{"id":65524,"date":"2016-10-25T15:20:53","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T04:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=65524"},"modified":"2016-12-12T15:08:39","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T04:08:39","slug":"meet-george-travel-averse-duck-penchant-making-fine-pastries-ironing-yoga-anything-flying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2016\/10\/25\/meet-george-travel-averse-duck-penchant-making-fine-pastries-ironing-yoga-anything-flying\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet George, a travel-averse duck with a penchant for making fine pastries… and ironing… and doing yoga. Anything but flying."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ttqs-booktoberfest\"<\/a>
\nGus Gordon is an internationally acclaimed illustrator and author. He has illustrated and written over 80 books for children. Gus’s first picture book, Wendy<\/em>,<\/a> was a Notable Book in the 2010 Children\u2019s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year Awards. His second picture book, Herman and Rosie<\/em><\/a>, now published in twelve countries, has been internationally acclaimed and awarded. Gus\u2019s latest picture book is Somewhere Else.\u00a0<\/em> <\/a><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a children\u2019s book author and illustrator based in Sydney, the town where I was born. I have been illustrating and writing books for twenty years. I grew up on a farm in the New England area of New South Wales near a town you\u2019ve never heard of, nor visited, called Ben Lomond. It\u2019s a very small, hilly place where people talk mostly about how cold it is or whether or not you\u2019ve noticed a tawny brown goat, about yea high, wander by. I spent most of my schooling in Armidale. It was here that I acquired a knack for daydreaming and bewilderment.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was twelve I wanted legs long enough to not require jean alterations. I also hoped I had the drawing skills necessary to draw pictures for a living. Aside from a good book, drawing was the only thing that could hold my attention longer than the time it took to devour a loaf of bread after school. I could draw for hours at a time without a single thought other than \u2018where is this line going to go?\u2019<\/p>\n

At eighteen I grew tired of everyone telling me that I should be an artist (how frightfully clever they all were), so I decided that I would abandon any artistic pursuits, move a long way away from everyone and ride a horse for twelve hours a day on a cattle station the size of Belgium. I drew (and wrote) in secret at night.<\/p>\n

At thirty, I still wanted legs long enough to not require jean alterations, but had learned enough from art college anatomy to know that this bird had long flown. Some things however, had changed. My clandestine activities were long discovered and I was now what everyone told me I should be: an artist. By this stage I was illustrating children\u2019s books in Sydney and wanted nothing more than to keep the lights on, maintaining a living doing something I loved.<\/p>\n

\"gus\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had the misguided, na\u00efve belief that everything was going to work out just fine without any of my actual involvement, outside of me starring triumphantly in the role of central character. Like a leaf on a stream, I was happy to float aimlessly on ahead without a plan or direction. Once I worked out that I needed to plot a course, things became clearer and I arrived upon the idea of ambition and how it could be helpful. That and a belief that REM were going to keep making good albums.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 What were three works of art \u2013 book or painting or piece of music, etc \u2013 had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer\/artist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wind in the Willows<\/a> <\/em>by Kenneth Graham was a book I discovered young and never left behind. This multi-layered novel has had a profound effect on the way I write and is also the reason why my characters are always anthropomorphic.<\/p>\n

Huckleberry Finn<\/em><\/a> by Mark Twain. This is one of those rare books where I remember how I felt reading it. I felt excited. Mark Twain was really good at lifting the story off the page and into your being. It is very much a boy\u2019s book and consequently I have many childhood memories that are associated with it in some form. It was easy to imagine myself as Tom Sawyer or Huck floating down the Mississippi with hours to kill. It was the first book where I can recall being aware of the writing and recognising that this was a valuable skill.<\/p>\n

Harry The Dirty Dog<\/em><\/a> written by Gene Zion, illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham. I read this book as a child but it wasn\u2019t until I started to write and illustrate picture books that I truly appreciated how good a book this is. It\u2019s pretty much a perfect story. I mean, it hasn\u2019t left the bookstore shelves since it was written in 1956!<\/p>\n\n\t\t