Stories are, and have for centuries been an intrinsic part of our societies and cultures. Evolutionary thinking has expanded beyond the field of biology to include virtually all human-related subjects like anthropology, religion, morality and politics, and has developed to include the origins of the story.
What inspires an author to write? Where do these stories come from? Do personal experiences matter? Do the writer’s immediate surroundings shape their minds or the way it functions? The 11-day Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2017), put together a panel of famous children’s authors from four different countries of the world, who gave the audience fantastic insights into their minds, sharing personal experiences that drove them to write the stories they did.
Joshua Seigal, award-winning poet, performer and educator from the UK captivated the audiences with his poems and referred to the sounds of words as the primary muse for his poetry.
“I love to use a lot of fun words in my poems, even if they don’t make sense. Whenever I hear words whose sounds I love, I put them in my poems. Sometimes, my poems also tell stories that have stuck with me since childhood. For these, I go into my memory, and tap into instances and emotions that give me ideas to write,” he said.
Pakistani children’s author, Saman Shamsie, read excerpts from one of her books to elucidate her inspirations. “When I was young, I could be in a room full of friends and still feel alone. As I grew up, I found comfort in it – I was bothered no more. The use of language and the beauty of words have also had an impact on my writing. I remember the stories I read as a child, and those stories have been in my heart.”
Nandini Nayar, award-winning author from India mentioned historical references, life experiences, her impressions of the society that she grew up in and her non-conformist views, especially as a woman in the Indian society, as sources of inspirations for the subjects that her books deal with.
“I take up real life instances, occurrences in the history of the world and present them in a different perspective, as very often the history that we read is that of the victor’s. One of my story collections titled, This is How It Happened, narrates key incidents in Indian history from the point of view of those in the background. I asked myself: how did this person react? Did something s/he did change the course of history? That was the starting point of my story,” Nayar remarked.
“Imagination and creativity are very important to me. I think of what will bring a smile on the faces of my young readers, and that is my biggest source of inspiration,” said Lebanese author and life coach, Sana’ Sami Shabbani, whose works have been selected by UNESCO to use in their children’s curriculums.
It is believed by most historians and psychologists that storytelling is one of the many things that define and bind our humanity. The origin of these tales, the sources of the writer’s creativity are as fascinating as the stories themselves, especially in that they reflect very similar themes no matter where they come from.