Question for Stephen Whiteside

[Neville Briggs]

G'day Stephen, I'm impressed, you certainly have a good knowledge of children's writers.
I've read Max Fatchen's work, he wrote a good bush ballad called " Country Lunch ".

And there was another accomplished artist and writer in Australia. Rolf Harris's mother, Pixie O'Harris who wrote and illustrated many childrens stories and poems, from 1922 to 1988.

One of the most interesting books by Roald Dahl is his autobiography called " Boy " it shows that he drew on his own childhood experiences as material for his books. For example, the Cadbury's or Fry's ? chocolate factory was near his school and they used to give the school boys chocolates to sample and pay them to tell which was preferred. A bit of market research that inspired Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl and his school mates also got into trouble for putting a mouse in the jar of lollies at the local shop to distress the horrid lady who owned the shop, this is sort of repeated in Matilda where Miss Trunchbull drinks a glass of water into which the children have placed in a live newt.

For our poetry, I think we can learn a valuable lesson about using our experiences as a resource for imaginative writing, not only for recounting the experiences as history.


G'day keats. I have heard Marco Gliori doing Granny and the Snake. I must shamefully confess that I had no idea that he was an accomplished children's writer.