Amanda Lieber is a children’s book author passionate about storytelling. Her stories inspire and entertain whilst often involving serious themes and issues. Her debut picture book, My Giant Seashell, explores depression through the eyes of a child and has touched the hearts of many children and adults alike. At the 2024 Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) she led Amanda’s Craft Corner, helping to nourish the imagination and creativity of young participants through craft and storytelling. She has won many awards and accolades, including being longlisted for the 2022 Larrikin House Picture Book competition and shortlisted for the 2020 Buzz Word Prize Short Story.
Ahead of the festival, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with her about the importance of having children’s literature that gently handles serious themes, her writing process, advice for aspiring authors, and much more.
Date- Wednesday, May 15, 2024
My first question is a fun one, if you could describe yourself in three words, what words would they be?
Oh my goodness. I’d say I'm a bit eccentric. Quirky. It's hard to say. Funny or fun. Adventurous.
Those are great words. What motivated you to become a children's book author?
So, I have written all my life. I studied drama, that was my major. I was an actress for many years, I wrote plays and poems. I travelled a lot and I was always writing down things about people's characteristics and typical conversations. I was very curious to know about things. I always wonder, have I seen an interesting looking person or someone with habits? I wonder how they caught that habit or who they are? What's happened to them in the past? Creating a story about a person and not judging them, and just using them as a platform to inspire something else.
Oh wow, that's lovely. My Giant Seashell is your debut book, and it explores depression through the eyes of a child, what inspired you to write that?
I used to work at the Sydney Children's Hospital School. One particular day, this family, they are still very vivid in my mind, the mum dropped one of her daughters at school and the other daughter was receiving treatment, and the mum broke down in tears. I'm comforting her and she was a rollercoaster of emotions. Just going through a range of emotions. That night I went to the beach, saw a shell and picked it up. I whispered a wish into the shell and chucked it into the ocean. Then when I got home that night I just saw these images. The images just came to me and it's almost like a poem. So it came into my head and then I just wrote it down and then it went from there. Working at the Children's Hospital, it was just the emotions of the parents and I always wondered how you'd explain it to the child who is well, as well as the child who is not well, what is happening to mum? What was happening to her parents? Because they see mum was upset and unhappy and worried and how do you explain it to a child? That's essentially where the story came from.
Why do you think it's important that children have books like yours that deal with serious themes, such as depression?
They come across as conversation starters. A child might not know how to approach the topic or the subject or they might not know what they're feeling or what an adult is feeling. Children, I find, are so in the moment. We think about the past, we worry about the future. With the child, it's good to just chat to them about things that are happening around them. Because they are completely aware of what's happening around them, they just might not be able to understand or put it into words. So, it's a good platform just to start the conversation. To broach the topic, and if they have any questions. They would feel more open and free to ask about certain things that they are seeing and experiencing.
Can you tell me a bit about your writing process? How you develop characters and plot lines and settings? Or does it just all come to you?
Yes, I wish I was a plotter. There's terminology, the plotter or the pantser, and I'm so totally a pantser. I’ve done courses on plotting, and I just haven't managed to get plotting. I basically I sit down and I just write, which is quite a haphazard way to do it. I wish I could plot characters. I actually visualise characters, I see them in my head. And I just write down what I see. That's more hard. The characters come to me. I have tried to do a course on plotting and she was an incredible teacher. She says to inflate all different sources, see what your character would visually look like, what smells they could smell, and I tried it. So whatever emotion comes to me at the time, then that's how I write.
What are some of your biggest challenges of being an author?
Finding time to write, definitely. And the motivation to write, in a way it could be like writer's block. Also the fact that I don't plot could be a major hurdle. And the editing process. Goodness me! I love coming up with ideas and just writing ideas. I've got a whole file full of ideas. But for me, sitting down and editing a pitch, or book, or a middle grade manuscript, I’ve found that quite tiresome.
Do you have any tips on how you overcome these challenges?
Yeah, just sit down and do it! What you're gonna hear, is you get say poetry or even an old book, or a newspaper, just kind of random words, and then fiddle around with them and make a sentence with an idea with them. Then just continue that idea from that inspiration. I find a spot where I enjoy, like I love sitting by the ocean or in a forest, and just sitting there and just being mindful about what I see. Like picking a theme or a topic for the one day. For example, like the colour purple, and I'll walk around and find something, everything with the colour purple and just write about what I see in the colour purple and just expand that idea.
Wow, that sounds fun. So what has been your proudest achievement so far?
Definitely this book, My Giant Seashell, getting it published and getting accepted by a publisher. Prior to publishing, I'd sent it off to several publishers and I had feedback from someone who I thought would be ideal for this book, because this is a kind of theme they publish. They actually said to me that it doesn't have a happy ending. So they asked I rework the ending. I was like, oh, okay, depression doesn't really have a happy ending. Publishing this book and actually seeing it as a book from having an idea, the inception of an idea, to actually seeing the illustrations and holding it as a book that I wrote is so surreal. It’s incredible. Seeing people reading the book. Just watching their reaction and then their emotion to reading the book. I find that adults find the book actually touches the core of them. So to me, that is just amazing. And people are like, thank you for writing this, this is my story. A beautiful expression of their feelings and emotions. And for me, that was beautiful.
Who would you say is your biggest inspiration? Generally, it can be an author if you like.
There are so many, Susanne Gervay. She's amazing. But theres these two authors in Australia. Suzanne Gervay, I call her my fairy godmother. Because she's just so supportive and encouraging, as well as Libby Hathorn. Well, she's an well known Australian, for poetry. Both of them, if that's allowed, because they are such amazing, inspirational figures for me. They keep going. The industry is so difficult, and they just keep going keep producing books. They're so positive and inspiring.
What advice would you give other aspiring authors?
Do it. Just trust your guts. And keep going. It's a tough, tough industry. The industry is saturated but there's always space for one more story. One more idea. Keep going.
What do you enjoy most about being a writer?
I love being around children. Doing visits, for me, I love it. I love going into schools and I just love hearing ideas of children. I go in with my stories and also some other ideas that I talk to the kids about and it's just so beautiful seeing their reaction and hearing the response. And hearing their questions.
What are some of the questions? Any fun ones you can remember?
Oh, my God. I know there’s some that have been written down. I'm heavily influenced by fairy tales. For my short stories, I'm obsessed. For example, there’s a very little boy with very big ears. Or a story about a child with a tiny nose and he just wanted a pig nose. And the children were asking lots of questions about it. Children will also often ask how much money does an author make?
A child had just read My Giant Seashell and then he came up to me. He's really quiet and reserved. And he just said, thank you for writing this book. Another time a man said his father went through mental health issues, and he himself was depressed for a couple of years. This is exactly how he felt. Like he told me that he had blamed himself for it, his father's depression, and how he just left and disappeared for a couple of years. And it was just so beautiful. Because he had been through counseling and said thank you for writing the book. So for me, that was probably one of the most touching moments.
Thanks so much for sharing that. Do you have any upcoming projects or goals that you're excited about?
I have several books that are a work in progress, picture books that I just need to send to publishers. I would love to see what the illustrator does. For me, the most exciting thing that I have experienced is having a manuscript and having the images in my head and sending it off to the publisher and then they find an illustrator, who then comes back with these incredible characters. There’s another layer of the story underneath that the illustrator has done themselves. They've added to the stories and they've made the story theirs as well. For me, I am so excited about any of my other picture book manuscripts being accepted to go for publication and then seeing what the illustrator does.
What are you most excited about for Sydney Writers’ Festival this year?
Just hanging out with children and showing them my books. I'm actually doing the craft section and have craft activities lined up. I'm quite excited to see how that's received by the children. Also hanging with amazing, amazing people at the festival.
Yes, it's gonna be so exciting!
Are you going to be there?
I will be on Saturday and Sunday.
Excellent. I'll see you on Sunday.
Yeah, thank you so much for your time today. Hope you have a good rest of your day.
Speaking with Amanda Lieber provided great insight into why children’s literature is deeply important. Not just to children, but to their parents and families as well. Picture books and short stories targeted towards children have the capacity to touch lives in deeply meaningful ways, connect people together, and help children articulate their complex feelings so that they don’t feel so alone anymore.
