Image by Craig Carry

Dear writers, readers and friends,

It is June and, with light minds and grieving hearts, this issue is dedicated to Judith Kerr, author of the classic children’s books Mog, The Tiger Who Came to Tea and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Our first lead writer, Sita Brahmachari, calls her piece “Spirit Guide to Childhood”. Kerr was a spirit guide for so many of us, sparking an early love of reading and helping us become the writers we are, and her life was an example of everything we want to protect today: freedom of speech, refugee rights, migrant rights, children’s literacy. Kerr was German-Jewish; in 1933, she left Germany with her family because her father was critical of the Nazis. They later burned his books. The family travelled through Europe and arrived in Britain in 1936, where Kerr lived as a naturalised citizen for the rest of her life. She died on the 22nd of May, aged 95.

To celebrate the life and work of Judith Kerr, we have enlisted a group of wonderful children’s writers for the month of June. Their pieces are in response to an image by Irish artist Craig Carry (http://craigcarry.net/) , who not only creates beautiful screenprints from his hometown, Cork, but also runs a superb music website, Fractured Air (https://fracturedair.com/) .

We kick off with Sita Brahmachari (https://twitter.com/SitaBrahmachari) whose creative projects with diverse communities are at the heart of her writing. She has been Writer in Residence for The Book Trust and Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants; her debut novel for young people Artichoke Hearts, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and her subsequent novels (Macmillan Children’s Books) have been nominated for the Carnegie and many other major awards. Novels include Jasmine Skies, Tender Earth, Red Leaves and Kite Spirit. For Barrington Stoke she has written Worry Angels, Brace Mouth False Teeth, Car Wash Wish and Zebra Crossing Soul Song. She has contributed stories and poetry to a number of anthologies with a human rights focus and is currently under commission to Orion books for two novels the first of which, Where The River Runs Gold, is to be published in July 2019.

Next up we are thrilled to have an original, heartwrenching contribution from Jasmine Richards (http://www.jasminerichards.com) , an author of fifteen books for children from Harper Collins. She often finds herself writing about missing fathers or fathers missing out. When Jasmine is not writing she is collaborating with writers and illustrators to create inclusive fiction for publishers through her production company Storymix (http://www.storymix.co.uk) . So, if you are a creative from an underrepresented background, who is interested in making great books for all children, get in touch with Jasmine.

Louie Stowell (https://twitter.com/Louiestowell) , featured on page 3, started her career writing carefully-researched children’s books about space, Ancient Egypt, politics and science but eventually lapsed into just making stuff up. She likes writing about dragons, wizards, vampires, fairies, monsters and parallel worlds. Louie lives in London with her wife Karen, her dog Buffy and a creepy puppet that is probably cursed. Her first novel, The Dragon in the Library (https://nosycrow.com/product/the-dragon-in-the-library/) , is out on June 6th with Nosy Crow. Get hold of it here (https://nosycrow.com/product/the-dragon-in-the-library/) .

And to complete the June launch, we present the wonderful, inspiring Juliette Saumande (http://juliettesaumande.blogspot.com/) , a French writer and translator living in Ireland. Juliet spends most of her time writing, reading, reviewing and recommending children’s books to one and all. Her most recent title is My Little Album of Dublin, illustrated by Tarsila Krüse and published by The O’Brien Press. When she gets a minute, she blogs (http://juliettesaumande.blogspot.ie) about all the fun things children’s books inspire her to try on her and other people’s kids (in an arty way!).

So dear writers, do not mourn – there is life after life, in words we remember and words we have yet to imagine. Send us yours before the 15th May.

The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.

Love,

Preti, Kristen, Lucie, Ritika and Luke.

Connect:

@visual_verse (https://twitter.com/visual_verse)
@craig_carry (https://twitter.com/craig_carry)
@SitaBrahmachari (https://twitter.com/SitaBrahmachari)
@ (https://twitter.com/JRichardsAuthor) JRichardsAuthor (https://twitter.com/JRichardsAuthor)
@Louiestowell (https://twitter.com/Louiestowell)

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