In January, beloved author Julia Donaldson made a return visit to Hong Kong. Donaldson, who has received a MBE and was the UK Children’s Laureate between 2011 and 2013, is perhaps best loved for The Gruffalo (which has since been translated into 58 languages and sold over 13.5 million copies worldwide) and Room on the Broom. Of Donaldson’s published works 64 are widely available and a further 120 are intended for school and literacy use. Donaldson has been very modest about her success and gracious about the sharing of credit: “Of course I am very much indebted to my talented illustrators who bring my stories alive. One thing parents do often tell me is that their children can recite some of the stories by heart, probably because of the rhyme, rhythm and repetition (the three rs!).”

Julia Donaldson is already a big fan of Hong Kong after only two short visits, “We were here eight years ago for the Man Literary Festival, and really liked the feel of the place but had very little free time, so we were excited to be back on our way to New Zealand and Australia. As well as meeting some very sweet children and their parents we got to know some of the booksellers who seem to be doing such a good job. We loved the street markets, the delicious Cantonese food and the Star Ferry, and a highlight was our visit to Lamma Island.”

Donaldson, who has always been creative and has also had a successful career as a singer and songwriter, launched her first venture into writing in 1993 when one of the songs she had written for television, A Squash and A Squeeze, was made into a book. Since then her works, which also include numerous plays and poems, have been charming young people, their parents and teachers, for decades. Donaldson also believes that she gets her ideas from absolutely anywhere including childhood memories, things that happen to her own children, fairy stories and the places she’s visited. When asked what she enjoyed most about being a beloved children’s author, Donaldson said, “Probably it has been acting out the stories, and singing the songs, on stage, along with my husband Malcolm.”

Donaldson is also involved in a great deal of charity work and is a patron of Monmouth’s Savoy Cinema, ArtLink Central (which places artists in disadvantaged communities) and Bookbug, and incentive run in conjunction with the Scottish Book Trust which supplies over 500,000 books a year to Scottish children aged between 0 and 5. For those keen to learn more about Donaldson and her work, she maintains a detailed and entertaining website at http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/ and many of her works are available in bookshops and libraries throughout the city.

 

© 晉博教育中心 Brighten Youth Education Centre