Review of Terry Pratchett, A Life With Footnotes* (*The Official Biography) – Rob Wilkins

At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on his finest story yet – his own.

The creator of the phenomenally bestselling Discworld series, Terry Pratchett was known and loved around the world for his hugely popular books, his smart satirical humour and the humanity of his campaign work. But that’s only part of the picture.

Before his untimely death, Terry was writing a memoir: the story of a boy who aged six was told by his teacher that he would never amount to anything and spent the rest of his life proving him wrong. For Terry lived a life full of astonishing achievements: becoming one of the UK’s bestselling and most beloved writers, winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and being awarded a knighthood.

Now, the book Terry sadly couldn’t finish has been written by Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the Pratchett literary estate. Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of the author’s family, friends and colleagues, Rob unveils the full picture of Terry’s life – from childhood to his astonishing writing career, and how he met and coped with what he called the ‘Embuggerance’ of Alzheimer’s disease.

A deeply moving and personal portrait of the extraordinary life of Sir Terry Pratchett, written with unparalleled insight and filled with funny anecdotes, this is the only official biography of one of our finest authors.

Terry Pratchett, A Life With Footnotes* (*The Official Biography)

Rob Wilkins

Doubleday

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Stephen Litten

One of the great joys of reading a Terry Pratchett novel is the footnotes, which usually contain a better joke. He was also intensely competitive. Usually with himself, but occasionally with other authors. And when Jilly Cooper sang the paeans of having a personal assistant (who did all the mundane things like filing the tax returns), Terry decided he too must have a “woman from the village.” Enter Rob Wilkins, who is neither a woman nor “from the village.”

Originally, Terry Pratchett intended to write an autobiography. At some point 2 . But life, and early onset Alzheimer’s, and death, all intervened. He had accumulated snippets and anecdotes of his life in a disorganised pool of computer files. He also demanded that there be no mining of stories from
unfinished material, which resulted in his hard drive falling under a steam roller. But he had also wanted to write that autobiography. Hence probably the only book to survive steam rolling.

Rob Wilkins had a particularly good view of Terry, being as he was Terry’s personal assistant 3 for about 15 years. And the book is basically divided into two halves: pre-Wilkins and post-Wilkins. And that also is the approximate divide of the material Terry left. Perhaps a better way of expressing it is the first half is Terry telling the story with Rob providing commentary, and the second half Rob tells the story and Terry comments.

This is an excellent biography. I recommend it to anyone interested in writing, the Discworld, Sir Terry, or just reading. I thank Doubleday/Penguin for the review copy.

1 Sir Terry Pratchett was knighted in 2009 but you won’t see that on the covers of his books.
2 It was one of the projects continually on the backburner.
3 General factotum and co-conspirator are such clumsy terms…

Review of The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd – Finlay MacDonald

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy has been read and loved by millions since its 1983 publication. Its protagonist’s shaggy face and mischievous eyes are now iconic. But what of his creator?

‘People don’t believe me when I tell them that Hairy Maclary fell out of a book – literally – but he did. It was just a scrap of paper I’d tucked between the pages of my ideas book, as you do. And I picked it up and thought, well, yes, I could do this. So I did.’

In The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd, Finlay Macdonald tells the tale of how a small girl raised in Kaingaroa Forest became the illustrator and virtuoso wordsmith behind so many picture books that are living classics. But this is not just a story about a storyteller, it is a book that explores Lynley Dodd’s working world. What is the secret behind her stories’ linguistic dexterity? How does her paintbrush capture the sometimes comic, sometimes tragic expressions of her animal characters with such precision? As well as many favourite and familiar book illustrations, this volume contains never-before-seen sketches and cartoons, character roughs and picture-book drafts.

The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd

Finlay MacDonald

Penguin

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jacqui Smith

I became a Lynley Dodd fan the same way many New Zealanders (and indeed many English speakers) have done, by reading her works aloud to a small child. My son, as a young boy, adored “Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy” especially when we got to the line that went, ‘“EEEEEOWWWFFTZ!” said Scarface Claw.’ which was always recited with great emphasis. Yes, I still can recite all the words… and most of the words from “Slinky Malinki” too.

So, although I don’t read biography as a general rule, I was very happy to receive a copy of “The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd” for review. And I was not disappointed.

The book is beautifully illustrated, as one might expect, with not just the final art from the books, but preliminary sketches and layouts as well as many photographs from Lynley’s life. The ’Life and Art’ is an apt title since the much of the first half of the book is largely about Lynley’s childhood in the Kaingaroa Forest, school years in Tauranga, university studies at Elam, and life as a young teacher. While the second half is more about her work as a writer and illustrator and her creative process. Which is quite fascinating.

I can see how this could be useful to people who want to write picture books – it’s definitely not as simple a matter as it might first appear. The only thing I found a bit jarring was the placement of the origin story of Hairy Maclary right at the beginning of the book, before Lynley’s own upbringing. Maybe I am just a bit linear.

 In any case I can definitely commend this book to all of her fans, it’s a delightful insight into a very special life.