| We caught up with Pickled Ink authors Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard to chat about The Owl Witch - their latest collaboraiton with Júlia Sardà. The Owl Witch is your third book with Júlia Sardà, following on from The Wolf’s Secret and Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools. Could you tell us a bit about where the inspiration came from? Myriam: The first seed for The Owl Witch was planted by a single sentence in The Wolf’s Secret, where the wolf evokes the tale of "the owl that flew so high it caught a shard of moon in each eye”. We found ourselves wondering: what could that story be? And what kind of power would come from holding moonlight in your gaze? That’s how the character of the Owl Witch began to take shape: a solitary witch who lives on an island and can see the secrets hidden deep within people’s souls. But this gift is also a curse: such piercing clarity makes others fear her, for truth is not always easy to face |  Photograph © Chloé Vollmer-Lo |
Nicolas: When we imagined her world, we wanted to set her in an environment that would both challenge her powers and inspire Júlia. After exploring the Nordic forest in The Wolf’s Secret and the bayou in Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools, we turned to the sea. The sea is full of fairy-tale symbolism: it is at once wondrous and frightening, a hidden world beneath the surface, and a passageway between the real world and the imaginary world. In this tale, it even becomes a place of transformation for the Owl Witch.
So the inspiration came from both an image already present in our earlier tale and our desire to expand this shared universe with Júlia into inspiring landscapes.
So the inspiration came from both an image already present in our earlier tale and our desire to expand this shared universe with Júlia into inspiring landscapes.
The three books feel like they are set within the same world. How do you see these three stories fitting together?
Nicolas: One thing these tales have in common is that they feature strong female characters. Real heroines, proactive women who stand out for their desire to understand others, whether it be the most feared wolf in the forest, a hideous, touchy toad or a manipulative octopus. They also take place in natural worlds whose historical period is not clearly established. Despite being inspired by traditional tales, the images created by Júlia show us heroines who could very well be our contemporaries, our neighbours.
Myriam: We imagined these three tales as taking place in the same fictional universe. We begin each book with the phrase, “Far, far away...”. In The Wolf's Secret, this phrase came to us naturally as a reference to "Once upon a time,"
in order to establish the impression of an old-fashioned tale from the very first lines, which we wanted to recreate. We then decided to start Leina and the Owl Witch in the same way, to create consistency between the three books while varying the direction given each time (north, south,…), as if we were exploring a different corner of the same imaginary world.
Myriam: We imagined these three tales as taking place in the same fictional universe. We begin each book with the phrase, “Far, far away...”. In The Wolf's Secret, this phrase came to us naturally as a reference to "Once upon a time,"
in order to establish the impression of an old-fashioned tale from the very first lines, which we wanted to recreate. We then decided to start Leina and the Owl Witch in the same way, to create consistency between the three books while varying the direction given each time (north, south,…), as if we were exploring a different corner of the same imaginary world.
| Do you have a favourite scene or image from Júlia’s artwork? Nicolas: It's hard to choose! Júlia's illustrations are so exceptional that it's always a joy to discover them. But what I particularly love about her art is the way she manages to create images that are both aesthetically beautiful and a little bizarre. That's why I love the image of the Owl Witch surrounded by Blackink's crew. I could spend hours looking at the strange characters surrounding the heroine. |  |
 | Myriam: For me, the very first illustrations we received from Júlia for The Wolf’s Secret will always have a special place in my heart. It was the start of the whole adventure, and such a wonderful surprise to see how she had imagined our story. I remember being amazed that she gave us a heroine in trousers and sweater… and not some kind of ethereal princess in a white dress! It felt so much more real and true. In fact, those images are still the wallpaper on my phone, so I keep seeing them every day. |
As co-authors you work very collaboratively. Could you explain a little about how your process together works? Do you ever disagree?!
Myriam: We always ask ourselves what might inspire Júlia, how we can take her to new places, new playgrounds for her imagination. Whenever possible, we also like to have a chat with her to hear about her current wishes. After that, it's a process that's quite difficult to describe because it's not necessarily very codified! We talk about our ideas and suggestions for a new story. Most of the time we have the beginning of a story, but not necessarily the end… Then one of us takes the pen and drafts a first version, then passes it on to the other, who rewrites, continues, and throws it back again... and we continue like this until we find a version we’re both happy with.
Nicolas: This process can take a long time! Writing as a pair is not at all faster than writing alone. Because, it's true, we sometimes disagree. But we debate a lot to understand how to create the best possible version, and in the end, the text is always richer than if we had written it alone.
Myriam: We always ask ourselves what might inspire Júlia, how we can take her to new places, new playgrounds for her imagination. Whenever possible, we also like to have a chat with her to hear about her current wishes. After that, it's a process that's quite difficult to describe because it's not necessarily very codified! We talk about our ideas and suggestions for a new story. Most of the time we have the beginning of a story, but not necessarily the end… Then one of us takes the pen and drafts a first version, then passes it on to the other, who rewrites, continues, and throws it back again... and we continue like this until we find a version we’re both happy with.
Nicolas: This process can take a long time! Writing as a pair is not at all faster than writing alone. Because, it's true, we sometimes disagree. But we debate a lot to understand how to create the best possible version, and in the end, the text is always richer than if we had written it alone.
What three things would you like readers to take away from a reading of The Owl Witch?
Nicolas: The first thing is that I would like readers to really enjoy reading this book, of course! We write these stories in the hope that they will transport readers to a magical world that they will want to return to often... whatever their age!
The second thing, more specific to The Owl Witch, is to encourage reflection on the cost of truth: speaking and standing up for the truth is not always easy and often requires courage.
Finally, if this story inspires readers to take an interest in nature and the underwater world, that's a real bonus. I hope that my love for nature is contagious in all these texts.
Myriam: First, a bit of empathy (and maybe even a sadness) for the Owl Witch, stuck in her lonely isolation.
Second, a little shiver when Black Ink shows up and the dangers of the deep sea unfold.
And third… a smile, when they realize the clever trick the witch uses to escape the trap that was set for her.
The Owl Witch written by Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard, illustrated by Júlia Sardà, is published by
Orchard Books in the UK and Gallimard in France, and available now. And, don’t miss the other two titles in this magical trilogy: The Wolf’s Secret and Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools.
Nicolas: The first thing is that I would like readers to really enjoy reading this book, of course! We write these stories in the hope that they will transport readers to a magical world that they will want to return to often... whatever their age!
The second thing, more specific to The Owl Witch, is to encourage reflection on the cost of truth: speaking and standing up for the truth is not always easy and often requires courage.
Finally, if this story inspires readers to take an interest in nature and the underwater world, that's a real bonus. I hope that my love for nature is contagious in all these texts.
Myriam: First, a bit of empathy (and maybe even a sadness) for the Owl Witch, stuck in her lonely isolation.
Second, a little shiver when Black Ink shows up and the dangers of the deep sea unfold.
And third… a smile, when they realize the clever trick the witch uses to escape the trap that was set for her.
The Owl Witch written by Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard, illustrated by Júlia Sardà, is published by
Orchard Books in the UK and Gallimard in France, and available now. And, don’t miss the other two titles in this magical trilogy: The Wolf’s Secret and Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools.
