Skip to main content

De Paardenbloemkamer

My first dutch language publication is out!

Mijn eerste Nederlandstalige publikate.  De eerst van een serie fabels.

"De Paardenbloemkamer"

A short children's story in the book 

"4321....Lees: Verdwalen in Verhalen" 

The book is the fruit of a wonderful project by the Lionsclub Venlo, aimed at encouraging children to read and write... and most importantly, to imagine.

Children from 27 schools in Venlo were asked for story ideas.
43 ideas were chosen.
Those were given to writers to inspire them to make a story, 
and then to artists to make an illustration.

The result, a wonderful book full of imagination.
Venlo might be a little city, but it it's een stedje with big ideas.




Photo from the book launch in Domani, Venlo on 23 November, 2016
with Tristan Thijsen (our idea-maker) and Floor Kurstjens (illustrator)



De Paardenbloemkamer: is a story about dreaming, facing one's fears, and growing up.  The title means: The dandelion Room.  It's all in one word, because one can do that in dutch ... you can't imagine how long one word can be...

So, Paardenbloem means Dandelion, but if you break the word in two you get:
"Paarden" and "Bloem."  
Paarden means horses, and bloem means flower .... (yes, my love of lamguage has found a good outlet in Dutch!)  
So... the horse-flower... might give you an idea where my story flies to... but I won't say too much ... you have to read it.  
"But it's in Dutch you might say.".. Indeed it is... one day I might just translate it... till then, you just have to sit with the curiosity. 






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fire

The wind doth deceive me and your voice I hear in the tree shrubs Possessed am I with your eyes They pierce my womb and into earth's core I fall to your embrace عشقٌ وجنون Smile to me For you I set my eyes on fire With the lashes of your eyes Hide me in the wallpaper So I can stay near you Unseen

Lessons from Nature

The lessons that mother nature tells us are boundless. Endless. In the most simple ways, she gives us clues to living. In a storm, you don't have to worry about trees that move with the wind like the pine, it's the ones that are completely solid that could fall. Moving with the wind verses being stiff: Adapting, going with, accepting, letting go, empathising, accommodating, flexible. These trees stay rooted. You know the feeling - of trying to stay standing against all odds until you fall on your face. Literally in my case: When I was a little girl, I had the habit of falling unconscious. When I went with it, my body would collapse gently onto the floor. When I'd try to resist, I'd fall flat like a board and scar my face. The fainting was sometimes caused by sunstroke, or the burning lights of the TV studio. I do not take well to heat, in spite of my middle eastern blood. I sometimes brought fainting onto myself - without intent. I was a bit of a  shayt

In search for a pseudonym... I stumble upon Wilders' Fitna.

Fitna.  Is an Arabic word that is most commonly translated as ‘strife.’   It could also mean 'enchantment' and even 'sin.'    In its essence, it means: To make something appear differently than its nature.   In the Quran, we are told that Moses ‘fatan’ the ropes and so they appeared as snakes. Wikipedia does a good job at dissecting the word linguistically, so why recreate the wheel.   I would however like to point here to the original meaning of the verb ‘fatana’ and that is: to burn.   Adding to Wiki that it could thus be seen as an alchemical word… the burning of metal to distinguish the gold.   Seeing through falsehood and finding the truth.     Fitna is one of the many words that has been hijacked by the modern language.   If words were to rebel, Fitna would stand in the frontlines. But in spite of the negative association of the word – or perhaps as a result of – Fitna is also a woman’s name (amongst certain groups like the Bedouins.)   In that ins