Recently, I’ve been rereading some of my favourite books from my own childhood and reflecting on just how important they were to me growing up.  It’s no exaggeration to say that the books I read back then helped to shape who I am now.  The first book I reread was The Keeper of the Isis Light, by Monica Hughes, which I recently picked up at Helios Fountain and was thrilled to discover had been published here in the UK by my own publisher Floris Books.  I hadn’t remembered the details of the story, but the image of Olwen Pendennisl had lurked in my subconscious for decades until it snuck out into a YA novel I was writing a couple of years ago.

The second book I revisited was Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong. Sadly Anne McCaffrey passed away this past November.  The books she wrote for young readers taught me to believe in possibilities.  Dragonsong was my first introduction to girl power.

The third book I just happened upon in a charity shop before Christmas.  I didn’t remember the title, or any of the story, but something about the book as an object, something about the picture on the cover gave me such a strong feeling I bought it on the spot and brought it to Inverness for my Christmas reading.  It was the first English edition of Astrid Lindgren’s The Brothers Lionheart.  I was not disappointed.  There was a reason that book left such a lasting impression, beautiful and disturbing in just the right way.

On March 1st I will be celebrating these three books along with all the others that have a special place on my bookshelf and in my life.

The topic of the day was how to use story with artifacts, archives and museums.  Steve Byrne introduced us to the amazing resource Kist o Riches, where anyone on the internet can access 1,000s of recordings of Scottish traditional songs and stories in Gaelic, Scots and English.  Helen East, who has always been a bit of a hero of mine, confirmed her status as nature and place teller extraordinaire by talking us around the story map of Offa’s Dyke, which she co-created with her local community.  Her strategy for collecting local stories is to hold what I, as a North American, would call “show and tell” sessions at which people bring in an object and tell its story.

In the afternoon, Donald Smith took participants on a storied tour of John Knox House, a museum the SSC looks after, while John and Noreen Hamilton (two of my favourite Environmental storytellers) told tales about the joys of working for a museum that has no building: Causeway Museum Service (see also the Northern Ireland Archive’s Telling Our Stories).

The phrase buzzing through the hallways of the SSC was “place education”, a concept I first encountered while doing my PhD in human geography.  In the context of storytelling, I would pose the question thus: “how can stories help ground people in their local communities so that they can withstand the tides of change accelerating across the globe?”  Each of the leaders of Saturday’s workshop provided their own innovative answer to this question. I came away convinced once again, that stories can matter.

I’ve  mentioned Helen East already.  Well, meeting her was one of the highlights of the day for me.  The Birch Maiden story I often tell at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh originally came from a version Helen wrote up in the collection “Spirit of the Forest: Tree Tales from around the World“, which I’ve taken out of the library numerous times.  Happily Helen had a copy of the book with her on Saturday, so I managed get my own, signed copy, which I shall treasure (and make use of!)

When I was writing “How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People)”, it just seemed natural that Edda’s mother would take her to Loopy Lorna’s for a heart-to-heart.  So that’s what they did.  After the book was published, I sent a copy to Gaynor Salisbury, the owner of Loopy Lorna’s.  She was thrilled to have her cafe featured in it.  She invited me to her cafe for a pot of Honey Bunny Tea and a fabulous gluten-free apricot square.

Gaynor told me the story of Loopy Lorna’s, about how owning a community cafe had always been her dream and about some of the obstacles she has had to overcome to achieve that dream.  Since becoming a published author, the connections I’ve made to other people who are also bringing their dreams to reality has felt like magic.

Stay tuned for a book event, coming to Loopy Lorna’s sometime in March 2012.

The True Meaning of Crumbfest, by David Weale, Acorn Books, 1999 (isbn 0-9698606-4-I)

Edinburgh City Libraries have put together an impressive map of fictional Edinburgh.  Over one hundred novels and series have been included on “Edinburgh Reads”.  Mike and I have been reading (and watching) Edinburgh through the eyes of Inspector Rebus for longer than we’ve lived here, but in looking at the map I realized that we’ve only touched the tip of the literary iceberg.  Each entry is connected to the library catalogue, so I can literally choose my holiday reading by map, then swing by my local branch to pick it up.

Of course, the most exciting part for me is that my own book is on the map, uniting my love of reading and writing with my love of geography (I have a PhD in human geography).  Those who have read “How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People)” will know exactly where to find it on the map.  For the rest of you, I wish you happy hunting!

Edinburgh Reads can be found here.

Karl Barrs, a teacher in Fife, sent me this photo of golems his class made out of clay after tuning in to an author event I did online for Education Scotland’s Glovember celebration of books.

I wrote up my experiences of doing my first online author event (actually my first ever school event as a published author) for The Scottish Book Trust’s Teens and Young People blog.

You can access the Scottish Book Trust’s Teens and Young People blog here.

As an author at the beginning of my career, what I need help with the most is getting word out about my book’s existence.  On-line booksellers are handy because they carry a bigger number of titles than any real life shop can carry.  However, they don’t do much in the way of spreading the word about new books by authors no one has heard about (yet).  As far as getting word out local bookshops, particularly independent ones, are key.  So, dear friends and family, if you’re looking for a way to help me build my readership, order my book from your local bookshop. If the book-buyer likes the look of what they’ve ordered for you, they may decide to add in a few extra copies for the shop. With those copies on their shelves, the chances of people stumbling upon my book increase.  Your local bookseller should be able to find the book just by the title (and the author’s name).  However knowing the isbn can be helpful too (isbn 9780863158407).

If you live somewhere that doesn’t have a bookstore and you do buy on-line, be sure to go back and add in a review.  Readers pay attention to reviews when they choose books.

Thanks for helping a newly published children’s author reach new markets!

“How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People)” has been officially released.  Thanks  to Floris Books for throwing me a fabulous book launch party last night–they even supplied the guests with chocolates in the shape of eyeballs!  That is truly attention to detail.

Thanks also to everyone who came out to hear me read and buy a signed book.  My hand-writing, which has never been all that legible, got worse and worse as the night wore on.  It felt quite surreal to look out over the crowd late in the evening and see people reading my book, surreal but really really good.

Last night I debuted on stage at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in front of a sell-out crowd as part of the Once Upon a Universe project.  Performing in front of a large audience, obscured by lighting, was nerve-racking, exhilarating and ultimately a whole lot of fun.  I was proud to have been a part of the event, which was organized by Josh Coppersmith-Heaven, and to have shared the stage with the band Sink, guest reader Nick, and a couple of the other writers and scientists from the project, Norman Gray and Helen Sedgwick.

I have told informally at storytelling cafes and I have done many small group sessions with children and adults, but this was my first time actually stepping out onto a stage. I started to get nervous as people poured in, filling the seats of the Netherbow Theatre, but I kept reminding myself that all I had to do was to get out of the way of the story.  As soon as it was my turn, I stood up, my nervousness fell away and all that was left was the telling.

I told the story “The Giant QUOFs and the Expansion on of the Universe”, which I developed last April at the Galloway Astronomy Centre.  Josh organized that weekend, bringing together eight cosmologists and writers to collaborate in developing creation stories based on the latest scientific findings.

More information about our adventures in the strange world of cosmology, along with the stories themselves, can be found on the website: onceuponauniverse.com.

The project was funded by The Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Hearing the story of Julia Butterfly Hill’s 2-years on the giant redwood Luna in California told by Enedina Sanna in Sardinian, followed by an English version by Linda Williamson. This inspiring true story, which has also been published in the young adult book “The Legacy of Luna”, formed part of my own PhD work into how people use story to tie themselves to place and to make ethical decisions in relation to the environment. Enedina emphasised that it is just as important to tell contemporary stories of heroism as it is to tell the myths of old gods.  I take heart that there are lovers of trees all over the world telling their stories.

Hearing the entirety of Homer’s The Odyssey told by seventeen talented tellers from Scotland and the Mediterannean. I mean, how often do you get the chance to participate in a 3000 year old storytelling tradition?  The Odyssey was told over two three hour sessions on Saturday, so it was quite the commitment of time and attention, but thoroughly worth it.

What I will take away from the festival are the words of Geoff Mead, paraphrased from his new book “Coming Home to Story: Storytelling Beyond Happy Ever After”:  The role of a storyteller is to be of service to the story and to help that story be of service to the re-enchanting of this world.

Links:

The Scottish Storytelling Centre: www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk

Enedina Sanna at www.archividelsud.it

Julia Butterfly Hill at www.juliabutterflyhill.com

More about my research into stories and ethics can be found at www.restoryingtheearth.com

The Odyssey, by Homer at www.gutenberg.org

Geoff Mead and “Coming Home to Story”: www.valapublishers.coop