Humans of Encraftment - Karyn Wilson of Kereru Books

We are highlighting a few of our stallholders with a "behind the scenes" look into who they are and their creative journey. We hope you enjoy learning a bit about the humans behind the products.

Tell us a little about yourself and your creative journey…

I love to be busy and always have a creative project on the go. While relaxing on holiday reading my daughter books I was inspired by the beach and native birds and decided to write a book for her. Next thing I knew I was a published author!

My children and nature are definitely my main inspirations. I find being outdoors, at the beach, in a forest or by the river so grounding and inspiring. The sounds, smells, colours and textures really get my creativity flowing. My children love books so we have a huge collection and we read on a daily basis. Seeing how much they immerse themselves in a book is really inspiring, they would sit and read for hours on end if time allowed.

The first ever market I did, a little boy asked if he could have a photo with me. He said he had never met a real life author before. At this point I didn't really think of myself as an author, I couldn't even say it to people when they asked what I did, I was just a mum who made a book. It felt so awkward to be having my photo taken with a little fan, I felt like such a fake!

My biggest supporter would be my daughter! She was 2 when I wrote my first book, Kererū's BBQ for her, she’s now 7 and can read it on her own. She is always on my case about writing more books or finishing the half written ones. She gives copies of my books to all her friends for birthday gifts. She gets so excited when we spot one of my books in a store or the library. She has been writing her own books since she was about 3 and she says she wants to be an author like me when she’s older, but she is going to be better than me because she can do her own illustrations, haha! I love her passion and confidence!

Check out Kereru Books at:

Instagram: @kererubooks

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kererubooks

Website: http://www.kererubooks.com