Jess Black has always loved ponies. After pleading with her parents for a pony as a child, she was allowed to lease one from age nine.
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"We bought my first pony at 10. Every day after school, that was my life," she says. "I was very, very lucky. My mum was never allowed a horse. My first pony she bought from her own savings."
She's never forgotten the fun and adventure of those days.
Black, a successful children's book author from Newcastle, will launch the first book of a series of three, Pepper Creek Ponies #1: A New Friend, on Saturday with the book's illustrator, Serena Geddes, at Hudson St Hum creative hub in Hamilton, on Saturday at 11am.
Prior to the event, Geddes (with Black assisting) will conduct an illustration workshop for children ages 7 to 14 with the book as a tool, from 9am to 10:45am. at the same venue.
The events are part of the encompassing artistic reach of the first New Annual Festival, which kicked off on Friday.
Black first proposed a pony club series to publishers more than a decade ago. Not only was she a pony rider as a child, but she was a pony book reader.
"For me, growing up reading pony books, a lot of the stories were English and American," she says. "I love to write about an ordinary Aussie girl. Grooming. Picking up poo. I know it seems I was fortunate, it was every day. I guess getting to have that connection with a horse is something so special. And the adventures. A lot of adventures and a lot of fun."
Black, who has written more than 40 children's books, many with a focus on animals (including Animal Tales, endorsed by the RSPCA, and Little Paws, about puppies who become guide dogs) could sense there was still a place for pony books. "Every time I go into a school, one child will ask me 'when can there be more pony books?' I knew that market was still there," she says.
Discussions with publisher Scholastic Australia about the The Pepper Creek series began two years ago. A New Friend is the first in a series of three (about 15,000 words each), aimed at ages seven and up.
Black acknowledges the majority of her fans are girls. The pony books, she says, are even more popular amongst children in cities than in regional Australia.
"I was that girl," she says, "living in a city [Brisbane], loved the idea of having a horse."
Illustrator Serena Geddes worked closely with Black. "She got in contact with me," Black says. "She knew it was a personal project, she asked for photos to share. I had some of me, and it was geographically true to my pony club."
Black reconnected with friends from her own pony club days when storylining the book. They fondly remembered many good times. "We did all rides during the holidays. All the way to the shop to get lollies and ride home again," she says.
Black's two girls would love to have a horse. But her Carrington yard is too small.