Belcher, Angie

writers in schools information

Angie Belcher is available to talk to primary and intermediate students. She will discuss her experiences as a writer of non-fiction, children's books, and picture books. She is able to run sessions on reading, Q&A, storytelling and will teach students how to use their own experiences to write stories. She is prepared to travel out of town for Writers in Schools visits and her preferred number of students in a session is 20.

KAPAI: Kids' Authors' Pictures' and Information

Where do you live?
I live in a tiny seaside settlement called Maketu. It is one of the oldest settlements in New Zealand and was the landing place for the Arawa Canoe, one of the first great migratory canoes to reach New Zealand.

What kinds of books do like to read?
I love to ready anything and everything but I especially love reading teenage fiction by New Zealand writers. This helps me to understand what my own teenage children are thinking. I also enjoy biographies about people who have had great adventures in their lives.

Do you have a favourite author?
This is a hard question to answer! Perhaps my favourite adult writer is the South American writer Isabelle Allende. She uses beautiful language. I love to read her work aloud and listen to the sound of the words as they roll around my tongue. My favourite children’s author would have to be Margaret Mahy. She has such a wonderful and bizarre imagination.

How do you think up your ideas?
I watch things that are going on around me. They usually spark off an idea. I like to write about things that I know.

What is the best thing about being an author?
The best thing about being an author is seeing children reading and enjoying the books I have written.

Some Questions from Primary School Students

Do you have any pets?
We have a very friendly, fluffy camel-coloured cat called Mango. He follows us everywhere and if we are not careful, he even tries to sneak into the car when we go out.

Do you have a favourite colour?
I love love LOVE purple and every shade of purple. When I wear purple it makes me feel really good about myself.

Do you have a favourite food?
My favourite food is vegetarian lasagne with lots of pesto.

How about a favourite movie?
My favourite movie would have to be Romeo and Juliet. (The modern version with Leonardo de Caprio in it.) I love the colour, the action and the music. Of course…Leonardo is pretty cute as well!

What is the most fun thing about being an author?
Experiencing lots of things so that I can then go away and write about them. It’s also lots of fun visiting schools and talking to children.

How do you make books?
I don’t really make them. I just write the words that go in them. The publisher makes them.

Where do you go like to go for your holidays?
I will go anywhere that is exciting, fun and has lots of outdoor activities.

What was the naughtiest thing you ever did at school?
I drank some of the priest’s wine in the chapel attached to our school!

Some Questions from Secondary School Students

How did you get started as a writer?
My husband Andy and I used to love to go on adventures. We used to skydive, scuba dive, go caving and kayaking. The children I taught loved to hear about our adventures. I thought that if they liked to hear about them, they might also enjoy reading about them, so I started writing about our adventure sports. Before too long, we began taking children away with us and writing and photographing their adventures.

Who inspired you when you were getting started?
I was inspired by the children themselves. The way they reacted to certain situations, their excitement and enthusiasm and the language they used, made me want to capture the spirit of their adventures.

What advice would you give an aspiring writer?
I would advise them to just keep on writing. Write a daily journal, write letters, write poems, write everywhere and on everything, every time the feeling arises. Keep all those little pieces of paper and thoughts. One day they will come in very useful. Send your writing off to competitions, send letters to the newspapers, look for every opportunity to get work published. Seeing your work in print is a great reward.

Is it difficult to make a living writing in New Zealand?
Don’t expect to get rich quick. In fact, probably not at all!
However, you can make a living off writing in New Zealand. The secret, I think, is to be versatile. Write articles, reviews, editorials, and brochures. Take every writing job that is offered. In your heart you might only want to really write children’s books or a great novel but all of the smaller jobs make money and hone up your skills for writing that one great novel that we all have inside us.

What were you like as a child?
I was the perfect goody good. I must have been really boring. All I ever wanted to do was to please other people. It was not until I had quite a few knock backs that I realised that it is impossible to keep everyone happy all of the time.

Do you have any stories you’d like to tell us?
If I had to describe myself I would have to say that I am adventurous. I have had some wonderful adventures in my life. Some were really scary and frightening, others were exciting and adrenalin pumping. When I look back on some of the things I have done, I can’t quite believe that I actually did them!
I’ve had two really scary but memorable experiences. (Perhaps they are memorable because they were so scary.)
One time when I was skydiving, the instructor told me to wriggle out towards the door of the plane. Unbeknown to me, my harness hooked on a raised screw. Instead of rolling out of the plane I was left hanging out of the door by my bottom. I was caught hard and fast. It took ages for the instructor to unhook the harness and leave me to fall free.
Another time, when I was scuba diving a marlin circled me three times then stopped right in front of me with its long sharp bill pointing right at my heart. I thought it was going to shiskabob me! After a few moments it swam off, leaving me a blubbering speechless wreck!