An interview with Kate Greenaway Medal Winner Sydney Smith
Congratulations to Sydney Smith winner of the 2018 CILIP Kate Greenaway Award for Town is by the Sea. In this lyrical picture book with a beautifully crafted text by Joanne Schwartz, Smith takes the reader through a day in the life of one family, following a little boy as he watches his father, a miner, leave for work, then waits for him to come home. The everyday events are meticulously and affectionately recorded while deep under the earth – indeed under the ocean, the father works the mine in darkness. There is a timeless quality to the whole, emphasised by the ever-present sea, captured in all its moods. The illustrations are as restrained and spare as the text yet rich in feeling; strong pen and ink outlines combine with an almost unassuming palette that nevertheless is never dull conveying the sparkle and movement of the sea, the homely interior of the home and the dark jeopardy of the mine.
While Sydney has a number of books to his name in Canada, Town is by the Sea is only the second to appear here. Indeed he confesses ‘I never received a review before’. So how did he feel about it all? Well two years ago the wordless picture book Sidewalk Flowers (Footpath Flowers in the UK) had also been shortlisted ‘When the longlist came out for the Kate Greenaway award, I felt honoured. Then when the shortlist came out I felt this was the best I could hope for. I think I felt the same about this one. I did not feel it was an option that I would win. I believe even making it to the shortlist is enough to add to your bio.’
Looking at the two books one is struck by both the similarities and the differences. Sidewalk Flowers is wordless – though it does have an author, the poet Jonarno Lawson whose original text had been built around a personal experience with his daughter. Over a period, it became apparent that it was a narrative did not require words,
rather the illustrations
would then challenge the reader to interpret what had been a very private experience. Sydney felt
a similar effect in Town is by the Sea where the text, repetitious,
spare,
that there was lyrical,
gently by Joanne Schwartz has
the effect of poetry. He found himself accumulating multiple versions of each scene – especially those depicting the sea – to capture just that moment, that emotional effect conjured by Schwartz’ unassuming words. Indeed ‘I added an extra page, a wordless page because I felt that through what I had added visually the separate narrative or additional narrative required that I add an extra moment, that moment of silence where the voice of the
16 Books for Keeps No.231 July 2018
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