Appearing:
Gateshead (17th), Sunderland (18th), Northumberland (19th), Redcar (20th)
Author Website
www.ericmaddern.co.uk
Publisher
Frances Lincoln
I lean back against the peeling bark of a tall eucalyptus tree. It’s a warm day as I gaze across the valley to the far off hazy hills, listen to the chatter of birds and think about the story of my life… Where do you think I am? Not Australia, as you might expect from the gum tree, but North Wales. Let me explain.
I was born Down Under in Whyalla, a dusty town in South Australia where the desert comes down to the sea. When I was just three years old my family boarded an ocean liner and sailed around the world to London. After four years there (and in a village in Northamptonshire) we once again took to the high seas and returned by ship to Australia. It was on that voyage that I learned to swim in the ship’s pool! Back in Adelaide I whiled away my weekends happily exploring creeks and catching yabbies. But all too soon it was time to clamber aboard ship again and head north over the equator. This time we travelled some of the way overland through Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India, before returning once more to Britain. So, by the time I was eleven I had crossed the world three times by ship.
As you can imagine this had a great influence on me. I spent hours pouring over maps and working out how, one day, I’d go on my own journey around the world. And I read adventure stories. From the age of nine to twelve I devoured books like ‘Treasure Island’, ‘Kidnapped’, ‘Robinson Crusoe’, ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’, ‘Tom Sawyer’, ‘Moby Dick’, ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’… Later my grandmother from Australia sent me books about great archaeological expeditions. And my Welsh grandfather, my ‘Taid’, told me stories – stories about his life on the farm, his sheepdogs and a few traditional Welsh folktales, including the famous story of Faithful Gelert.
It was because I loved Taid and his farmer’s life that I thought I wanted to be a vet. So my school studies were channelled into the sciences. But at sixteen I acted in my first school play – and was immediately hooked. Theatre seemed to be so much more about life. So I shifted my attention from science to the arts and for a few years performed in as many plays as I could.
Finally, after completing my university studies, I began my long awaited journey around the world. It was nothing like the route I’d planned at eleven; and instead of taking two years (as I’d thought) it took me ten! There were many escapades and adventures along the way: in the redwood forests of California, the pyramids of Mexico, the volcanoes of Hawaii, the islands of the South Pacific, the deserts of Central Australia… And always I was scribbling, scribbling… making notes, keeping a journal, gathering stories. Towards the end of that time I worked as a ‘bush artist’ in Aboriginal communities and found myself for the first time in the role of ‘storyteller’.
I’d say that I’m still, first and foremost, a live storyteller. My writing comes out of that. Many of my books are versions of the traditional tales I tell. A couple – ‘Earth Story’ and ‘Curious Clownfish’ – were inspired more by science and my travels. And there’s plenty more where that came from, so, watch this space!
I also like to sing and write songs and recently recorded a CD called ‘Full of Life: Earthsongs for All’. The songs are inspired by nature and my travels and seem to be appreciated by people of all ages. There are more details on my website.
And here I live in North Wales. The sun has gone down now, the stars are out and it’s a beautiful, balmy, spring night. I’m far from the land of my birth where I sometimes long to be. But somehow I know that it’s my destiny to be a bridge, a bridge between extremes – north and south, ancient and modern, rural and urban, the imagined and the real. It’s a place of challenge, creativity and luck. And you can’t ask for more than that.
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The Cow on the Roof Frances Lincoln 978-1845075910 Every day Shon goes out to the fields to work, and each day Sian his wife stays at home working in the cottage. Shon begins to feel he's doing all the work, and starts to grumble. "All right!" Sian says. "Tomorrow I'll go out and do your work and you can stay at home and do mine." Shon agrees, and looks forward to having a nice easy time of it - after all, there's just the butter to churn, the oats to grind and the cow to take out to the field...or so he thinks. The hilarious events that follow, with their wry moral of how you should stick to what you're good at, is genially retold by the master storyteller Eric Maddern and, with Paul Hess' stylishly-funny artwork, makes a book children will want to enjoy over and over again. |
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Nail Soup Frances Lincoln 978-1845074791 When a traveller in the forest knocks at a lonely cottage, hoping to scrounge a bed for the night, a scowling woman appears and says he can sleep on the floor, but declares that she hasn't a morsel of food in the place. "In that case," says the traveller, "I'll have to share what I've got with you." And, taking an old, rusty, four-inch nail from his pocket, he starts to make...Nail Soup. In his delightful retelling of this trickster tale known throughout Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, Eric Maddern shows how a merry fellow can soften the heart of even a mean and grumpy woman. Paul Hess' post-modern illustrations combine to make a book that will bring a smile to everyone who reads it. |
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Death in a Nut Frances Lincoln 978-1845072773 When Jack meets Old Man Death coming towards his cottage, he realises at once what's up. "You're not taking my old mother!" he cries, and hits out at Death with his fists. With each punch, Death gets smaller and smaller, until Jack is able to squeeze him inside a hazelnut shell. He throws the nut far out to sea, and goes home...Then the trouble begins: eggs won't break, the cockerel's head won't be wrung and the butcher confesses that he can't slaughter any livestock. What has Jack done? How he discovers one of life's basic truths - that without Death there can be no Life - is delightfully retold by professional storyteller Eric Maddern, while Paul Hess' artwork gives a glorious comic lift to a thoughtful story. |