Vircheu and the Bow by Eli Anderson

OBV Alumni of the Magistrate Shadowing Scheme Eli Anderson writes exclusively for OBV about his new publishing venture and creative work an illustrated book called Vircheu and the Bow.

This is Vircheu’s first in a series of adventures. In this story, Vircheu as a boy learns the secrets of his father’s skills, as the Grand Master Bowman. Though little Vircheu struggles, he learns why his skill is so important to the village and the family. Vircheu’s father proudly teaches his son the secrets of the world around him.

The evolution of Vircheu’s adventures (and EnK Books) began by me inventing stories to tell to my sons. I tried to create a peaceful and spiritual place to give them access to knowledge and wisdom last thing at night before bedtime. I performed the ‘Vircheu and the bow’ story, at an art exhibition in front of an audience and received a good response. Artist Ken McCalla inspired, created a set of powerful lino print images that complemented the text and the underpinning wisdom advocated in the children’s story.

Working together we made a draft copy of the book and set about our market research arranging parent and child sessions, for the parents both to read the book for themselves, and with their children. We held storytelling and discussions of the book in libraries and schools also play centres and Elder groups. Without exception, all the children, parents and Elders understood immediately the essential elements of the story. In addition, the images were engaging and stimulated children and adults, and encouraged much deeper exploration of the text. Children really enjoyed reading the book.

Receiving a mild response having tried a number of publishers, we felt passionately that we had a great product and decided to publish the book ourselves and formed ‘Enk’ Books in the autumn of 2009. As well as the book we’ve created a series of bookmarks, workshops and are currently developing an activity book and the next Vircheu adventure.

We believe that storytelling is a way in which you can unlock wisdom from your past and use this to face the unknown future. Creating and developing these stories is a privilege and immense responsibility. We hope you have an opportunity to share and enjoy them with us.

Eli Anderson

If you are interested in learning storytelling I will be running a 3 session course from the 9th May 2011, For more details www.enkbooks.co.uk or call 07956 127 226.