✨Kid’s Author Kirsten Ealand ✍️
Meet author Kirsten Ealand 🖋️
Kirsten is a children’s author writing fresh, relatable books for kids to leave the world a better place. She lives in a little patch of rainforest in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. 🍃
Q) How long have you been writing for?
✍️ I started writing for kids in 2017 after doing a Byron Community College course – Writing for Children with Zanni Louise. I’d done a few writing courses over the years, but it was just something I enjoyed and I never really thought about writing for children until Zanni’s course.
Growing up my family was all about academic vocations, not creative ones and I just didn’t even ever consider one.
Q) Tell us about ‘Like A Gannet’ and what inspired the story?
🏊♀️ Like a Gannet depicts the joy of swimming and the universal excitement and apprehension of that first time on the diving board.
It’s a celebration of summer days at the pool, cousins and one little fledgling who wants to be a gannet. This fresh take on a first experience story is inspired by my memories of being a child who wasn’t very sporty but who felt capable and graceful in the water. I spent hours in the pool pretending to be a dolphin and always wished I could dive.
I remember learning to swim at the public pool on holidays at my nanna’s house in her country town and, even as a teenager, I remember the joy of pushing through those turnstyles with my cousins on a 40 degree day.
Q) What’s your favourite part of this book. Why will little readers fall in love with it?
🐦 I think my favourite part is the gannet metaphor that runs through the text and I love how Deb has cleverly brought the gannet into the illustrations by having a mural at the pool with diving gannets on it.
Many people have never heard of a gannet, even though they have probably seen one diving for fish off the east coast of Australia. I love how the mural shows the gannet in all the different stages of the dive.
Like a Gannet will be perfect for children who love swimming and summer days at their local pool; want to do what the big kids are doing; may lack confidence to try something new or who like to face challenges in their own way; enjoy child-centered books where children help each other.
Q) Do you have any advice for aspiring children’s book authors?
💡 I think my biggest learning this year is to ask if don’t understand something and that the author is a valuable member of the publication team.
I really want to be an author who is easy to work with and a team player, so my initial approach was very hands off. I learnt along the way however that, if had any considered feedback or concerns or wanted some clarification, it was always best to communicate it.
I always sat with any feedback or update for a day or two before I responded, so I could really think about it - especially how it affected the story.
I learnt to trust that I know the story really well and to speak up if there is anything I’m not sure about. If I didn’t think it was enhancing the story or I wasn’t sure why that suggestion was being made I always asked for clarification and shared my thoughts and reasonings.
I was always flexible and open to changes but by having really open communication it really brought me along on the publisher’s vision for the story and I think we got the best outcomes because of it.
Q) Your book launch is coming up! How does it feel that your book launch month is finally here?
🚀 Yes, yay! They say it takes seven years to get a book published and that is exactly how long it’s taken me. So it’s been a long time coming, but at the same time this year has really flown and I can’t believe it’s October already!
My book launch is being held at Murwillumbah Library on Saturday 26 October at 10.15am. I work at the library which is right next door to Murwillumbah pool with its high and low diving boards that inspired the story.
I’ve dedicated the book to my dad who’s 87 and a couple of ladies I do deep water running classes with for showing me that 80 or 90 isn’t too old to still enjoy your local pool, and I really wanted it to be easy for them to attend the launch if they could.
I’m really looking forward to it and feeling glad that it is not till a few weeks after publication, so I can concentrate on the publication to-do list and then really enjoy the launch preparations.
✨Kirsten’s website: www.kirstenealand.com
✨ Follow Kirsten: @kirstenealand
