Here's something interesting I found while puttering around the Annick Press blog. It's a site called AuthorViews, and is basically a collection of videos from a wide variety of authors (I believe American and some Canadian) discussing their books. From the words of the president, Steve O'Keefe, "AuthorViews is a nonprofit project to gather, edit, and distribute video profiles of authors and others in the book trade and related arts." Annick Press is one of the sponsors, so I assume that's why there's a smattering of Canadian authors and illustrators in the video collection.
One video in particular caught my attention, because it's the delightful and very talented children's author and illustrator Ruth Ohi. She's illustrated over 40 picture books and novels, and has written and illustrated at least six of her own picture books. She's a Canadian treasure in the world of kid's books, and she's just so darn sweet and giving when you meet her! She also has a very talented sister Debbie, and both these women astound me with their creativity, energy, generosity and zest for life.
In the video when Ruth discusses her career, and the fact that with what she is doing, she is "promoting a lifelong love of books", I think, yeah, that's what I want to do to – I want to make a difference, entertain kids, and share my love of books and reading with young audiences, who will hopefully carry that love of books with them for the rest of their lives. To get paid to do a job like that, for me, would be heaven.
When I grow up, I wanna be just like Ruth Ohi.
