![]() ![]() When the pandemic is more manageable, she will be soon on her way to start her studies in a postgraduate degree in Sydney, Australia. This year, she received a scholarship from the Government of Australia to continue her study there. When she found out further that the literacy condition in NTB was far from ideal and there is a shortage of level appropriate story books, it solidified her commitment to become a children’s book writer even more. The situation compelled Ziadah to become a part of the solution. Generally, in schools, there are not a lot of books, especially leveled books for children. ![]() She saw that such facility was not accessible by most children in Indonesia. She saw that in the school where she taught there were vast selections of children books for various levels of capability. When working as an elementary school teacher in an international school in Mataram City, the urge to write children stories started to grow. She then tried to write in other genres, including starting to write stories for children. After some years of working on that genre, Ziadah could not find personal satisfaction in her writings. At the beginning of her career, she was a travel writer writing about interesting tourism destinations. Other than children’s stories, Ziadah has had a long experience in writing various genres. Writing itself has already become an essential part of Ziadah’s life. “ It will also bring a certain pride for the children about their region, their culture, and their origin,” Ziadah said. Local wisdom is central to this story, and for her, this was an essential element for children to learn about their closest surroundings. Driven by grief after losing his wife and child when she was fetching water, after years of sheer determination his hoe cracked open a water source on the ground.Īccording to Ziadah, the inspiration came from a real story from Lombok Island. The story ‘Ijo Balit and a Pair of Rivers’ that she wrote was about Ijo Balit, a man who managed to bring water to his water-scarce his village. The writings were also adjusted to meet children’s levels of need. ![]() Through several meetings, they were provided with knowledge on how to write for children. Not only prizes, Ziadah and the other writers got the chance to join a writing workshop mentored by children’s storybook writers under the auspices of the Forum Lingkar Pena. The tip I remembered the most was that to write a children’s story, we must start from the closest (topics) to their daily lives,” Ziadah reminisced. The tips on writing children’s books were given during the training and were very useful for me. “ It was my first experience to join such writing incubation program together with great mentors. Her book, entitled ‘Ijo Balit dan Sepasang Sungai’ (Ijo Balit and a Pair of Rivers), focused on a character who successfully brought water in his drought-affected village. Earlier this year, the books were printed so that more children can enjoy reading them. The storybooks were selected from the series of competition activities celebrating the 2020 International Literacy Day organized by the University Lecturer Association of NTB teacher training institutes. She’s one of the authors of 15 illustrated children storybooks series recently published by Australia–Indonesia partnership program, INOVASI. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |