What is the number one thing you want kids to take away from The Colourful World of Poppy Starr Olsen?
I’d love kids to get a sense of adventure from the book and that anything is possible. I hope my weird, funny family also inspires kids to be completely themselves because life is too short to hide who you are!
Did you have to do any research for the book?
I guess the main research I did was with the drawings! I spent hours looking through my old cartoon books on how to illustrate people, their body movements and facial expressions.
What was it like looking back on your own childhood?
It was a really fun process! We would get up to so many adventures as kids so it was fun to go through the memory bank and then drawing parts of them!
What was the process like creating illustrations for the book?
The start was difficult because when I draw there is close to no thought process involved haha! I just draw whatever comes out of my head at the time. Whereas for this, I had to illustrate what I thought would work within the pages. I also found it hard drawing certain things but once I got into the swing of it, I would be drawing for hours, sometimes until 3am in the morning!
You’ve said the book is something you would’ve loved to have as a kid. What is one thing you hope stands out to kids when they read it?
I think that you can do anything you set your mind to and that it doesn’t just have to be one thing. I’d love kids to be inspired to be completely themselves but also know you can work really hard for something but have fun and be kind at the same time. I hope they also realise that if you don’t win sometimes it’s not the end of the world. Being an awesome person is a winner in my eyes!
Poppy Starr Olsen grew up on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach. Her whole life has been spent moving and creating, from surfing, swimming and skating to drawing, painting and jewellery design.
Poppy took up skating at age eight, and in 2014 she was crowned world under 14s champion, continuing her reign the following year in the over 15s category. In 2016, Poppy was the first Australian woman to compete at the Summer X Games, and in 2017 she won bronze in the women’s skateboard park as well as gold at the inaugural World Roller Games in Nanjing, China. Fast forward to 2021 and Poppy burst onto the world stage when she made her Olympic debut in the women’s skateboarding in Tokyo, finishing fifth overall.
Poppy is now based in Newcastle and divides her time between Australia and wherever the world competition takes her.
Buy a copy of The Colourful World of Poppy Starr Olsen here.
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