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Sally Murphy, Australian author

A poem to pair with Queen Narelle

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I have been enjoying reading a poetry collection Please Mrs Butler, by Allan Ahlberg (Penguin, 1983) which is a varied collection of poems about school life. One poem, in particular, stood out to me, as being ideal for reading, and discussing, alongside Queen Narelle.

So, If you are  reading Queen Narelle in your classroom, or your home, you might enjoy Small Quarrel, which is available online at the CLP website here,  with a video reading by the poet, which I have also embedded below.

You might discuss the similarities and differences between the poem and the events of Queen Narelle.   I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Poetry Friday: This is Just to Say

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This week I have been thinking about where ideas for books, stories and poems come from, which has led to two blog posts – about the origins of Queen Narelle (here) and also Head Hog (here) .

And, as often happens when I start thinking on a subject, I get hyper-focussed (hello ADHD brain!)  and so, when I sorted through some old poems yesterday, and stumbled across the one I’m about to share, I knew I had a topic for a Poetry Friday post – which is very good, because it has been a while since I Poetry Fridayed, in spite of my best intentions.

Anyway, here is the poem I found in my archives:

This is just to say

I have eaten

the cake

that was in

the pantry

 

and which

you were probably

saving

for visitors.

 

Forgive me

We had

no peaches

and no icy plums.

(Sally Murphy, 2017)

If you are a poetry lover, you will probably instantly guess that the idea for this poem came from  the very famous William Carlos Williams poem of the same title, which you can read here.   And you would be correct.

Williams’ poem has a really special place in my heart because it is the first free verse poem I remember being introduced to – in Year 8 English. As in many schools, we were asked to write our own ‘This is Just to Say’ poems.  I have a really visceral memory of realising that poetry could be about anything – and, importantly, did not have to rhyme.  I was already a great lover of poetry, but this poem changed my life!

Later, much later, I wrote Pearl Verses the World, in which Pearl’s relationship with her Granny is heighted by their shared loved of poetry.   Pearl remembers:

One day Granny read me   Pearl Verses the World

A poem

About a man stealing a plum.

(Sally Murphy, 2009)

and her surprise that it didn’t rhyme. Granny’s response:

…didn’t you know

A poem does not have to rhyme?

It does not have to be written

In a certain way

At a certain time.

No.

A poem comes

When it is needed

And writes itself

In the way it needs

To get its point across. 

(Sally Murphy, 2009).

Of course, this little scene is a nod to Williams’ poem (as well as to the lovely relationship between Pearl and her much-loved Granny). But I don’t name the poem – which means not all readers will know the allusion, and that is fine.  But, a few years after the book was published, it was made into a play by Jigsaw Theatre in Canberra, and I was fortunate enough to go and see the play.  Seeing my book come to life in this way was always  going to be amazing, but there was the most AMAZING moment when, at a key point in  he play, some lines from Williams’ poem were cleverly revealed on the stage.  I cried. The producers had not only figured out the allusion but had cleverly incorporated part of the poem into the set.

I could write about this all day, but to get back to the poem I wrote in 2017,  several years later:  while working on my Doctorate, focussing on children’s poetry, I decided to experiment a little with using famous poems as mentor texts. And, of course, I had to use Williams’ poem.  I tried to picture what food it would be that I would be unable to resist – and chocolate cake seemed likely. But those plums had to get a mention too!

Speaking of being unable to resist things – I am off to check out more poetry courtesy of my fellow Poetry Fridayers. You can, too, by following the roundup hosted this week by Rose. 

 

Where Do Ideas Come From? The origins of Head Hog

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My post  about the origins of Queen Narelle has left me thinking about where the ideas for my other stories came from.  So I thought I’d share perhaps the most ridiculous origin story.

The first two trade books I had accepted for publication were Doggy Duo, which

Doggie Duo

Doggie Duo

included two stories about dogs, and The Floatingest Frog, a picture book about, you guessed it, frogs.

The Floatingest FrogOne day I was talking to someone about my writing and they asked  “what are you going to write next.?’ I don’t know what inspired me, but I said flippantly ‘Well, I’ve written about dogs and frogs, so I guess the next one will be hogs.’ I don’t remember if the person laughed, groaned or just smiled politely at that response, but the idea to write a book about a hog remained in my brain as a tiny seed.

It wasn’t the next book I wrote, but the desire to write a book about a hog didn’t go away. Eventually I brainstormed some ideas, and came up with the idea of a Head Hog. It reminded me a little of hedgehog, but also of  Boss Hogg, a character in a 70s TV show.

I started asking myself what would a head hog be like. I decided that my hog would takeHead Hog the role of being Head Hog very seriously – too seriously – so that it would take a much younger hog to show him how to have fun. And, eventually, I  wrote the story that, after much revision and rewriting, became Head Hog, and was published by Koala Books with wonderful illustrations by  Ben Wood.

Unfortunately, it is no longer in print, but  I do still regularly read it at school and library visits, and it is a lot of fun. – and a reminder of how little ideas can grow into fun, complex stories.

Much much later I wondered if, having written about dogs, frogs and hogs, if I could perhaps write about logs. You can be the judge of the success of that: this poem is my very quick attempt:

Logs

There are many poems about frogs

There are many poems about dogs

There are many poems about hogs

But not many about logs

 

So let’s write about a log

And see if it’s such a hard slog.

 

A frog sat on a log

A dog sat on a log

A hog sat on a log

And that was the end of the log.

 

Proof that not all my ideas (or all my poems) are good ones.!

Where Do Ideas Come From? The origins of Queen Narelle

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I’ve been sorting through old drafts and folders, and came across this poem, which I wrote some years ago as part of a Facebook challenge (the set topic was ‘blue’).

Not exactly a work of art, but today I took a photo of it and shared it on Instagram – and then was left thinking about how, sometimes, poems, and stories too, really do seem to just appear, and I know I have to write them down and share  them.  This led me to ponder how ideas really can come from just about anywhere.

Take Queen Narelle  as an example. The idea from this book came from a fairly random sequence of events. In 2008 I wrote Pearl Verses the World (and THAT story came to me from a voice in my head that insisted I write her story). A year later, it was published, with gorgeous illustrations by Heather Potter. Pearl Verses the WorldWhen I was busy promoting the book, a boy called Cassidy emailed some questions for me to answer from Pearl’s perspective. These were really perceptive questions – Cassidy was a very cluey nine year old. You can read the interview here.

So, Cassidy asked me/Pearl, ‘what is your cat’s name?’ and I have to admit this stumped me – because I had not given Pearl a cat. There is no mention of a cat in the story I wrote. BUT Cassidy had seen Pearl’s cat – there in several of Heather Potter’s gorgeous illustrations.  So, if I was answering as Pearl, I couldn’t say I didn’t know the cat’s name. I thought fast, and gave the cat the name of a cat from my own childhood: Narelle.

The interview was published and I moved on.  Except, I kept thinking about that cat. Because there is a humorous reason we called our cat Narelle. Narelle, you see, is the sound a cat makes. It doesn’t say miaow – it says Naarrellllllleee.   And, having remembered that fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about a cat called Narelle. Eventually I decided that Narelle deserved a story of her own.

When I sat down to write, however, it wasn’t Pearl’s cat, or even my ‘real’ cat, that seemed to want to have their story told. It was a different cat. And she was determined to tell her story in her own voice.   The first draft of Queen Narelle didn’t take long to write – and it was all from Narelle’s first person viewpoint.

Since 2009 that first draft has had many revisions and edits, including adding in a second narrator – Maddie, Narelle’s favourite human.  Doing this made the story richer, more complete, but I have always loved writing in Narelle’s voice. It was lots of fun, even though there are tricky things happening in the book.  Those things  evolved from me trying to figure out what problems a cat might have, or witness, and how a cat might be involved in their resolution.

So, in this case, the idea came from a simple question about one cat, and a chain of thoughts about that cat, and a very demanding cat demanding to be written about.

Of course, other stories and poems have their origins in other places. I might write about some of my other story origins in coming posts.

 

 

 

 

 

Purrfect cattitude!

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Purring joyfully at this delightful picture of a delightful young reader, Evie, in her Bookweek costume. No prizes for guessing who she is – my Narelle!

Thanks Evie for celebrating my book-baby in this way – and to her family for sharing the photo with me.

Out and about in August

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It’s September. The start of Spring here in Australia – although the more accurate season where I live is Djilba, one of the six Noongar seasons.  If you read about it  here, you will learn that Djilba (second spring) is marked by the appearance of yellow and cream flowers – and I have seen those on a daily basis, the yellows of the wattles being especially lovely.

September also marks, in my world, the end of what is always the busiest month in a children’s author’s year, because Children’s Bookweek ® is always in August, and many events happen not just during that week but in the weeks around it.

I was lucky enough to visit Rockingham and Bunbury libraries and schools during Bookweek – and managed to not get a single photo of myself presenting, which is a shame, so you’ll just have to imagine me at the front of the room, with my crown, sharing Queen Narelle, and, more importantly, a love of reading and writing, with classes from local schools. We had fun trying to decide what cats think, and then, also, what dogs might think, or swans, or even quokkas.  I suspect there might be a few animal-themed stories being written in those classrooms 🙂

One really special moment was when the Bunbury library took me to visit Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School  where not only was  I made to feel very welcome, but was also reminded and thanked profusely for a small contribution I made. Several years ago, the school’s library burnt down and I used Facebook to ask fellow creators to donate books to ensure the students still had plenty of reading materials. And, as I hoped,  the books came and were enjoyed.  On this visit I was taken on a tour of the incredible new library built since then. So thoughtfully planned for the needs of the whole school community – but I must confess that my favourite feature was a child-sized door into the junior part of the library, which I just had to try for size.author Sally Murphy is on her knees coming through a child sized door in a library.

Thanks Djidi Djidi school  for making me feel so welcome.

Young writers stand with their prizes and committee members. I was also lucky enough to speak at the Make Your Own Story Book award ceremony  where I also helped present prizes to  very talented young creators from across the state who had written and illustrated some top quality books of their own. After the ceremony they stayed for a Masterclass with moi, which was  more fun than this photo of me looking VERY stern would suggest.:

 

Also in Bookweek ® I visited Maidens Park Primary School as a Rolemodel for the Books in Home charity, a wonderful program where children in participating schools each get a pack of books, which they have selected, to take home and keep.  I was there with staff from Mainfreight, who are sponsoring the school’s participation, and we were treated to a circus themed assembly, the school’s Bookweek dress up parade, and a really warm welcome.  I love being part of this program, and was especially happy that is now being rolled out close to home.

And, lastly, my final Bookweek ® event (last, but not east) was at Paperbird Books in Fremantle, where Dianne Wolfer and myself joined the after school bookclub to discuss our books. So much fun spending an hour with keen young readers, and a lovely way to finish Bookweek ®

Like lots of authors and illustrators, I always get to the end of August pretty tired – but it is possible, I know from experience, to feel simultaneously exhausted and elated.  The absolutely best part of being an author is getting to spend time with young people, talking about books and writing and, hopefully, inspiring them to read and write even more.  And, with requests for next year’s Bookweek ® already arriving, I can’t wait!

I am feeling very grateful that I get to do what I do,  and especially grateful for the librarians, teachers, bookshops and others who arrange these visits – they have a far harder job than mine. And, even more especially grateful to the Children’s Book Council of Australia, who ‘invented’ Children’s Bookweek ® and keep making it happen, and to the WA Branch who make it happen locally. Thank you for all you do.

And, lastly, thanks to every young reader who reads, not just one of my books (though that of course makes me happy) but ANY book, and, by doing so, makes the world a better place.

 

 

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