Inspiring the next generation

READING TIME: lllustrator Josh Morgan (far right) was at Manutuke School to read and inspire the next generation, including, from left, Niouca Carlson, Pharah Brown and Maia Cook. Picture by Liam Clayton

Picture book illustrator Josh Morgan visited Manutuke School on Monday to read, sing and share his craft with the next generation.

“It's cool to inspire kids and show them there is stuff you can do from doing silly drawings,” Morgan said.

The Bomb, which Morgan created with his partner Sacha Cotter, has won numerous awards, including the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year 2019 Supreme Winner.

The pair visit schools to read their books to students.

“It's normally me and my fiance, Sacha, who write the books. She's back looking after the kid at the moment.”

The Bomb is about being true to oneself as a boy searches for the secret to doing the perfect bomb into the water.

“One of my iwi is Rongowhakaata, and my marae is Manutuke, so I thought it would be cool to come and visit the school.”

Morgan's cousin, who has children at the school, helped connect him with the teachers.

“I read a lot of books. My favourite thing about books is looking at the pictures because when I come to school and do the drawing activities I get better at it,” said Niouca Carlson, a student who listened to Morgan read.

Morgan was a doodler at school and decided to head to Victoria University to study a design and illustration degree.

“Then a few years after I finished I was working in a library and I was going to do a kids storytime and I saw some picture books that I really loved as a kid.”

That's when the breakthrough came. “This is what I should be doing,” he said at the time.

He got in contact with Huia publishers and drew school publications for them.

Although Huia primarily produces books, they inadvertently became a matchmaker for Cotter and Morgan.

“We met through picture books,” said Morgan.

On their first two books, the pair didn't work together and the publisher liaised between them.

But for the third story, The Bomb, they finally met, fell in love and now have a child.

The pair continue to create and challenge each other.

“It has been really good, I trust her feedback, which is a cool creative process.”

And they are expanding.

“We have just finished a TV show for TVNZ's HeiHei called Extreme Cake Sports, so we're branching out from picture books.”

But picture books take up a lot of their time, so the pair see as much of the country as they can by visiting schools.

“This year I did a tour in the Waikato-Waitomo area as part of The Storylines Tour, where three or four authors tour around and visit schools. We get to about three schools a day for about a week, which is pretty full-on,” Morgan said.

“But it's really cool. You do an hour-long presentation, and depending on the age of the kids there will be more songs or more stories.”

If the kids are older Morgan will tell the children some of the secrets behind creating a book from scratch.