Fiona Waters
About Author
Once upon a time long, long ago, Fiona Waters was born in Edinburgh and she has had her nose in a book ever since. When she was about seven she heard Gabriel Woolf reading The Lady of Shalott on the radio and, from that moment, she was hooked on poetry forever.
Fiona has worked with children's books all her life as a bookseller, publisher, author, reviewer and latterly as the editorial director of Troubadour, choosing the books for book fairs in schools.
Now retired, she has been travelling to all the fairytale places she dreamt of as a child, like Russia and Japan, reading even more books with her two cats and still very much enjoying compiling anthologies.
Interview
TIGER, TIGER BURNING BRIGHT
NOSY CROW BOOKS
SEPTEMBER 2020
Following the success of Nosy Crow's poetry collection, I AM THE SEED THAT GREW THE TREE, editor FIONA WATERS has created a second collection featuring a poem for each day of the year, this time focusing on poems about animals.
The pages of the book, with powerful illustrations by BRITTA TECKENTRUP, are beautifully presented and will entice readers young and old to explore the poems they feature.
We asked FIONA WATERS to tell us more about how the collection has been curated:
Q: Can you tell us a little about your two poetry collections, I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree and Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright?
A: I was very thrilled when Nosy Crow asked me to compile I am the Seed that Grew the Tree as I had compiled many anthologies before but nothing on this scale. To find 366 poems you need a shortlist of something like 700. so it is a huge and engrossing task.
The reaction to that book went way beyond our expectations which was enormously exciting (especially since we are told so often that poetry books have very limited sales potential).Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright seemed to be a good idea for a follow up!
Q: What is your own background in poetry and how do you go about choosing the poems for these collections?
A: Ever since I discovered poetry as a small child it has been a great love of mine and I read a great deal of poetry alongside novels and non-fiction. I am always on the hunt for new poets and also forgotten poets who deserve to be re-discovered.
I search in books, rarely online unless I am stuck for a particular theme, and read endlessly. I don't look for children's poetry particularly, rather I hunt for powerful images that I know children will respond to every bit as much as adults.
Q: Why did you decide to follow up the - first book of nature poems with one about animals?
A: It was an easy decision really as I had found so many wonderful poems about elephants and kangaroos and lions while looking for poems for I am the Seed that Grew the Tree!
Q: Why do you approach the collection as a poem for each day of the year? What do you aim to achieve with each book?
A: Everyone has a birthday and the tendency is to look for the poem for that day first and then find other treasures on the way. Also reading a single poem a day is an easily achieved goal whereas 334 pages can seem a bit daunting to digest in one gulp.
Q: How are the poems arranged across the pages?
A: The poems are arranged on the page by the magnificent designers at Nosy Crow. They seek for maximum impact whether the poem is short or long and for a pleasing flow throughout the book. We also spent a lot of time deciding which poems were best for the varying times of a year. And we thought that certain poems should be 'hero' poems and have a whole double page spread to themselves.
Q: What do the illustrations by Britta Teckentrup bring to each collection?
A: I am the Seed that Grew the Tree was illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon and her wonderfully warm, fresh and sparkling images make the pages sing. I especially love her illustrations of birds, so many of whom I see on my feeders every day.
Britta Teckentrup, who illustrated Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright, needed a very different palette for such a world wide collection of creatures. I think her pictures are stunningly beautiful and they chime so much with what I had in mind when I was choosing the poems.
Q: Do any of the pages / poems stand out for you in this latest collection?
A: Such an impossible question! But I do love the dog trotting home on 13 March, the galahs, that I came to know so well when I was in Australia, on the last pages of July - and that tiger, of course!
Q: How would you like families and teachers to approach Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright and to share them with children?
A: Families can read the poem of the day at bedtime; teachers first thing in the morning to settle the class down.
Q: It can sometimes be hard to share and explore poetry - do you hope the format of these collections help to make poetry more accessible?
A: I think the most important thing when sharing poetry with children is to be unafraid and to challenge as much as possible. The glorious illustrations in both books will spark the initial interest and then the words will tumble into their minds and hearts. The habit of reading just one poem a day will keep their attention.
Q: Is another poetry collection being planned? If so can you tell us a little about it?
A: Well, wouldn't that be fun...!
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright! - An Animal Poem for Every Day of the Year: National Trust
I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree - A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year: National Trust
