roger ycaza emanates peace and simplicity at first sight. The Ecuadorian, who has specialized in content for the little ones, launched his most recent literary work, “ten endless songs during the Bogotá International Book Fair, 2023.
The picturesque pages that eloquently accompany the text allow its readers to put music to a story that could even be considered philosophical, since its narration will surely make its viewers inquire about life and its nostalgia.
The writer and illustrator, who has an extensive body of work with more than 200 titles, talks calmly about where his taste for children’s literature came from and how his literary career began.
— Why did your taste for children’s literature begin and at what point did you know that you wanted to dedicate yourself to that?
— The truth, by certain coincidences. Imagine that I wanted to dedicate myself to music, 100%; I wanted to dedicate myself to comics, to graphic narrative and, at certain moments of change, I went to live in Quito; I am not from Quito, but I went to live in the capital of Ecuador and there I began to look for the path I wanted.
Asking myself: ‘what did I want to do?’, I came across children’s literature, books for girls and boys; it was something like an immediate connection. I didn’t grow up with too many children’s books, that has to be mentioned.
— Precisely because of that scarcity in your childhood, do you think this has become your life vocation?
— It’s possible. The truth had not been asked in that way, perhaps to fill that space; yes, this is true; It could be, I think it’s nice, if it’s like that…, I think it’s nice in any case.
— Why this constant feeling of searching towards the stars or the astral being, trying to connect with the same galaxy of the universe? How was the process of this creation?
— The truth is, I love that, because when you have a work, which you can enjoy in its entirety or in its parts, it is a great advantage, a huge plus. Let’s transfer it from the music itself. Although this book is not accompanied by music, it is like a record that you can listen to from start to finish.
The work process was, the first story, which, if I remember correctly, is Clara’s, appeared around the year 2010, 2011 and, later, it progressed; It is a book that had a lot of time to rest, to mature, to visit it, to revisit it, to show it, to share it, to put it down. It was published in 2020-2021.
It was also a learning process, like everything I’ve been doing, but in this case perhaps more, due to the number of years it was subjected to, what I always mention is also the issue of patience, right? like when you trust something and say that! and I think that if one should see oneself for a moment, show oneself and trust in that, then that patience of not letting go is convenient.
— Who is Roger and hunts? Tell me a little about yourself.
— I am an illustrator, I am known more as an illustrator within the field of children’s and youth literature, but I also write my own stories.
Now that time has passed, I see that I compose songs where there are lyrics, that I write my stories where there is text; So, let’s say that if I can consider myself a writer, I often move along those paths, in music, in books, in illustration.
In my free time I cook, I love to cook. I cook every day, it’s something very everyday, very much at home, and I watch movies, a lot of movies too, I love movies. As apart from these paths in which I develop, gastronomy and cinema are super present in my life.
— Have you ever thought about developing a story or story around the world of gastronomy?
— You know that no? In other words, on the subject of cinema, yes, but that was left a bit there…, because I have a book called “laps around the universeThis is a book that is entirely linked to music. It is a book that is only one ink away: black, there are only images and you have to guess each one, because each image is from a specific song.
I wanted to do the second part of that book but oriented to the cinema; like this, same as the other: there is a picture and people have to guess what movie it is. To tell you, you have an image where you see a glass that is served with a drink and there is a bottle of whiskey, an amaretto, so: What movies is it? The Godfather. But I haven’t finished it, I left it there, it’s like an attempt.
On the subject of gastronomy, I would love to, I would love to make an illustrated recipe book.
— I thought more about the fact that the protagonist of some of the stories was a chef or something like that.
— I like to cook, but I don’t consider myself a chef, not at all, but right now that you’re putting that topic to me and I say: ‘Ah, yes’, I would like to, I could be able to if I do it at some point, but no I had raised it, as well as very punctually. You leave me uneasy.
— Roger: What is the central reason why you create “ten endless songs? Apart from entertaining, do you want people to philosophize or did you just write what you felt?
— It’s the second, what you just mentioned. I have never been pretentious with my work; I never go that way, because I am also self-taught, I have learned from mistakes and successes; So, what I do, everything I do is part of the intuition.
I make a book as an intuitive way, as I compose a song and that reflection of what I do is what I give you and if it connects with the readers and with a moment that perhaps affects them, that is something that interests me. leaves really satisfied and excited.
From there, from being able to share something that is mine and that I think my readers can also consider theirs and in the case of “ten endless songs It just goes that way, because one of the axes of the book is to share dreams, desires, to share life itself, to stop thinking about yourself to think about the other, about nostalgia, melancholy, the trip, so a bit.
— Do you illustrate first and then write or is it a simultaneous job?
—EIt’s a job that keeps moving, it depends on the project. In this case, I wrote first; There are other books that I illustrate first and then add a text, and there are other books that I only illustrate, those that only have images.
— You already have more than ten books published as an illustrator and writer, there are also others that you only animate graphically…
— Of course, imagine as an integral author I must be bordering around 15 books. As a co-author I must have passed 30 and as an illustrator, nothing else can sound ugly, maybe, because I don’t want it to be a competition, like pretentious, but they are more than 200.
I had never thought about that, but a couple of years ago I was nominated for a very beautiful award, which is the Alma Award, which is given in Sweden, which is like one of the greatest awards for children’s and youth literature and Being nominated is already an award, right? And to send my candidacy, or well, the entity that sent my candidacy, asked me to make a list, an extensive bibliography of my work; never had.
So, I went through all that work and yes, that’s a lot. Imagine, I’ve been doing this, between music and books for more than 25 years.
— I think children’s literature keeps him young.
— How nice that, I had never answered that, although I had been asked a few times: What keeps me young? I’ve said things like: I don’t know, music, laughter, smiling, but children’s books… I think that’s the secret.
— How do you convince a child? Because the adult is so pigeonholed in his daily life, in his problems that for him magic is almost non-existent.
— Children, I feel that they have precisely this desire to continue dreaming, to continue believing in magic, I think that this is part of life and being.
Children’s books are for everyone, that’s not my phrase, it’s a universal phrase; It is a phrase that, if I remember correctly, is used by a beautiful publishing house called half cow, Spanish, which I have heard many times and which I also emphasize a lot; I don’t know who said it for the first time, but it is a fact that children’s books are for everyone. I am 46 years old and I dedicate myself to those books, even at my age, one of the first sections I visit in a bookstore is the children’s area.
— Many children’s books have impressive morals about accepting self, about not hurting or bullying others, about being empathic.
— The theme of children’s books, of books for girls and boys, has changed a lot and has grown a lot. In children’s books we find sensitive themes that perhaps were not so present before, such as the theme of death…
— Thanks to these types of books, children now talk about death in a very fresh way.
— These “taboo” topics have been breaking down and have become closer, precisely due to the management of writers and illustrators who approach these sensitive topics; As I told you, they are of great interest to me personally, because they are necessary. I have a book calledthe weird days”, which precisely talks about the subject of separation, of the trip; I have another book that I don’t know if you know, it’s called “ABril and Moncho”, and it addresses the issue of… I better not tell you because if you don’t know it, I better not give you spoilers, but it addresses a sensitive issue.
These books are extremely necessary, because what they do is tell the children that they are not going through this moment alone, they will feel sheltered by an image, by a word that will make them understand that this is not just happening to them. thereto; It is incredible to address these types of issues, they are very important and necessary in the world, especially the one we live in now, right?
— That also generates sensitivity among people and everything comes together; adults should also read these kinds of books.
— Totally, totally, but there is the issue of “lowering”; There are people who simply think that they are more “above”, but they are not. The fact of embellishing words and using as many synonyms as you know, no; For me the subject of children’s literature is very important, I think it is at the same level as any literature or art, it is neither more nor less; it’s there, next to a classic of adult literature, contemporary or old, or next to a great movie that touched you a lot, right there. It’s not just a matter of getting closer but also letting go.
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