Redhair and Daffodil Friend is set in the fantastical coastal city of Brinepoint. It is a story about friendship, loyalty and minding your own business. It is about living with uncertainty at a time when learning to take responsibility is a challenge.
The two inseparable sisters are left home alone guarding Brinepoint's unique magical defences against extreme winters and summers. Lurking in the shadows is a shady guy determined to make money from the magic. How will the diligent girls prove themselves when left in charge? How will they cope when time and nature confuse the seasons while their mam is far away, sharing the magic?
Redhair and Daffodil Friend:
- beautifully illustrated by the award-winning illustrator Fruzsina Czech.
- will make a perfect gift for lovers of folk and fairytales.
- written for the enjoyment of adults and young people.
- explores rites of passage blending familiar traditional fairy tale tropes within recognisable industrial and coastal landscapes merging traditional folk culture with themes of citizenship and climate responsibility.
- concerns sisterhood and working motherhood. The sisters Redhair and Daffodil Friend are the daughters of the accomplished female engineer, Sea Potato Mam, Governor of Brinepoint.
- contains themes of absent parents, adoption and coping with family illness.
- will stir up discussion about climate, greed, fairness and citizenship.
- will provide scope for creative explorations and responses through drama, storytelling, art and music.
- will be a rich source for creative project work in the classroom.
Please contact the author for ideas and for background materials carranwaterfield.co.uk
About the Author:
Carran Waterfield is an independent theatre and performance maker, creative teacher and published writer. Her poetry, play scripts, educational materials and reflective writing have been published by Routledge and Triarchy Press. Redhair and Daffodil Friend is her first venture into independent publishing.
Carran has always been interested in rituals, folklore, myth and fairytales. This interest has underpinned much of her creative work. Her writing comes out of a body-based approach to story-building, working with universal themes and imagery. The themes in Redhair and Daffodil Friend began to emerge out of an exploration into the nature and structure of fairytales several years ago. The story has been developed through improvisation and workshops with young people led by Carran.
Carran's long creative career has included working as a Drama and English teacher in Coventry schools full time until the mid-1990s. She formed her independent touring theatre company Triangle Theatre (UK), in the late 1980s. Carran then left full-time teaching to pursue theatre-making full-time. Moving between teaching and theatre her company toured schools, colleges and universities, as well as the Edinburgh Festival and international touring in Japan, Australia and Europe. She makes site-sensitive performance work in landscapes and is a visiting artist in drama and performance departments within universities mainly in the North of England.
Triangle Theatre (UK) founded and led The Little Herberts, a performance art group for children who were crucial to the creation of what has become Redhair and Daffodil Friend.
Czech, Fruzsina: - Fruzsina Czech is an award-winning illustrator, storyteller, pencil collector and creative person. Her work communicates stories through figurative illustration full of character, inspired by a mix of observation, memories and imagination.She is living and working in Belfast, mainly focusing her work on publishing and advertising.www.fruzic.cominstagram.com/fruzic
Waterfield, Carran: - Carran is an independent theatre and performance maker. She is also a creative teacher and a published writer. She founded and led the international touring company Triangle Theatre (UK) creating over 40 productions of physically driven theatre with accompanying educational and outreach programmes. 'Redhair and Daffodil Friend' is her first children's book.www.carranwaterfield.co.uk
