Sean Williams has been telling children adventure stories for decades. Now one of them has been immortalised in print.
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My Nanna Nelly Will Tour the Illawarra Tomorra is the first children’s book release for the Balgownie butcher and hopefully not the last.
“It all started when me and my daughter were watching a David Attenborough documentary about monkeys and my daughter said ‘my Nanna Nelly lives in Africa doesn’t she’,” Williams said.
From there he began indulging his son and daughter’s imaginations with tales of Nelly travelling Australia and the world.
“I just made up stories whenever we watched a nature doco, but I had to start writing them down because they got sick of hearing the same ones,” he said.
The book uses rhyming verse to take the reader on a fun tour of the region with Nanna, stopping by places like Windang, Sublime Point and Seven Mile Beach.
Mr Williams said the main character is based on Mrs Champion, his next-door neighbour when he was growing up in Thirroul, who was “always out doing things”. He called her Nelly after his grandmother.
It’s taken a lot of rejection and disappointment for Mr Williams to get his story out to the world, but after finding the right publisher he said he is overwhelmed with the response.
“It’s all been a bit of a whirlwhind; I’m just blown away with how well it’s been accepted,” he said.
“When I first floated the idea to a few people I was told rhyming adventure books were too hard to write and Wollongong isn’t interesting enough to write about.”
Through the Little Steps publishing house he was teamed with Brisbane illustrator and designer Karen Mounsey-Smith, who apparently is quite selective with what work she takes on.
“I wanted pictures that were big and bright because I wasn’t a good reader when I was a kid, so if the pictures weren’t interesting enough I wouldn’t bother trying to read the words,” Mr Williams said.
His wife Linda said every child who had read the book always exclaims “I’ve been there!” with a smile.
“[Our grandchildren] love it to death with a passion,” she said.
Mr Williams will be talking to kids and adults about his book at Wollongong Central Library on Thursday at 4pm. For more information visit: www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library