We are hugely excited to welcome the incredibly talented authors and illustrators James Mayhew and Jackie Morris to the blog to talk about their new collaboration Mrs Noah’s Song, illustration, influences, music and nature in a far-reaching and wide-ranging interview.

Please could you introduce us to Mrs Noah?

Jackie:

Mrs Noah is a woman of few words, but great action. She is kind and gentle and thinks for herself. She’s also a wise woman. She is a mother first and her family mean the world to her, but/and her family includes all that is living, from stone to tree to bird to bee to mythical creatures whose blood are stories. 

James:

I love the connection Mrs Noah has to nature, and her strength and resourcefulness. What I love about her in this story is her vulnerability, which we haven’t seen much of before. This story explores sadness, memory, and what you leave behind when you migrate. At the same time, Mrs Noah is a positive force, and through song she connects her family deeply in their new land.

What was involved in building out the character of Mrs Noah?

Jackie:

There are parallels between the story of Noah and Mrs Noah and the story in the Bible, but they are most certainly not the same thing. Mrs Noah is a story of migration, whilst the Bible story is one of apocalyptic vengeance, involving the death of all life, except for the one chosen family. As a child I could never understand why this story of extreme horror was told to children as a cute ‘look at all the animals, two by two’. I saw all that was left out, all who were drowned, punished and wiped from the face of the earth. Horror. Mrs Noah may have an ark, a husband and lots of animals. The roots may have sprouted from the Bible, but they all come from a place of love, not vengeance.

James:

I’m always amused when people complain that this doesn’t follow the bible story! In fact, Jackie was initially prompted to write the story after seeing my designs for Benjamin Britten’s children’s opera Noye’s Fludde. This has a rather irreverent Mrs Noah, who gets drunk, gossips and in one scene slaps Mr Noah - and the text is from the Chester Miracle Plays, written down in the 13th century! So the idea that Mrs Noah can only be one thing is absurd and has been for centuries. Jackie version is the best of the lot, of course!

In this book Mrs Noah is teaching the children to sing.  How important do you think it is for children to sing and what benefits do you think this brings?

Jackie:

Singing it a beautiful thing, and the rights of the child to sing, to be heard, to learn how music fits together and to find their own voice is of fundamental importance to me. Through music children can learn so much about listening and sharing.

James:

Children are naturally musical. This fundamental means of communication seems incredibly important to me, and I really don’t understand while music (and all the arts) are sidelined in education. The benefits are huge: language, memory, collaboration, confidence, storytelling, history, cultural differences, celebration, mourning, joy and sorrow - and humour! It’s all there in song.

You’ve both been involved with projects that bring music, stories and art together, can you tell us about this and the impact of music on children?

James:

I’ve been painting with musicians and orchestras for 15 years. It’s grown to become a huge part of my professional practice and inspired my book Once Upon A Tune. I work mostly in the classical world, restoring original tales to music inspired by myths and legends, and illustrating live to underpin the meaning of the music. It’s had a hugely response with family audiences who come back year after year. But also, as an art/music workshop in the classroom, I’ve been moved to see how many of the quiet, under confident children start to shine. Autistic children, elective mutes, Down’s Syndrome children too, they see to respond deeply to the music, and create and join in. It’s been exceptionally rewarding.

I was fortunate enough to see Jackie painting to music at the World premiere of Spell Songs at Snape in Suffolk. This concert of folk music is inspired by her collaboration with Robert McFarlane, The Lost Words (for which Jackie won the Kate Greenaway medal). It was very special to be in the audience and witness how art, words and music can intertwine so powerfully, so gracefully. Jackie has gone on to tour all over the country, painting in beautiful inks and casting her own spell. It’s funny we’ve both ended up enchanted and bewitched by music, and song.

Are there any particular pieces of music which especially resonate with you and do you listen to music when writing and illustrating?

James:

When I’m writing I need silence. When I’m illustrating I listen to all sorts of music. I love any music that tells a story. I tend to listen to mostly classical music, but I also have a big long of traditional folk songs from other countries.  I especially love Spanish folk music - I have many records by a Spanish/Catalan soprano Victoria de Los Angeles. Although she was best known as an opera singer, she was also the first to record many traditional songs of Spain. What fascinates me is the Arabic, Indian or Jewish influences on the songs, many written during the time the Moors ruled Spain. The Arabesques in the music remind us that these are songs that travelled from other cultures. Like Mrs Noah and her family, songs migrate too!

In the classical world, my biggest loves are Sibelius and Rimsky-Korsakov - they were both “musical illustrators” creating wonderful images and stories in sound.

Jackie, how does it feel to write stories that are illustrated by somebody else?

I love writing for other illustrators, and it is always a delight to see my words come to life in the paintings and collages. I would love to do more. I would so love to write for Petr Horacek and Angela Barrett, but then would have loved to have written for Brian Wildsmith and Pauline Baynes.

James, please can you tell us about the process and media you used for illustrating Mrs Noah’s song?

This is a technique I developed especially for the first Mrs Noah book. Essentially it is collage, but it involves lots of printmaking too. I love printing and lino-cutting, so I create often abstract linocuts and print them to create interesting textures. These linos can be printed on all sorts of paper, including music scores. other papers are painted, scribbled on, rubbed with crayons etc. I them cut these up the create the images. Often an unexpected decision is made - sometimes a paper will suggest something different to what I’d intended. There is a huge amount of experiment and play, which I love. Ultimately, my eye, my *vision* guides it all, but I constantly surprise myself. Some small details are fiddly and difficult (and I may resort to drawing for those), and it’s a time-consuming (all- consuming!) practice. It is hard work. But I love that until every bit is glued, it can continually change.

The depiction of nature and of light is beautiful and there’s a real sense of joy and wonder in how children connect with nature and the environment around them.  Was nature important to you growing up and has it continued to be?

Jackie:

This seems like so strange a question. Without Nature we do not exist, so, yes, it was important to my basic life support. It’s not a theme park, it is life support. We are all connected, and humans are so small a part of the natural, wild world. We just happen to be a very badly behaved part, who need to take a good look at our place in the universe and re-establish our focus on what is important. EVERY LIVING THING.

James:

One Spring, when I was about ten years old, I woke up in the night, and decided to creep downstairs. I tiptoed through the kitchen and unlocked the door. The sky was almost green, and the grass in the garden was wet with dew. In our garden was a very old apple tree, big enough for a hammock. There is a special magic about being somewhere you shouldn’t, especially when the rest of the world is asleep. I lay in the hammock and watched the sky change. One by one the birds awoke, singing their little hearts out, louder and louder! A thrilling sound, bursting with life and music; an exultation. It was transcendent and never forgotten: my first drawn chorus.

When I first chatted to Jackie Morris about her ideas for Mrs Noah’s Song, I described this memory. She very generously wove it into the story. When she first read it, I cried. It touched on something very deep inside - obviously my memory, but also something more - the beauty of the natural world, so often smothered in mankind’s noise, or threatened with environmental damage. But it also spoke of the power of music, of the arts, and of communication, and sharing.

I grew up in the country, in a tiny village in Suffolk. There was nothing else there *except* Nature. Perhaps I take that immersion in the natural world for granted? I don’t know. It was a very simple, very ordinary childhood in many ways. It wasn’t an idyll. But I learned huge respect for nature, for weather. In Suffolk, the skies and sunsets were astonishing. As an adult, going out into the world, it’s been quite demoralising to see what the human race has done to the planet - the roads, the cities, the trashing of Nature. Five years ago, I moved back to Suffolk. It called me home, and I couldn’t be happier. I need to be near woodland, river and birdsong.

A big thank you to James Mayhew and Jackie Morris for the interview and to Tatti de Jersey and Otter-Barry Books for the opportunity.  The Youth Libraries Group annual conference this year focuses around nature and the environment, Reading the Planet.  To find out more visit here.

Photos: James Mayhew by respira fotografia; Jackie Morris by Elly Lucas