SAPLING #40 — Stories with wings
Björköby residency — Blog #4
When the illustrators taking part in the SmåBUS festival were asked to make an original artwork about Astrid Lindgren’s book The children of Noisy Village, Jurgen started thinking about an image. But very quickly the idea grew to wander off the beaten path, like we so often do, and turn in a full Sapling instead. So we did, text and image, as a tribute to the imagination, and to Astrid Lindgren.
Jurgen’s image is exhibited in Astrid Lindgren’s Näs, flanked by the work of his fellow-illustrators. The Sapling text is not on display, but that doesn’t matter very much. The attention of the Swedish press really made up for that. Vetlanda Posten did not only spend a lot of printed space on the SmåBUS festival, the weekend edition also decided to zoom in on the writer-illustrator pair that would stay on for the residency… We had a very pleasant talk with the reporter, and an exciting first, to top it all: the full English version of the Sapling has appeared in print.
There simply is no more better way to celebrate our 40th creative sprout, and the autumn equinox as its moment to come out into the world.
SAPLING #40
Stories with wings
If I tell you a story now, can we go outside later?
A story about how three houses seemed the world and how six children inhabited that world as if there was no other. A story about climbing trees, sleeping in sheds, building cabins and spying on the water ghost.
For there are times when you have to pretend that all is simply well, and that there are no wars or prisons or grown-ups with their mouths full of lies. Sometimes you have to look at the little things, nothing but the little things, and look at them so closely that they fill your vision and are all you can see. And you have to be happy, very happy, for as long as you can.
Sometimes, it’s okay to get lost, too. Like a bird born to the wrong nest, perhaps, not quite understanding what you’re doing up there. That’s also what a good story is for. But don’t worry, if it all gets too strange or too scary for you, the storyteller will pluck you from the tree where she put you, and in no time she’ll have you back on the ground, safe on your own two legs. Phew!
But make no mistake: from that moment onwards, you will find yourself secretly longing to go back up into those high branches of the story, the nest from which you suddenly saw the world in a different light, for things always seem clearer from up high. You will always float a little from then on, you might even fly a tiny bit, now and then. Because now, you know how.
For that is what stories are all about: they make you grow wings, even if you don’t realize it when it happens.
If I tell you a story, can we go outside?
Climb trees, and look for nests?
The SAPLING series is a joint project with artist and illustrator Jurgen Walschot.
Saplings are creative sprouts. I will write to the images, he will draw to the words.
