Grandma Lim's Persimmon - launch at AFCC 2013

AFCC - Asian Festival of Children’s Content is taking place at the moment (25 – 30 May 2013) in Singapore
AFCC is a festival that brings together content creators and producers with parents, teachers, librarians and anyone interested in quality Asian content for children around the world. http://afcc.com.sg/_2013
I attended last year and did two presentations and some masterclasses in illustration. Unfortunately I was unable to go again this year - mayby I can manage to go next year!

Today, 27th May, at the AFCC, Sanita and my book is going to be launched! Wish I was there.
Sunita - Good luck and thank you for asking me to illustrate your book and Thank you too to
Linda Lingard of Yusof Gajah Lingard Literary Agency in Malaysia!

 

Details of launch...

Grandma Lim’s Persimmon
Sunita Lad Bhamray, Marjorie van Heerden
Date:    27 May 2013, 5:45pm – 6:15pm
Venue:    The Plaza, NLB

Grandma Lim has a persimmon tree. One day she sees the biggest and most beautiful persimmon on the tree. She decides to save it for her granddaughter. But the persimmon went missing after a storm blew it off the tree. That’s when a centipede, a spider and a cat got involved to save the day.

About the Author:
Sunita Lad Bhamray is an educator by profession and a writer at heart. She believes that stories have a strong influence on children’s development. After a successful start with ‘Triumphs on the Turf’, her book on horse racing, she has written a number of stories for children and dedicates them to her students who have inspired her.

 About the Illustrator:
Marjorie van Heerden is an award-winning illustrator from South Africa. From an early age she loved drawing and today her illustrations have appeared in more than 120 children’s books. She has been published as illustrator and / or author in 35 languages around the world.

More illustrations from the book

I have not been updating/loading talks and articles I wrote/presented the last few years - but at last I did - go to http://marjorie-van-heerden-articles.blogspot.com/ to read the five articles/talks I posted - or just click on the link in the sidebar - enjoy!

We won the 2012 M.E.R. Award!

 













A highlight for me last year was in June, when author Alex D’Angelo and I won the M.E.R. Award (one of the Media24 Books Literary Awards) for the best illustrated children’s book published in South African during the previous year (2011) – we won the award for Goblin Diaries: Apprenticed to the Red Witch, published by Tafelberg Publishers (SA). This was the second time I have had the honour to be awarded this prestigious award, the first time was in 2008 when it went to Wendy Hartmann (as author) and me (as illustrator) for Nina and Little Duck, published in 2007 by Human & Rousseau (SA).

I was completely shocked and, of course, speechless.  As a result, my thank you speech was: "Thank you!"

So here is the speech I should have made that night, the people I should have said that "thank you" to:

To my husband, Johann: Thank you for your love and encouragement. And your help. Without you I would not have had the guts to become a writer and an illustrator. And to continue creating book after book  for more than three decades.

To Alida Potgieter, the editor who gave me my very first illustrating job, and who also became my friend: Thank you for believing in me and launching me on such a wonderful journey. 

To Alex d'Angelo, for writing this exciting, imaginative story. I really enjoyed illustrating it.

To Michelle Cooper, for asking me to illustrate Alex's manuscript. Thank you.

To the Media24 Literary Awards committee and the judges: Thank you so much for your appreciation and for honouring me (a second time!) with this award - It is really a very special honour. I am passionate about my work. But we writers and illustrators mostly work in isolation. And while working long, solitary hours to try and create something magical for the children, one becomes so involved and so focused that, eventually, you have a problem really judging your own work. So, to receive an award such as this, to publicly receive such recognition from specialists such as yourselves, means a lot. It really does. Thank you so much.