ‘graphic novels’ in the commonly accepted form, but use visual storytelling as a significant part of the narrative. That’s why I thought that maybe a better title would be ‘Ten Graphic Novels and Visual Stories by Australian Creators’.

Sounds good to me.

This list includes books for younger readers, teens and adults. There is probably a crossover in audiences, though, so my opinion isn’t definitive. I’ve used a very broad definition of ‘graphic novel’ here, including wordless picture books, illustrated novels and strange and wonderful amalgams of text, illustrations and more.

What they do have in common though is that they use visual storytelling (or a series of picture panels, with or without dialogue) to carry a significant part of the narrative; or use illustrations to provide an extra level to the story.

The audience definitions are also very subjective, and I’d recommend parents having a look at books to see if they agree with my judgement!

Also, it is far from a complete list, there are many other books out there that I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet, and many more still being created.

For younger readers (or all ages, if you like):

‘The Hero of Little Street’ by Gregory Rogers. A wordless picture book, Book 3 in the Boy Bear series. The Boy escapes a gang of Bullies by slipping into a Vermeer painting, meets a dog, and has an adventure in seventeenth century Holland. The first two books are on my to read list.

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‘The Nelly Gang’ by Steven Axelson, trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuuGtAejBf4. I haven’t read this yet, but it looks amazing.

The Nelly Gang, by Stephen Axelsen

A taste of the story...

‘The Arrival’ by Shaun Tan – This is an incredible story told without words, about moving to a new country and the strangeness, trials and wonders that entails. It is set in a fantastical world, but with many things that we can relate to. I know teachers who have used this book as a resource in the classroom with a great response from kids. I prefer to just enjoy and share it with my boys.

'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan

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‘How to Heal a Broken Wing’ by Bob Graham – This is a wonderful picture book that uses visual storytelling for most of the narrative, with only very sparse (but beautiful) words to support it. A bird crashes into a skyscraper window and falls to the ground near Nelson’s Column in London. As the crowds swarm past, young Will, coming out of the underground with his mother, stops and helps. A touching story which works on many levels. It is endorsed by Amnesty International.

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Getting older (teenage and up, although parents may choose to share with younger kids, I have)

‘Kate’ by Kevin Burgemeestre – This is a recent illustrated novel which combines a written story with several detailed illustrations, incorporating text motifs, which are presented as the work of the thirteen-year-old protagonist, Kate. It’s a compelling story which handles some hard-to-face themes sensitively for a young teenage audience and up. After a frightening encounter in a park, Kate is saved by the tough and elusive Mal. This sets her on a dangerous adventure, pursued by men who are convinced she has stolen something from them. Kate’s experience in drawing the illustrations is included in the text, and I think they add an extra level to her characterisation (her hero is artist Frida Kahlo).

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‘Beyond the Dusk’ by Victor Kelleher and Gregory Rogers – This is a book I picked up secondhand (it was published in 2000, so it may be out of print). It is an illustrated novel which tells the story of Meg as a young teen in the mid-twentieth century. She is living with her grandmother on a farm, and feeling isolated from kids her own age and adults, who shun her for her ‘tall tales’. The tale follows Meg as she investigates a mysterious predator that is spooking the livestock. It turns out to be something very unusual indeed, but I won’t spoil the surprise. There are not many illustrations, but they are atmospheric and stark, really setting the mood.

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‘Hamlet’ staged on the page by Nicki Greenberg – A visually stunning interpretation of the play, which takes the form of a cast of fantastical actors performing staging a production. The author has added wordless scenes showing what goes on behind the curtain as the play is performed, which adds another level of drama. I’ve been reading through it with my six-year-old, and we’ve had some very interesting discussions. Nicki also adapted ‘The Great Gatsby’ into graphic novel form.

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‘Requiem for a Beast’ by Matt Ottley – This is an incredible book, that explores some dark and complex themes (murder, the stolen generation, depression) through a mixture of text and illustrations. There is also an accompanying CD with original compositions by Ottley, and which is a companion to the book. A young man goes to work as a stockman, and tries to come to terms with his father’s grim past. Although this is definitely a work for older readers, I have shared some of the illustrations with my young son – he actually picked the book up in a second hand store as he was attracted to the pictures. We’ve talked a little about the stolen generation, and I look forward to talking to him about some of the more complex themes as he gets older.

Older again (mainly because the story is told by older narrators, but that’s just my opinion)

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‘Sensitive Creatures’ by Mandy Ord – This is a really sweet and funny collection of graphic short stories by Mandy Ord, many of which she self-published or published in literary journals before being approached to publish a graphic novel. It is set firmly in Melbourne, and covers many subjects we encounter daily: family relationships, friendship, dog ownership and dealing with bureaucracy among them. They are tied together with scenes of Mandy trying to get through a day of creating and procrastinating, which many writers and illustrators will relate to.

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‘The Sacrifice’ by Bruce Mutard – this is on my to read list, and is a complex book set in Melbourne during World War II.

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Wow – that’s quite a reading list – one of which I’m going to get cracking on ASAP. I’m off to the library!

Thanks so much Nadine for your time and insightfulness on Graphic Novels and Visual Stories.

Day 3 Maurice Saxby Mentorship

Visit to Allen & Unwin

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This morning we met with Erica Wagner, Publisher of Books for Children and Teenagers. Erica started off by discussing with us how our reading habits have changed. She loves her iPad and looks forward to reading it every night. ‘It’s iPad time!’

I love, love, love my iPad, although it’s awkward to hold it in bed, it’s just a bit heavy for me. I’ve tried those pillow support thingys but they don’t seem to help. It really gets me in the neck. Time to upgrade to an iPad mini I think.

And why do we love reading from the iPad? It’s just so darn easy. A click of a button and you can read whatever you want. Although, due to the format of children’s picture books, I hear it’s difficult to achieve a satisfying digital format.

One innovation that Allen & Unwin have introduced to their picture books is a direct link via a QR scan (which can be easily found on the half title page of their PB’s) to an Allen & Unwin website that provides an audio reading for the book. One is an actors voice reading the story (for playtime), the other is the writers voice (for bedtime).

These picture books will sell for $24.95 and research in the U.K shows a definite link to increased sales.

Erica then took us through the production of two wonderful books.

The first was ‘Jandamarra’ written by Mark Greenwood and illustrated by Terry Denton. This is a powerful story about Jandamarra, a Bunuba warrior from the Kimberley in Western Australia. Books, plays and movies have been made by about this amazing man and this picture book does his legend credit. Collaboratively written with the permission of the Bunuba Elders, text and illustration weave together an amazing tale. It’s 48 pages long, which is a big deviation from the standard 32 pages normally used in making picture books.

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The process of laying it out, fitting in what was just right, revising the artwork and the text on several occasions sounded like an incredible challenge. Erica talked about the Writer/Illustrator relationship and how the Illustrator needs to take ownership of the text to make it work. It was a fascinating process but the result speaks for itself. This book is wonderful. I’m heading out to buy this it tomorrow!

 The second book we had a sneak peak at was a graphic novel by the talented Julie Hunt (you can see an Author Interview done on Julie in todays Buzzwords magazine).

Now, this was exciting for Nadine’s as she is writing, amongst many other things, a graphic novel or a hybrid graphic novel that also includes prose.

Wow, the way Julie Hunt’s story ‘Kid Gloves’ is written is so unique I’ve never seen anything like it. It was all dialogue. Erica explained when you writing a graphic novel, you need to convey action as if it’s a film. The artwork for this book is in panel format and it was incredible.

It made me want to read Nikki Greenberg’s books, Hamlet and The Great Gatsby. More books! (Don’t tell my husband. Where are you going to put all these books he asks me as I waltz in with another armful of literary treasure?).

Erica believes graphic novels are a little risky, that perhaps they are ahead of their time. They’re a massive amount of work and they take years to complete. But all in all what I saw was a book that is completely compelling and different that it’s a real experience in itself to read and enjoy such a book.

Erica was so good to talk to, it was thrilling to discuss their publishing list and what their expectations are for writers and illustrators. She talked about Allen & Unwin’s strengths as a publisher. They love good picture books, they are always looking for Middle Grade Fiction 8 – 12 years. They pride themselves on having a varied and interesting publishing list, promoting literary qualities. I believe this to be true.

Erica also talked about the importance of finding your voice as a writer. It’s about having confidence in your voice and developing characters people can recognize and relate to. Strong story telling is always compelling and a fresh and contemporary approach to stories is what they’re looking for. Erica was very encouraging to us all. “Writing is a craft and you can always make it better,” she says.

It was such a treat to chat with Erica. She was so generous in sharing her knowledge and expertise with us, I left feeling very grateful and ready to have a go at my next story.

Visit to Penguin

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After a lovely lunch at docklands with Helen Chamberlin, Heather Gallagher, Laura Wilson and Nadine Cranenburgh, we headed off to Penguin Publishing to meet with Senior Editors, Amy Thomas and Katrina Lehmann.

The Penguin offices were pretty amazing, funky and very modern with a huge open layout workspace.

Penguin have a corporate culture with a strong commercial values. They publish about 100 books a year. Of these, only 12 – 14 would be picture books. About 15 books would be submitted by agents and only a random 1 – 2 unsolicited manuscripts (from new writers) would be picked up. Many titles are also what they call buy-ins, as in they buy the rights for picture books from the U.S or U.K and release them here. There’s little opportunity for the new writer.

Amy and Katrina explained to us how their roles as editors has changed with the tightening of Penguin’s belt in that they do their own type setting as well as editing. It certainly gives them more control, but of course, it’s added work. Their editing work involves a great deal of manuscript development. It may begin with structural editing, plot development, changes to the story arc, alterations in chapter length, character re-focusing and then they narrow it down scenes, to linking lines and line-by-line editing.

We bandied about the pros and cons of one getting an agent, which seems just as hard as getting a publisher.

Katrina took us through the production of three new books they have recently launched and what was involved in each of these and the challenges experienced.

Penguin have brought out a middle reader series called, Eerie by S.Carey (Scarey – get it?). This series was written by established writers under the pseudonym of S.Carey as the‘C’ is always stacked in bookstores at eye height. I told you they were commercial!

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This book is almost an early reader with loads of ‘break out’ text to make for easy reading, targeted at reluctant readers.

The other series of books looked at was ‘Juliet nearly a Vet’ by Rebecca Johnson, illustrated by Kyla May. This is for 8 – 10 year olds and would compete against books like ‘Billie B. Brown’.

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The pros and cons of writing a series was discussed. Penguin won’t put all their eggs into one basket by publishing them all due to diminishing returns if the concept doesn’t take off.

When it comes to manuscript submissions, Amy and Katrina focus on the manuscript first and read the cover letter later. A short and concise cover letter is adequate and if you’re previously published author, pop a book in the mail or email a digital version so they can see your ‘runs on the board’ and get a better feel for who you are.

The importance of having an online presence was seen as an advantage. Websites and Blogs and Teaching Resources were seen as an absolute necessity for any books written.

We also looked at Isobelle Carmody’s new book, The Cloud Road. This is a beautifully designed and crafted book and they all raved about the story so I’m also putting this on my reading list as well. Isobelle is a prolific writer and she did all the illustrations which are absolutely charming.

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 Amy and Katrina also explained to us the process a manuscript goes through before it might be accepted fro publication. If it’s a great story, it’s selected in an ‘Acquisitions’ meeting. From here they need to get backing from the people ‘upstairs’ (senior management, I assume). Then they need the marketing people to say ‘yes’ we can sell this. A lot of this has to do with timing.

Penguin are currently looking for Young Adult fiction with a slight move away from the paranormal to a more contemporary realisation and good stand alone Middle Readers are always sought after.

Thank you Amy and Katrina for a detailed insight into Penguin Publishing.