Barnham author Wenny Smart is offering the tale of Sandy Castle (Pegasus Publisher, £8.99, available from Amazon etc).
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FunTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, really
00:06lovely this afternoon to speak to Wenny Smart. Now, Wenny, you have got a fabulous sounding
00:12new book out. It's called Sandy Castle, and it's inspired by a couple of things, really.
00:19Your two, well, your twin four-year-old daughters, and also your own heritage, your background.
00:25Can you explain how did that come together?
00:27Oh, yeah, thank you. Hello, I'm Wenny Smart. So, I'm originally from Indonesia. You know,
00:35I was born in a very beautiful island in Java, in Java, Indonesia. Yeah, so, yeah, my whole
00:44life is all about the sea, you know, the oceans, the beach, so I built Sand Castle. And I live
00:51here in the coast as well, like I live by the seaside as well in here. So, all my whole
00:57life is all about seaside.
01:00But contrasting seasides, clearly.
01:03I love seaside. Yes, I'm very lucky. Yes, I live in very beautiful places like, you
01:12know, in Indonesia and now in the UK, in West Sussex. So, yes, very, very lucky.
01:19And your daughters are also an inspiration for the book. Tell me how the book came about then.
01:25Yes, so, every time we go somewhere, my children always love to build Sand Castle. So, it reminds
01:35me of my childhood. And we always, because I like to talk about a story and sometimes
01:41remind me of my grandparents told me stories, I pass it to my children. And we said like,
01:48we do some magical thing from Sand Castle. And also this book is collaborate with my
01:57father-in-law as well. So, yeah, with the Sandy Castle. Yes, it's a mascot actually.
02:05And what's the idea behind the book? Is it like a lesson or a moral or is it just a good story
02:12to enjoy?
02:14It's a good story to enjoy it. But then I was thinking, you know, this young generation
02:25need to, I'm sure they are, need to learn how to love and protect the environments, especially
02:31coasts and oceans. And yeah, I think this book is hopefully it's not only a fun story, but also
02:40teaches young generation as well.
02:42Right. And without giving away too much then, how does the story start? Where are we? Where
02:48are we? And what's happening?
02:50Oh, sorry.
02:54So, have you got the book with you?
02:56Yeah, I have the book with me.
02:57Hold it up.
02:59Yes.
03:00It looks fabulous. So, what's the starting point?
03:04Yeah. So, it's the seven years old Roman and his twin sisters. Shall I, sorry,
03:12shall I read it from my book or shall I just?
03:14No, just tell me, just tell me, just tell me how it starts.
03:19Yeah. So, in Sandy Castle, the seven-year-old Roman and his twin sister, Rosie, they,
03:30I'm sorry, they discover a magical sand castle named Sandy Castle. And during this, sorry.
03:40And the story goes on from there then. What age are you aiming it for?
03:48It's, I think it's three to eight years old. We aiming three years old minimum.
03:54Sounds good. And is this your first ever book?
03:59Yes, in English. So, I wrote in Indonesia before, in Indonesian language, but this one,
04:07Sandy Castle is my first English book and my first children's book as well.
04:12Fantastic. So, is that going to be the first of many?
04:18Oh, that's the dream, hopefully. Yes. Yeah. At the moment, it's only, yeah.
04:26But could this story continue with the same characters, maybe?
04:30Yeah, that's the dream. Hopefully, yeah, hopefully.
04:35So, you need this one to sell well for that to happen then?
04:39Yeah. Yeah. So, try my best if, you know, if the readers love the story as much as I do. And
04:48yeah, hopefully there is more Sandy Castle.
04:50Well, I know you shouldn't judge a book by the cover, but the cover looks fantastic, doesn't it?
04:56Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. It's very colourful.
05:00It looks beautiful. It looks superb. Where can people buy the book then?
05:07Yeah, you can buy from Amazon, obviously most of the online bookstores. And at the moment,
05:15it's only in the local bookstores. Just a big bookstore, but just local at the moment. And
05:22hopefully, yeah, hopefully more.
05:25Well, good luck with the sales. I hope it gets lots and lots of readers. And I look
05:30forward to speaking to you about your second English language book for children when that
05:35arrives. Lovely to speak to you. Thank you.
05:38Thank you so much. Lovely to see you and lovely to speak to you. Thank you so much.