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Judy Taylor will speak at the Beatrix Potter celebration.
Beatrix Potter. Photo courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum. |
A British “invasion” of
experts on author Beatrix Potter will land in Fresno April 18-19 for the
Beatrix Potter celebration at California State University, Fresno.
The celebration is co-sponsored by the Arne Nixon Center for the Study
of Children’s Literature at Fresno State and the international Beatrix
Potter Society.
Speakers arriving from England are Judy Taylor, Potter biographer and
former Beatrix Potter Society chairman; Emma Laws, Frederic Warne
Curator of Children’s Literature at the National Art Library in the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London; Selwyn Goodacre, noted British
collector and expert on Beatrix Potter and Lewis Carroll; and Liz Hunter
McFarlane, curator of Potter’s house and farm in the Lake District.
FresnoStateNews.com conducted an online interview with Taylor. Here is
the exchange:
FresnoStateNews: We understand you have been a Beatrix Potter fan
since your childhood. Can you tell us your earliest memories of her work
and what drew you to a lifelong affection?
Judy Taylor: As I have written in my introduction to “Beatrix
Potter: Artist, Storyteller & Countrywoman,” my earliest encounter with
Beatrix Potter was when I sitting on my mother's lap while she read “The
Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle” to me. Beatrix Potter has been part of family
life as long as I can remember. Later, when I became an editor of
children's books, I used Beatrix Potter's work as an example of the
perfect picture book to aspiring writers and artists.
FSN: What is your favorite Potter story?
Taylor: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle!
FSN: What is it in her works that continues to draw new
generations of fans?
Taylor: She was the perfect “maker of books,” with her carefully
chosen words and exquisitely drawn pictures, both balanced on pages of a
book “for small hands to hold.” Her stories have a clear beginning,
middle and end.
FSN: Can you tell us about the work of the Beatrix Potter
Society, of which you were chair for 13 years?
Taylor: Founded in England in 1980 by a group of people
professionally involved in the curatorship of Beatrix Potter material,
The Beatrix Potter Society is now a worldwide society which promotes the
study and appreciation of her life in all its aspects. It upholds and
protects the integrity of her work, her aims and bequests, and purchases
original artwork and manuscripts for preservation. It runs two important
schemes, “Reading Beatrix Potter,” where members read Beatrix Potter's
tales to children in schools and libraries, and “Introducing Beatrix
Potter,” with members talking about her life and legacy to book clubs,
librarians and similar adult groups.
The society holds International Study Conferences, with specialist
speakers from various countries. There are regular lecture meetings and
social gatherings, and a quarterly newsletter is published, with
articles on a wide range of topics from Beatrix Potter's art and writing
to her later life as a sheep-farmer and conservationist.
Registration information and other details are available at
www.arnenixoncenter.org.
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