Nicki’s inspiration

Graphic novels have the power to motivate and engage young readers, especially reluctant ones. Nicki Greenberg is a young Australian author/illustrator who is passionate about her work and inspiring students to read, write and draw.

This resource supports students of the Australian Curriculum: English in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 Literature (308) strands and NSW K-10 English Syllabus in Stages 4 and 5.

With related classroom discussion and learning activities, this resource will enable students to:

• explore the features of stories and concepts developed by current writers and illustrators whose work is acknowledged for its significance (Higher-order thinking)

• use the metalanguage of symbol systems and language use (Metalanguage)

• learn through focusing questions that knowledge is socially constructed with multiple layers and viewpoints (Problematic knowledge)

• recognise, acknowledge and value substantial cultural knowledge (Cultural knowledge).

Nicki Greenberg’s official website

Scott McCloud’s The Carl Comics

Nicki Greenberg has written graphical adaptations for adults and children. Her books include:

• Operation Weasel Ball (2000)

• Antonia Cutlass Walks the Plank (20003)

• It's True! Squids Suck (2004)

• The Great Gatsby, a graphic adaptation (2007)

• Hamlet (2010)

• Monkey Red Monkey Blue (2010)

Interviewer: Thanks for agreeing to speak with us today.

Nicki Greenberg: It's a pleasure. Thank you.

Interviewer: What attracts you to comic art and illustrating books and novels?

Nicki: I think it's that amazing alchemy between words and pictures, that when you tell a story in this way and you have the words and the pictures playing off each other, each taking a different role in the story telling but also in dialogue with one and another you get something that's bigger than the sum of its parts. There's sort of a magic in there that I find irresistible. I love working in the form.

Interviewer: Your work 'The Great Gatsby' took you six years to complete. What's the fascination of Fitzgerald's classic work?

Nicki: I first read 'The Great Gatsby' when I was in Year 12, I studied it as part of my Literature subject and I was just captivated. I was so attracted to the time and the place. I have a real fascination for New York. The glitter and the glamour, but also the tragedy - it just grabbed my heart and I felt that I knew these characters intimately and I've read it many times since. On every reading I get more from it. I guess this is the beauty and the depth of Fitzgerald's prose. I just really wanted to pay tribute to it. I wanted to shed a different light on it by interpreting it visually and in quite an unusual way.