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Book Week Series: The Art of Literature and Illustrations ft. Natasha Iregbu | Ep. 11
24 Plays10 months ago
Welcome to our eleventh podcast episode, where we have the privilege of diving into the world of literature and illustrations with Natasha Iregbu. This special episode is a part of the Book Week Series.
Join us as we delve into Natasha Iregbu's inspiring journey, from her roots in Edinburgh, Scotland, to her impactful role as a champion for diversity and mindfulness in children's literature. In this episode, we'll uncover Natasha's mission to address the lack of representation in children's books and her commitment to nurturing emotional literacy and well-being among young readers. As a Children’s Author, Creative Mindfulness Teacher, Yoga Teacher, Community Education Worker, and Mindfulness Coach, Natasha combines her diverse skill set to empower children to see themselves reflected in the stories they read. Through her engaging narratives and mindful practices, she aims to create inclusive spaces where every child feels seen, heard, and valued.
Whether you're a parent, an educator, or simply curious about the world of children's literature, this episode promises to provide valuable insights and inspiration from Natasha Iregbu's fascinating career. So, join us as we step into the imaginative world of storytelling with Natasha Iregbu.
About Natasha Iregbu:
Natasha is a Children’s Author, Creative Mindfulness Teacher, Yoga Teacher, Community Education Worker, Mindfulness Teacher and Coach who grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. She noticed a lack of diversity in children's books growing up and over the years of working with children. Natasha brings together her range of experience to help children see themselves included in stories. She is passionate about supporting children to explore ways to develop their emotional literacy and look after their wellbeing.
Natasha's website: https://www.butterfly-minds.co.uk/
About Book Week Series:
Book Week Series is a celebration of authors and illustrators from around the world. For the past two years, this series has been a favorite on Studimation, where we've explored the art of storytelling through insightful interviews. This year, we're excited to move the series to The Zainab Khan Podcast, now available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, iHeart Radio, and more. Join us as we highlight diverse voices in literature, sharing their journeys, inspirations, and advice. Whether you're a literature enthusiast or an aspiring writer, our Book Week Series offers enriching and inspiring conversations. Tune in to The Zainab Khan Podcast and celebrate storytelling with us!
To see the video version of this episode subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thezainabkhan
Website: https://thezainabkhan.com/
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/zainabkhanpodcast/
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Transcript
Introduction to Natasha Arubu
00:00:00
Speaker
Natasha Arubu is a children's author, creative mindfulness teacher, yoga teacher, community education worker, and coach who grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland.
00:00:09
Speaker
She noticed a lack of diversity in children's book growing up, and over the years of working with children, Natasha brings together her change of experience to help children see themselves included in stories.
00:00:21
Speaker
She's passionate about supporting children to explore ways to develop their emotional literacy and look after their well-being.
00:00:28
Speaker
Hi!
00:00:38
Speaker
Hello, thank you for having me.
00:00:40
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining in.
00:00:41
Speaker
Are you ready for the interview?
00:00:43
Speaker
Yeah, I'm ready.
Journey to Becoming a Children's Author
00:00:45
Speaker
Can you share with us your journey from growing up in Edinburgh, Scotland, to becoming a multifaceted professional in children's literature, mindfulness and education?
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, so I grew up in Edinburgh and still live in Edinburgh as well.
00:01:01
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and I went to, I studied two different degrees.
00:01:05
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So my first degree was criminology, that was my undergraduate degree.
00:01:11
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And then I went on to do a postgraduate diploma in community education.
00:01:15
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So that's how I got into the community education field.
00:01:21
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And while I was in the community education field, I've worked with a lot of children and young people and
00:01:28
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they were quite diverse, some of them had neurodiversity like autism or ADHD and some were from challenging backgrounds or they had different difficulties growing up and things so I'd offer them support and then it was in around, it was 2020 when I first started
00:01:49
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learning how to teach mindfulness.
00:01:51
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I knew how to practice, I'd been practicing it before meditations, but I hadn't learned how to teach other people.
00:01:58
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So I was in my creative mindfulness teacher training and for the children's literature, it was only last year, the end of last year that I wrote my book.
00:02:11
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So it's quite a new journey for writing my book.
00:02:16
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It's just been published last year.
00:02:18
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last week, so it's quite a new thing to be an author.
00:02:22
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But I've been enjoying it so far.
Inspiration and Self-Publishing Journey
00:02:25
Speaker
Was there a particular event that inspired you?
00:02:32
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I didn't plan to write the story.
00:02:34
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I hadn't had it all mapped out.
00:02:36
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I had originally thought a couple of years ago that I wanted to make a book that was children's meditations, but I didn't get round to writing the meditations.
00:02:46
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And then it wasn't until a random evening that I had the idea to write the book.
00:02:55
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I wrote the story and then I thought I wanted to share the story with lots of people, so I decided to self-publish it.
00:03:03
Speaker
That's wonderful.
00:03:04
Speaker
How do you approach the creation of your children's book and what themes or messages do you strive to convey?
00:03:10
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So for the creation, I decided to make Amaya a butterfly because butterflies are my favorite insect and they also represent transformation and hope and change.
00:03:25
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So I was...
00:03:27
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The idea of her being a butterfly, I thought that she can spark some inspiration for children to practice mindfulness and to hope that it reaches a lot of kids from different backgrounds across the world.
00:03:41
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And the themes in the book are mainly around friendship and accepting each other's differences and as well as neurodiversity and diversity.
00:03:54
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And mindfulness, of course, is the main overarching theme.
00:03:59
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Those are some great messages.
Promoting Diversity and Emotional Literacy
00:04:01
Speaker
As a community education worker, what strategies do you employ to foster inclusivity and emotional literacy among children?
00:04:10
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So in my community education role, I work with children.
00:04:15
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The youngest is around about six or seven up to 12 or 13 year olds.
00:04:23
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So for inclusivity, we make sure that if they need any extra support or support,
00:04:32
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ways to help them feel included with maybe if it was reading or writing it helped them find extra tools or if it was if they were having difficulties to manage their emotions i would find i would create ways to give them a time out or a space that they could have different like fidget toys and things to help regulate their emotions and and calm down and for the emotional
00:05:00
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literacy, do different activities that are relating to talking about their feelings and understanding the feelings of others to help them develop friendships and communicate to adults and other children.
00:05:14
Speaker
Could you discuss some of the challenges you have faced in promoting diversity in children's literature and how you've overcome them?
00:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm based in the UK and in Scotland particularly, there's
00:05:30
Speaker
not that many, I've not come across many diverse authors and there's quite a lot of ethnically diverse children and adults but it's quite hard to find others, other authors or a community of authors.
00:05:47
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So to make sure my book's reaching different people across Edinburgh and Scotland
00:05:55
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I've been in contact with libraries to arrange storytelling sessions that are free.
00:06:00
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So it means people within the community from different backgrounds can all listen to the story and they'll have the option to buy my book as well.
00:06:09
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So hopefully that'll reach a diverse range of people.
00:06:14
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Are there any particular authors you've been inspired from?
00:06:21
Speaker
There's none that come to mind that for children's book.
00:06:25
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I read picture books to my son, well they're more board books.
00:06:31
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So I've seen a few different board books, but I can't think of a particular author in mind.
00:06:39
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Not for children's books anyway.
Technology and Inclusivity in Children's Literature
00:06:42
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What role do you see technology playing in promoting diversity and emotional well-being in children's literature and education?
00:06:50
Speaker
I think with the rise of AI and a lot of people learn, I don't know that much about it, but I think over the years there'll be more ways that they can develop different tools and integrate it within books like story writing or children who maybe struggle with reading or writing.
00:07:15
Speaker
similar to like audiobooks people might develop more audiobooks or they might children might find it easier to write things because they can use the AI technology to ask for suggestions and that would be the same for with an education education for if children are maybe dyslexic and the technology might be able to help them with their reading writing and
00:07:43
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different games and online things as well that the technology could help children participate more in.
00:07:51
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Have you used any AI technology personally?
00:07:53
Speaker
I've used ChatGPT.
00:07:58
Speaker
Not that often, but I've used it a few times to
00:08:03
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create ideas or come up with ideas to write for my blog or the word enough things for social media posts.
00:08:11
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But I need to explore it a bit more because I know there's lots of different things that can be useful.
00:08:18
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How do you navigate sensitive topics or themes in your children's book while ensuring they're accessible and age appropriate?
00:08:26
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So my book is targeted at children aged children.
00:08:29
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five to seven younger slightly younger before or older children might read it as well so the the topics i've tried to make the the story quite simple and easy to understand and not i've not used any complex language and if i have it
00:08:48
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if it's something new that children aren't used to within the book and there's activity pages at the back then I thought that they would be able if they're reading it with an adult then the adult can help explain them and do activities with them so it's like a family type learning experience
00:09:06
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and the topics for the neurodiversity and diversity, they're quite hidden within the book.
00:09:14
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They're not explicitly saying that the characters, one character Amaya has got ADHD, another character has autism, but it's not said in the book.
00:09:25
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It's just like their personality traits.
00:09:28
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So hopefully other children and other readers will be able to identify that when they're reading the book.
Mindfulness and Its Impact on Children
00:09:35
Speaker
How do you incorporate mindfulness and yoga into your work with children and what benefits have you observed?
00:09:42
Speaker
So for mindfulness in my work, I have worked with children one-to-one in the past.
00:09:48
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Within my community education role, I worked with children individually.
00:09:53
Speaker
And some of them were getting support with their social and emotional skills.
00:10:01
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So through mindfulness, I introduced them to mindful breathing and quite simple activities.
00:10:07
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that could help them be more in the moment or children who are maybe feeling worried about things through different mindfulness activities we're able to feel less worried and not think about the future as much or worry about the future as much and with yoga a lot of children just love doing fun
00:10:33
Speaker
mainly animal postures or things that they can kind of like almost like a game or turning the yoga into a story when the children enjoy having different things to learn and different postures that they've maybe not done before and it helps them feel relaxed as well.
00:10:52
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Have you ever received a positive feedback that stands out to you?
00:10:58
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For mindfulness it was with a child who was in secondary school but he really enjoyed the and created a mindfulness journal with him and he stuck different things on the front and then he, when I seen him the next time, he'd been filling in his journal and writing different, using the mindfulness journal prompts.
00:11:22
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And so he said that he really, really enjoyed doing the activities and it helped him feel, write down his feelings and explore, think about the feelings of others and he found it really useful.
00:11:37
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That's great.
00:11:38
Speaker
How do you believe storytelling can empower children, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds?
Empowering Children Through Storytelling
00:11:44
Speaker
I think because a lot of children are around books in school or going to the library, that books can be accessible through
00:11:57
Speaker
getting free books in school and at the libraries and for storytelling, I think sometimes children can relate to stories.
00:12:07
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So if someone's telling them a story that's not from a book, often they remember different stories that people tell them and a lot of children like telling their own stories as well.
00:12:17
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So I thought storytelling can
00:12:20
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be across all different backgrounds and for the underrepresented backgrounds, if they see an author or illustrator or someone who looks like them or is from a similar background, it might empower them to share their own story or create stories with the help of others or to get their story into the world if they were interested in it.
00:12:47
Speaker
What are some effective strategies for engaging reluctant readers or children who may struggle with literacy?
00:12:54
Speaker
I think finding something that they're a topic that they're interested in and a book that's not too long and it's appropriate length of book and appropriate wording in the book that they're able to understand and if it's something they're interested in they might be more likely to look at the book and read it even if they're
00:13:18
Speaker
if someone else is reading it to them, it might help them feel more empowered to read other books on similar topics or they might explore other books that they've not read before.
00:13:31
Speaker
I think some children are reluctant to read if they're not being in environments at home or that they're being read to and things, but through teachers and youth work and
00:13:46
Speaker
mindfulness, all different places I think that can help children feel more interested in reading books.
00:13:56
Speaker
Absolutely.
Collaboration and Community Engagement
00:13:57
Speaker
Can you discuss any collaborations or partnerships to your forum to further your mission of inclusivity in children's literature and education?
00:14:05
Speaker
So I've been in contact with libraries across Edermus.
00:14:11
Speaker
I've got five library story sessions
00:14:15
Speaker
storytelling sessions booked in for book reading and education for mindfulness as well as arts and crafts as well as I've been
00:14:28
Speaker
I've got a workshop next month at the National, two workshops at the National Museum of Scotland and they are a mixture of, I'll be reading my book and sharing creative mindfulness and yoga and art with children.
00:14:47
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So that's been a good partnership that I'm looking forward to, to share with children and introduce them to mindfulness and yoga and read my book to them.
00:14:56
Speaker
That's wonderful.
00:14:58
Speaker
How do you measure the success of your work in promoting diversity and emotional well-being among children?
00:15:03
Speaker
Are there any specific outcomes or feedback that stand out to you?
00:15:09
Speaker
I think sometimes it can be hard to...
00:15:12
Speaker
hard to measure because my book's quite new i've had some people get in contact who who know me if they've read the have read the book and they've shared their what they think of the wicked things i think it can be my books on amazon so i don't know who's buying my book unless people leave leave reviews i
00:15:34
Speaker
So I think if people leave their reviews, I'll be able to see how it affects children's emotional well-being.
00:15:43
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And if they're from diverse backgrounds, if people write in the review, then I can have that included.
00:15:50
Speaker
I think when I go to my library visits and my workshop at the museum,
00:15:56
Speaker
as well I'll be able to have see a lot of different Trojan and from that I'll be able to record how many Trojan come and just be aware of their backgrounds.
00:16:08
Speaker
Probably it would be their ethnicity that I would be able to track
00:16:15
Speaker
I'm hoping to go into schools after the summer holiday as well.
00:16:19
Speaker
So through schools, they might be able to help me with outcomes and feedback that they would be able to share from, if the children share after I finished the sessions, they might be able to tell me what their thoughts were.
00:16:36
Speaker
Thank you.
Future Projects and Ways to Connect
00:16:38
Speaker
Lastly, what projects or ideas are you currently excited about or working on?
00:16:42
Speaker
And what can we expect to see from you in the future?
00:16:46
Speaker
I missed getting in contact with schools probably in August to do some book reading with them.
00:16:53
Speaker
I've also started writing my second book as well.
00:16:57
Speaker
So that's what I'm working on at the moment.
00:17:00
Speaker
I've not started the process of publishing or illustrating it yet.
00:17:04
Speaker
I'm hoping that in the summer I'll be able to, I'll have fully finished writing it and it'll be ready to be edited and published.
00:17:15
Speaker
and I'm planning on hopefully setting up a couple of workshops for children relating to reading my book and doing mindfulness with children as well.
00:17:28
Speaker
And the last thing, I think that's everything just now.
00:17:33
Speaker
Yeah, lots of bits and pieces.
00:17:36
Speaker
Maybe it's going to some, I've been in contact to a couple of markets or have a stall at a market to sell my book as well.
00:17:45
Speaker
That's great.
00:17:46
Speaker
Where can the audience find your work?
00:17:49
Speaker
My website is www.butterfly-mimes.co.uk and that has a range of, that has all my children's work as well as offers for adults.
00:18:02
Speaker
And my book Slow Down Amaya is available on Amazon everywhere.
00:18:07
Speaker
So if you just search Slow Down Amaya, they'll be able to find it.
00:18:12
Speaker
And my Instagram page is natasha.erebu.writes as well across a few different places.
00:18:21
Speaker
With this, we end our chat.
00:18:22
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining in.
00:18:24
Speaker
It was fun talking to you.
00:18:26
Speaker
Thank you.
00:18:27
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
00:18:27
Speaker
It's nice to meet you.
00:18:29
Speaker
You too.