40 Years of Ian Wallace
Groundwood Books has been working with award-winning author and illustrator Ian Wallace since 1984. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Ian's first book with us, and the new edition of The Year of Fire publishing next May, we asked Ian some questions about his career in children's books and what it's been like to work with us.
GW: How did you get started as a children’s book author?
I enrolled in the Ontario College of Art (now the Ontario College of Art and Design, or OCAD) to become a graphic designer. However, in my third year I changed direction, becoming a ‘Generalist’ student with the freedom to explore numerous disciplines and media, dramatically impacting my future professional life choices.
Upon graduation in 1974, I joined Kids Can Press, a year-old collective of aspiring writers and artists (several OCA students and a few instructors). Their mandate was to produce multicultural books, with an emphasis on feminism and urban settings, that were written and illustrated by Canadians. At the time, the publishing industry in Canada was miniscule and most books were imported from the US and the UK. In fact, you could count on both hands the number of kids’ books produced here. We were breaking ground while contributing to creating a publishing renaissance along with Groundwood Books and Annick Press. Kids Can Press’s initial funding came from Pierre Trudeau’s government’s Opportunities for Youth grants. Each creator was paid the princely sum of ninety dollars a week. Kids Can Press received five thousand dollars to publish five books —not a strong financial base even then. But it gave us an opportunity and experience. I wrote The Sandwich during my time working there. I’m eternally grateful to both programs for providing me and Kids Can Press with a platform to spring from. We both exceeded my wildest imagination.
During that Kids Can Press summer, I decided to write for kids, believing it would be easy. How arrogant! How shockingly wrong! I quickly learned how difficult it was. Despite the struggles, that decision opened the door to the written word, putting fire in my belly. Now, I could create stories in both words and pictures. It was mind altering!
Ian Wallace reading The Sandwich at Owen Sound Public Library, 1979, by Willy Waterton
GW: Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance, your first book with Groundwood, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024. What does the milestone mean to you?
It means the world to me. It was my breakthrough book. After several frustrating and discouraging years trying to be published by a major Canadian house, Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance became my first full color, hardcover, jacketed, internationally published book that I had dreamed of for a decade, six years in the making, while living on less than five thousand dollars a year. It was edited and published simultaneously by Patsy Aldana (Groundwood Books), Margaret McElderry (Atheneum in the US) and Julia MacRae (Methuen in the UK). Three publishing legends. I was and still am privileged for the creative experience of working with the best who drew the best from me, while opening other doors of imagination and publishing opportunities. It is deeply gratifying knowing that the book is still in print.
GW: Do you have any fun anecdotes to share about working with Groundwood in its early years?
In 1988, Groundwood celebrated its 10th anniversary at Judy Sarick’s renowned The Children’s Book Store in Toronto with eight authors and illustrators presenting their new books. The place was packed with excited readers of all ages. When the presentation part of the afternoon was over, the authors and illustrators sat down to autograph. All eight creators were on one side of a long table where eight pens had been set. Astonishingly, eight left hands grasped eight pens, sending up an audible gasp from the crowd followed by hearty laughter. We were all left-handed! No one perhaps was more shocked than the authors and illustrators. Groundwood certainly knew how to choose its creators. (And still does.) Eight creators thinking from the right hemisphere of their brains.
GW: In addition to writing your own books, you have also illustrated numerous books written by other authors. Thinking of all your illustrations, what piece are you most proud of and why?
While every picture book presents its own dynamics, there are similarities and distinct differences in the questions I ask. Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews presented a different culture and reality from Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance, my previous book. In Very Last First Time I was confronted with the most challenging moment of my illustrative career.
At the harrowing climax of the story, Eva Padlyat realizes she had gone too far under the ice collecting mussels for dinner, has stayed too long, her candle has gone out and she is lost. After rigorous contemplation, I understood that the most critical element to illuminate was not solely the physical darkness of Eva’s frozen world, but also and most importantly the psychological darkness — her imagination of her own death. With her mitts covering her face, she imagines turning into a seal, as evidenced lying on the ocean floor behind her, within her shadow. Her rescuer appears as her mom’s spirit that can be seen holding onto a taut rope lifeline, on the left side of the image, echoing Eva’s call, “Help me … Someone come quickly!” The Inuit believe that human souls can enter an animal host after death, so I painted Eva imagining turning into a seal as the tide comes in, before she reaches out to the person she trusts to save her: her mother.
Spread from Very Last First Time
GW: Groundwood is re-releasing another book that you illustrated, The Year of Fire by Teddy Jam, in 2025. What has it been like revisiting that book so many years later?
An “old” title that is part of my publishing footprint is like a cherished friend after over three decades. Re-reading The Year of Fire, a thrilling, burning drama, confirmed that it would grip readers’ imaginations today as strongly as it had mine when it was first published. Teddy Jam’s storytelling is a powerful, moving, timeless and timely echo of the devastating fires raging across Canada today.
Hindsight is a fascinating perspective, so reflecting also gave me the chance to reconsider the artistic decisions I made. Overall, I am still comfortable with those decisions and the visual voice I created.
GW: How have your illustration process and style changed since you started illustrating children’s books, if at all?
Early in my career I understood that every story has a unique voice. My responsibility as an illustrator is to hear each voice and interpret it in the most appropriate illustrative style that will connect with readers through what I call ‘the emotional link’. I accomplish that by varying drawing and painting styles, mediums, color palettes, perspectives, image sizes, page designs and painting surfaces (paper, board or canvas). Of course, that is accomplished within the range and limitations of my drawing styles. Thus, the art for Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance is distinct from Very Last First Time and both are distinct from The Name of the Tree, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, The Year of Fire and so on.
A stack of books written and/or illustrated by Ian Wallace and published by Groundwood Books
