Interview with Author/Illustrator Jane Porter

Katy: I’d love to start with one of our (my toddler son and I’s) favourite picture books of all time, The Boy Who Loved Everyone (illustrated by Maisie Paradise Shearring). The book’s message is so warming: Dimitri tells everyone at nursery school “I love you” but no one says it back. He worries no one loves him – until he finds out there are lots of different ways love can spread and grow. Congrats for winning the Little Rebels Award and the Christopher Award for this book. It was also chosen by Amnesty International as a book to inspire activism. I understand this story is based on a real boy who attended your weekly art class at a local nursery.

Jane: I’m still going to that local nursery – I think it’s been almost 15 years now! It’s a really essential part of my process to spend time with children this age, as my own children are long since grown up. Being with 3–4-year-olds is the most life-enhancing, charming, delightful and inspiring experience you could ever have. They are so funny, so affectionate, so uninhibited and so honest. Many of my books started here one way or another, not just The Boy Who Loved Everyone. Pink Lion began when a boy at nursery asked if the story was going to be about a pink lion – so of course I had to write that one. King Otter began when I was given cowboy boots for my birthday, and I noticed I was walking with a bit of a swagger. Then Be Bold Bob is about my own terror of performing in public on my fiddle (I’m learning to play my great-grandfather’s Scottish fiddle) – translated into a secretly singing elephant.

Katy: I adore what one of the judges of the Little Rebels Award had to say about The Boy Who Loved Everyone: “In these challenging and divisive times, the most radical act of all is surely to love; The Boy Who Loved Everyone brims joyfully with it.” I wholeheartedly agree! What do your books teach you that you couldn’t learn otherwise?

Jane: With Be Bold Bob, by writing the story I taught myself to overcome stage fright. It just came to me that (assuming you have a benevolent audience) it really is true that no one minds if you get it wrong. People are rooting for you, and they will be impressed simply by the act of trying. But to be more general, thinking about not just picture books but fiction more generally, reading teaches empathy in a way that nothing else can.

Katy: I know you’ve illustrated several of the books you’ve authored. Could you tell me what It’s like to work with an illustrator versus illustrating your own books? How does that change the experience or dynamic?

Jane: When Walker Books first broached the idea that someone else might illustrate my story, I had a very small, brief moment of feeling put out. But I soon realised that it’s a wonderful thing to have a picture book partner, and Maisie was my dream collaborator! She asked if she could come to the nursery and draw, and we were able to arrange for that to happen; she included so many real details like the teacher and the ladybird cushions. People are often surprised to hear that authors and illustrators don’t usually work together; the illustrator gets the text once the story is complete, then the author waits to see the roughs. It’s always a delightful surprise when you get to that point in the process. I have been very lucky to be paired with some amazing illustrators, and I’ve also experienced picture book partnership the other way round, as illustrator for four texts by Paul Stewart.

Katy: What is the most joyful part of bringing stories to life? Is there anything you don’t enjoy about this process?

Jane: It is a joyful process for sure. I suppose the part that people don’t see is the near-misses – the stories that don’t make it, of which there are many. It’s hard when you spend time and emotional energy developing a story and putting your heart into it, and then hear the crushing words “it’s too quiet for today’s market.” I’ve heard those words MANY times, yet I still firmly believe that there are billions of quiet children out there who still enjoy quiet books.

Katy: Who are your favourite children’s book author/illustrators?

Jane: I am a huge fan of Viviane Schwarz – both her stories and illustrations are so clever, so original, and so full of heart, in particular the series of interactive cats’ books. Fiona Woodcock’s visual style is stunning, her colour palettes and textures are so beautiful and not like anyone else’s. Very inspiring!

Katy: Your latest picture book Be Bold, Bob features an elephant trying to overcome stage fright. I was wondering, how do you overcome your own fears (rejection, failure, etc.), as related to your creative work?

Jane: This is a really important question – the world of picture books is just as warm, friendly and cosy as you’d expect; but it’s also enormously competitive and very, very hard to break into. Not giving up is essential, of course, and finding the resilience to keep going, keep sending work out even if all you get back is tumbleweed. You have to find a way to keep the joy of making at the heart of it, and separate that somehow from the harsh commercial reality. It took me a while to wake up to the fact that under that cosy surface, it’s a business like any other and if a publisher can’t see potential for profit in your work, they won’t take it – no matter how much they might personally love it.

My biggest bugbear is silence – it’s fair enough if you are sending out unsolicited work, and I don’t consider anyone under any obligation to respond to that. But I’ve been invited to send ideas in on more than one occasion, then never heard any more about it. And worst of all, I had a book contract, did the work, and the book didn’t get the co-editions and was ditched without anyone telling me. Being ghosted is the worst, but if you can get over that, you can get over anything.

Katy: Creating art takes a lot of confidence. Where do you find yours?

Jane: I’m quite good at not overthinking things, or dwelling on mistakes. I think it’s important to keep feeling excited about the next idea, and to have a few things on the go at once. But it did take me a LONG time to gather the confidence to send anything out to publishers – several years. I wish I’d had the confidence to start sooner, but there’s also such a thing as too soon. I needed most of that time to develop.

Katy: What is one piece of advice you’d give to an aspiring author/illustrator?

Jane: Put a little bit of yourself into your story – that will give it heart and authenticity.

Katy: You have a lot of interesting hobbies, like inventing trails for museums and working as an environmental volunteer in a south London river with the Wandle Trust. In fact, your four-part graphic novel The Ghost Carp is a re-telling of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick but set on a 21^st century urban river. Can you share more about that? Do you see yourself going more in the direction of comic books in the future?

Jane: I have slightly too many hobbies, that’s one of my problems! I get excited about new things very easily. I started a course last year to make my own violin but have recently given up as it turns out it’s very, very difficult…

The graphic novel is something I’d really like to get back to soon; it’s been on pause too long. I spent 20 years as a river cleanup volunteer but sadly after lockdown the cleanups are no longer regular, and I really miss them. I think that little dose of inspiration is missing, too. But I do love comics – I teach an online comics course once a week and would love to do more in that direction.

Katy: Lastly, what motivates you?

Jane: I suppose what completes the circle is doing school visits and reading stories to children and seeing their response. You can tell straight away whether a story is working or not. It’s always very touching when they come up afterwards and say things like “this was the best day of my life!” Those are the moments that make it all worthwhile.

Jane Porter is a children’s author and illustrator, community artist and comics teacher. You can find out more through her monthly free newsletter Story Street, her YouTube channel (featuring creative inspiration and interviews with fellow picture book makers), and her website.