Bette Westera at Wigtown Book Festival
Bette Westera and Mattias de Leeuw present their book Later, When I'm Big
As a child walks to the swimming pool with her mother, she dreams about everything she'll do when she's older. Maybe she'll dance with jellyfish. Maybe she'll fly to Saturn in a space rocket. But for now, she'll have to face that terrifyingly tall diving board... Join Bette and Mattias for a reading, music and one huge draw along.
About the speaker: Bette Westera is a versatile writer who creates modern fairytales, poems, picture books and realistic stories for children. After a short period as a primary school teacher, she studied psychology. Bette now teaches people how to write stories for picture books. Her other great passion is music. She sings and writes lyrics for the music that her partner composes. Westera is one of the Netherlands’ top poets for children. Bette created the poetry collections Doodgewoon (2014) and Uit elkaar (2019), which were showered with prizes. Mattias De Leeuw is a Belgian based author and illustrator. He studied illustrative design at Sint Lucas in Antwerp. In 2011, he graduated with the wordless picture book De Steltenloper (The Stilt Walker). Since then, he has worked as a freelance illustrator for magazines, newspapers, and publishers. Mattias' painterly drawings are characterised by spontaneous brushstrokes, combined with graceful lines. His illustrations are filled with details and small side stories that appeal to both young and old alike.
Later When I'm Big was translated by Laura Watkinson
Recommended for ages 5-8.