In January I was contacted by the Bath Archaeo-Historical (BAH) film festival to take part in two events for their festival in April. One was an interview discussing my latest graphic novel Nellie Bly Investigates, a biography of the 19th century journalist, and later a panel discussing the use of illustration to teach history to children.
I have some ties to the historic city of Bath, chiefly my literary agent being based there, as well as some of my fellow illustrators and authors. In fact, I finally got to meet one of them at the festival, Beccy Blake, who was running a cave-painting workshop and later joined me on the panel, along with Rosie Maggs at the Little Historians.
The events I was involved in were both held at the Burdall’s Yard, a magnificent space with arched stone ceilings, itself with a long history, having once been a brewery, then a nightclub, and currently an arts centre. It was a space that encouraged enthusiastic discussions about the past.
In only its second year running, the BAH film festival had a packed weekend of events, including a Timestalkers Q&A with writer-director-actor Alice Lowe, which I was lucky to attend and have my question about the editing process answered. Sunday evening saw a screening of the silent German expressionist classic Das Cabinet Des Dr Caligari with a live musical accompaniment, which I unfortunately had to miss.
It was a great weekend, celebrating the importance of entertainment in education. The notion we all came away with was that we teach it the wrong way. Much of the education system is built on the belief of drilling facts into students, the repetition of information where the goal is to get a correct answer in an exam. But, there is very little to promote engagement and inspire inquisitiveness in the young.
That is one of my objectives when it comes to my books. I only write a book that I’m invested in, one of the perks of having an agent as great as the one that represents me. If I find a subject matter engaging, then there must be somebody else that does. You never know what will spark inspiration in your readers. A child may read a book about Vikings, and grow up to be an historian specialising in the Middle Ages.
How many scientists grew up watching Star Trek, or marine biologists saw Jaws at an informative age? Diversity of tone and subject is vital for developing minds. Children’s author Katherine Rundall describes infusing children’s books with protein, to create a nourishing meal that not only tastes good but also healthy. I came away from the weekend energised to create a new book. So, I’d better crack on…
Image Credits: Oliver Brooks .