Night comes again, and I tuck under my pillow all the things I’ve picked up here and there… “You’re stupid.” “You can’t write or count.” “You get everything wrong. You’re not trying hard enough…”
“Narratives – Stories and Fairy Tales for All Ages, presents “The Writer Who Couldn’t Write,” a funny true story by children’s author Santi Antoniou, published by Kaleidoscope.
Antoniou looks back on her elementary school days, finding plenty of humor in the daily grind of classroom lessons. School doesn’t seem to be her strong suit. Spelling, accent marks, reading, the alphabet, writing, division, multiplication… None of it is particularly exciting. So young Santi looks up at the sky and, with her rabbit Aris, dreams up worlds of her own where she feels happy. After all, things are much more exciting in the world of stories and imagination!
Illustrator Chryso Charalambous brings Santi’s everyday life to the page with richly colored illustrations and sketches that help children and adults alike relate to the challenges she faces.
“I remember it clearly. I was a very happy girl until I started first grade. That’s when I realized things weren’t quite right. Before I started struggling with the alphabet, accent marks, and spelling, Dad and I used to write verses together. I was the best at proverbs and at making up exciting stories! My teacher often lost patience with me, and so did Dad at home. ‘How can such a smart kid still mix up the Greek letters that make the “ee” sound?’”
A writer who couldn’t write? How strange! So how did she write this book? “One word at a time, one step at a time. You fall down, you get back up, and you keep at it with all the patience in the world! Night comes again, and I tuck under my pillow all the things I’ve picked up here and there…”
Produced and hosted by Maria Karagiannaki Iona
Sound editing by Maria Fotakopoulou