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Crabbing with Dad
Paul Seden

Crabbing with Dad is a beautiful children’s picture book debut that pays homage to the quintessential Australian pursuit of fishing and crabbing with friends and family. Younger children will love reading about the adventures of Mahli and Sam as they go out in the boat with Dad to set crab pots in the creek.

Sunscreen and life jackets on, they zoom off to their secret spot, passing boats and people fishing along the way. It’s a good tide to be on the water and they even see Cousin Dan throwing his net.

Crab pots set, they wait patiently. The fun begins when they check the pots and pull up big, angry crabs! Dad teaches the children how to carefully handle the crabs so they don’t get nipped! 

2 - Unnamed

Crabbing with Dad was both written and illustrated by yourself, can you tell us a little about the creative process of combining your words with illustration?

Fishing and recreation has always had that wow factor, be it in children or adults. So I guess, turning the wow into a story with illustrations fuels that creative flow.

Can you describe your journey to becoming an author and illustrator?

Being an author or an illustrator is a stop along your journey. Some people meet that chance early in life and some find it somewhere along the way at a later date. It’s when you see it and do something with it creates its story. You get to encounter wonderful people that make the journey awesome. 

How has storytelling impacted your life and art?

There is a small sense of achievement completing a story and giving it life with illustrations.

What inspired you to write Crabbing with Dad?

Crabbing with Dad came about as children want to do things on the weekends. It could be anything, as long as it is with you at some stage. I thought Crabbing would be a good way to demonstrate it as the majority of families that have access to the beaches use them.

What are your favourite mediums to work with?

Pencil, pastels and paint all sit pretty high.

Who are some of your favourite artists and authors?

The Percy Trezise and Dick Roughsey team had to be one of my favourites in my childhood with books like The Quinkins, The Giant Devil Dingo etc. Nick Bland, Julie Vivas, Freya Blackmore, Sally Morgan, Maggie Prewett and Dee Huxley have works that inspire me, well that list goes on.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a fictional novel that requires a major re-write - pretty full on. Magabala will provide me with a scholarship that will partner me with a graphic designer to create another picture book. Things are very creative at the moment. 

Follow the link to purchase Crabbing with Dad.

www.magabala.com

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Paul Seden

Paul Seden grew up in Darwin and is descended from the Wuthathi and Muralag people of North Queensland. He loves to…

Paul Seden grew up in Darwin and is descended from the Wuthathi and Muralag people of North Queensland. He loves to draw and tell stories and has a background working with Indigenous kids in the schools of Darwin and remote communities in the Northern Territory.

His first children’s book, Kick with My Left Foot (Allen and Unwin 2014), was produced through the Emerging Indigenous Picture Book Mentoring Project, a joint initiative between The Little Big Book Club and Allen and Unwin. Paul was also one of thirty Australian storytellers selected for inclusion in The Hush Treasure Book (Allen and Unwin 2015), a collection of stories, poems and artwork commissioned by the Hush Music Foundation, an organisation that creates soothing music compilations for children in hospitals across the country.

A fisheries officer and keen recreational fisherman, Paul has a passion for sport and the outdoors and is inspired by the adventures he shares with his family in the creeks around Darwin. Crabbing with Dad is the first book he has both written and illustrated. 

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