Recap - October 2023

Brussels, no waffles but origami breakfast

For this month’s story actually started last year. One day in May 2022, I received an email. It was an invitation to a book festival in October 2023 at the British School of Brussels. I couldn’t believe that someone would invite me to an international event despite the expenses (imposter syndrome much? 😂) but of course I said yes. Fast-forward 17 months and I found myself catching an Eurostar to the city of waffles.

The BSB Book Festival

I was invited to the last two days of the week-long festival. I had never done an in-person book event outside London, not to mention outside the country, and I had never done an event that required overnight stays, so to put it simply, I was blooming nervous. But, my worry was put to sleep as soon as I got to Brussels. If I describe the whole experience in one word, it’d be “super organised” (OK, two words). Everything, from meals and transportation to accommodation, was planned and arranged to a T by the school. As soon as I arrived at the school on my first day, I immediately felt welcomed and I was well looked after all day by the friendly English Department teachers and librarians.

I had seven sessions with students between kindergarten to Year 3 (3-8 year olds) plus one breakfast meet & greet over two days. At school visits, I sometimes struggle to keep attentions of students, especially little ones, or to contain over excited children. But all the BSB students were fully engaged and well behaved. I couldn’t ask for more.

For the Early Year and Reception children, I read When the Sun Goes Home. The big rainbow climax is alway a crowd-pleaser. And one of the children showed me her painting of spotty rainbow 🥰

For the Year 1 and 2 students, I did storytime and workshop based on Avocado Asks. For the workshop, I did a draw-a-long and demonstrated how to create veg/fruit based characters, then I asked the children to imagine themselves as a fruit or a vegetable and create their own self-portraits.

The year 3 session was slightly bigger group in a hall so I decided to show my book making process instead of the self-portrait activity. Although I encountered my first and only technical hiccup at the beginning, the session went great, thanks to the helpful school staff.

*The school had a strict no photo policy, which was very understandable, so I didn’t take any photo (except the one above).

Special Japanese Session

BSB is an international school with students from all over the world. They have around 70 countries represented. During the festival, I was asked do a Japanese storytime for their Japanese-speaking students. I was surprised and excited because no one had ever asked me that before.

I met a small group of Japanese and mixed race Japanese students, aged from Reception to Year 5, in a library. At the beginning I struggled to switch my brain from English to Japanese, plus I had never done anything like this in Japanese before so my Japanese was so awkward at first. One moment I was talking too formal, then the next I was talking too casual. I was a mess 🙈 One of the teachers asked a question in English. I started answering but after good ten seconds or so I noticed her baffled expression. I was speaking to her in Japanese and I didn’t realise 😂

But once I started reading Avocado Asks Japanese edition (『アボカドくんのなやみごと』), my brain began to relax. When I do storytimes in English, my mind often drifts because I get self-conscious about my pronunciation and accent. But I didn’t have the worry in Japanese so I could just focus on the story. I was even doing voices!

Then, a Year 5 student gave me the most amazing gift - a beautifully presented letter and a Japanese breakfast made with paper (because she was also attending the breakfast meet & greet with me)! The letter read:

“I want to be an author and illustrator, and I am inspired by your story. As a Japanese-American girl, it makes me feel special to know a female Japanese author/illustrator like you who has made her dream come true.”

I felt my eyes welled up when saw the gift. Unless you’re a celebrity or best-selling author/illustrator who has landed on a big series or a film/TV adaptation deal, making a living solely with writing and illustration, especially picture books, is really hard. It sometimes feels impossible. This is a tough and monetarily super under-valued occupation. But moments like this remind me why I do what I do.* Definitely, the gift was the best highlight of my time in Brussels.

*I still want to get paid more though.

Super Colleagues

What made my first international event extra wonderful was my fellow guest authors/artists. I got to spend time with Sarah Crossan, Karl Nova, Sarah McIntyre, Philip Reeve and Julian Sedgwick. Among these experienced authors, I felt like a baby (and they knew each other for years but I didn’t know anyone), but they were so friendly and generous. I truly enjoyed hanging out with them in the green room, sharing taxies and having meals together!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of their actual sessions with the students, but all of us were invited to a special evening event where some of the older students did some performances. In the event, Sarah McIntyre, Philip Reeves, Sarah Crossan and Karl Nova did short talks (I was asked too but I said no) and they SMASHED it! The audience laughed and cheered and loved them. You know the mixed feelings you get when you meet very talented people? A mixture of admiration and envy? That’s what I felt that evening. Watching them working the crowd, my heart sunk a little because I knew I wouldn’t be a public speaker like them in million years, but I felt inspired because I learned a lot from their performances. Maybe one day, I’ll build up my confidence and work the crowd in my own quiet and awkward way.

Eurostar Crew! I had a fun train journey back with Sarah and Julian.

My experienced colleagues rated the festival and school very highly. So I was really lucky to have got to do this for my first international event. Karl Nova (he’s such a maverick) perfectly summarised the whole experience in his rap below. Would I do this all over again? 100 percent!

karlnova

A post shared by @karlnova

So fun October is over. November (and December and January) will be work, work, work for me. I finally finalised the text for my next book (I thought it was done last month but it wasn’t…but it’s a story for another time) so now I’m going to crack on the illustrations. Let’s see how it goes. I’ll report back to you next month. By then, take care!

Momoko x

Any comments and question will be welcome!

And much appreciated if you could spread the word!