‘We ALL tell stories all the time.  We narrativise our lives as we try to make sense of them.  We tell useful stories to ourselves, or unhelpful ones, and they are powerful.  We live by them often without knowing.’ 

Marcus Sedgwick

The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Twitter Takeover has been a part of the awards programme for four years now.  This year’s Takeover felt particularly special given the challenges that the awards process, the judges, shadowers, publishers and (of course), the authors and illustrators have faced through Covid-19.  A theme that ran through much of the conversation was the vibrant and varied discussion around the arts and their role as influences and inspirations.

With the winners of this year’s awards due to be announced on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme on Wednesday 17 June, the story for the awards will feel somewhat different to usual in 2020.  For those who are looking for other work to dive into, delving into different ways of thinking and seeing, here is a compilation of the recommendations made by authors and illustrators throughout the discussions.

Poynton High School Library asked Shaun Tan which picture books and or illustrators inspired him as a child and in the present day.

‘Phew, too many to list.  Where the Wild Things Are [Maurice Sendak] always loomed large in my imagination and still does.  The Red Tree has some similarities to it, see if you can spot them.  Right now I’ve enjoyed the work of Sydney Smith, an illustrator with great heart in every line.’

Talking about nature, Shaun said ‘a book I’d recommend is The World Without Us,  [Alan Weisman] which explains how fast nature would overrun human cities. Part inspiration for Tales from the Inner City actually.’  Shaun also described how ‘stencil street art and the ‘human shadow etched in stone’ of the Hiroshima bombing’ helped influence his use of silhouettes in Tales from the Inner City describing this as ‘Sort of taxonomic and a bit funerary’.

Julian and Marcus Sedgwick spoke about their shortlisted book, Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black.  Julian recommended films ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ film and Cocteau’s Orphee which he described as ‘a really worthwhile and hallucinatory viewing experience.’

Asked around whether they turn to art during times of adversity themselves and whether they have any first choices, Julian suggested Anton Chekhov ‘He’s like a thoughtful and gently helpful older family member.’  Marcus chose  ‘Thomas Mann for the same reason, appropriately like a wiser older brother saying good things about people.’  Marcus said he looks for voices that aren’t cynical suggesting Adalbert Stifter and Artur Schnitzler.

Talking about artists Marcus described how they knew they ‘wanted someone who could capture the feel of some of the actual WW2 artists like [Mervyn] Peake [Mervin], [Alan] Moore.’  Julian described how [Francisco] Goya  was in the manuscript from Harry’s journal. 

Julian suggests ‘As long as art reflects complexity, nuance etc there has to be a vital space for art – even in the worst times.’  He suggested [Henryk] Gorecki’s Third Symphony - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs as an example.  Julian cited film makers Powell and Pressberger as ‘so interesting as a working team.’

Poonam Mistry spoke about the influences of kalamkari and traditional Indian art and also of Inuit textile patterns in her art describing how she likes ‘the patterns in my work to reflect the origins and setting of the story’.

Chris Naylor-Ballesteros, revealed that on re-reading The Arrival by Shaun Tan, he realised some of the subconscious parallels that exist between this and his shortlisted title The Suitcase leading to a discussion on inspirations.

Beth Waters revealed that she plays the cello in an orchestra and has played [Anton] Dvorak’s New World Symphony twice.  She also introduced us to a song by Siiga, ‘Michelle (Seashell) (see here)  

Chris Vick talked about how the frame for his book is from One Thousand and One Nights and introduced e e cummings poem maggie and milly and molly and may. 

Randy Ribay described his personal reading journey, ‘as a kid reading was escapism for and there’s a power in that.  I loved entering Narnia [C S Lewis], Redwall [Brian Jacques] etc.  In college, I came to understand the revolutionary power of books by reading the authors I mentioned in my previous answer.’ 

That answer included James Baldwin, Jean Toomer, Sandra Cisneros, Haruki Murakami, Walter Dean Myers, Carlos Bulosan, Jose Rizal, Audre Lorde, Patrick Rosal, Toni Morrison.  Randy commented he picked ‘authors instead of particular books because there are too many to name!’

Dean Atta described going to Church of England schools for his primary and secondary education ’the Bible had A LOT of power in my childhood,’  answering a question from Poynton High School Library about past YA LGBTQ authors he admires, Dean suggested Jacqueline Woodson. 

Dean also introduced us to many of his inspirations citing Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss when younger and the poetry of Maya Angelou, Gil Scott-Heron, John Agard, Benjamin Zephaniah, Shakespeare’s plays and also giving an insight into some of his musical tastes Bob Marley, Tupac, Nirvana, The Roots, Ursula Rucker.

Dean powerfully described how ‘Reading books about characters similar to ourselves can be such an affirming experience.’ Going on to further state that ‘reading books about identities different to our own can be extremely educational and a great exercise in empathy.’ 

These descriptions of the art and purpose of reading sparked a recommendation from Randy remind him of ‘Rudine Sims Bishop’s concept of books as windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors’ (see here)  the premise of which not only underpins why we read and its importance, but also the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway’s medal’s mission:

‘to inspire and empower the next generation to create a better world through books and reading’.

If you have any thoughts or recommendations of your own to make, please use the comments section below.