Video transcript
NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 2024 – SWF author interview (primary) – 04. Kate and Jol Temple

[intro music]

KAASHIF: Hi, my name is Kaashif Raihan, and I'm from Glenfield Public School. We're here on Darug land today in Parramatta as part of the Sydney Writers' Festival. Today, I'll be interviewing the amazing Kate and Jo Temple. Hi, Kate and Jol. How are you today?

JOL TEMPLE: Hi, Kaashif, very good.

KATE TEMPLE: I'm very good.

KAASHIF: All the books I've read have been one author, but you guys have published over 20 books together as authors. What's the writing process like? Whose ideas do you guys use?

KATE TEMPLE: Oh, well, we use all my ideas.

JOL TEMPLE: That's not true. That's so not true. Well, look, we come up with ideas together, I think. We're always talking about books and what would make for a good book. So when we hear something that makes us both laugh, we know we're onto something good.

So we're often talking together at home about what might make a good story, or who could be a good character, and then what could the stories be about them. So it's a lot of to and fro.

KATE TEMPLE: And you know, the other thing is that we don't just work together. We also work with illustrators because we have so many different books that are illustrated. So one of the things that we really like doing is working with other people because you get all of their ideas as well. So Jol and I, we're big collaborators. We like getting access to other people's ideas and coming up with brand new stuff.

KAASHIF: What made you into the writing world? Did you both want to become authors?

JOL TEMPLE: Yes. Well, initially, so when I was back in primary school, the job that I wanted to do, the one thing that I wanted to become, was Indiana Jones. I thought, when I grow up, that's me, I'm going to do that. But I didn't become Indiana Jones, funnily enough, but I loved stories, and I loved all that action adventure. I used to read Tintin books. Have you ever read those?

KAASHIF: Yes, one of my favourites.

JOL TEMPLE: Yeah, me too.

KATE TEMPLE: Which is your favourite one?

KAASHIF: 'Black Island'.

JOL TEMPLE: Oh, yeah.

KATE TEMPLE: Oh, that's a good one.

JOL TEMPLE: Yeah, with the gorilla in the castle? Yeah, fabulous. So I've read a lot of these sort of things, and I started writing my own sort of Tintin comic books, and that's what got me started. I thought, oh, maybe I could write. Maybe I'll be an author instead of Indiana Jones, and that's what I am.

KATE TEMPLE: Yeah. What about me, right? Well, I went for a job at the bank, and they were like, no way, Jose, get out of here, and I was like, OK, maybe I'll become a kid's author. So I think what it was for me is that I like coming up with ideas, and the really nice thing about being an author is that you get to do that, and you get to see your ideas come to fruition. So that's what drew me to it.

KAASHIF: In your books 'Room on the Rock', and 'Move That Mountain', the story could be read both ways in either direction, meaning the opposite meaning. So how was that writing process like?

KATE TEMPLE: It was so difficult. You know, of all the books that we've written, even though it's the shortest, it actually took the longest to write because every single word in that book matters. If you get one word out of place, the whole thing doesn't make sense when you read it backwards. So Jol and I were playing with it for so long that it took us 2 years to write that book.

JOL TEMPLE: Just to get it perfectly the way we wanted it. Yeah, yeah. So most books don't take us that long, but that one did.

KAASHIF: In your book the 'Bin Chicken' series, it has really clever rhymes. Is it easier or harder to write books with rhymes?

KATE TEMPLE: Well, we love books that rhyme. We've got a lot of picture books at home that rhyme. We love all the 'Macca the Alpaca' books.

JOL TEMPLE: Oh, they're fun.

KATE TEMPLE: We love rhyming books. So I think it is fun. Once you get a rhyme going, it gives you a real sense of satisfaction if you get it right, but at the same time, we do spend a lot of time sitting around trying to rhyme words.

JOL TEMPLE: Yeah, that's exactly right, yeah, and it gives you a little challenge to make sure that your story is going to rhyme. And sometimes the rhyme actually sort of shapes the story because, all of a sudden, you're using a word that you didn't think of before, but it rhymes with something else, and all of a sudden, your Bin Chicken has flown into a cloud of sugary fairy floss, for instance.

KATE TEMPLE: The other thing it's taught me is that nothing rhymes with elephant.

JOL TEMPLE: That's irrelephant, OK? Totally irrelephant.

KAASHIF: In your book, it has a character, Trilby Moffat.

KATE TEMPLE: Yeah, Trilby Moffatt in 'The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffatt'. Those ones. Yeah, yeah.

KAASHIF: What's the writing like, and have you read them?

JOL TEMPLE: Oh, yes, I have read them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So as Kate's writing them, she's often saying, can you have a read of this? What do you think? What do you think? What should happen next? What do you think? And I love reading them because they're great stories.

I love all the ideas and some of those fabulous ideas that Kate brings to that world, this world where there's no time, this world where there's a big pandemic where everyone's falling asleep and dreaming, and they're not waking up. It's just fabulous.

KATE TEMPLE: Well, you know what, though? It is really useful having another writer in the house to help me when I'm writing a book that I'm writing by myself, because sometimes you've got problems, and you can't work out how to get out of them.

So I often talk to Jol about that. But we've also got 2 kids, and they are very helpful. So with all our books, we read them to our kids because kids have got the best ideas, and they will always tell us that's good, and if they are laughing, then we know we're on the right track.

KAASHIF: And you'll have different answers for this, but is there any character in your set of books that you can relate to?

JOL TEMPLE: Oh, yes.

KATE TEMPLE: Great question.

JOL TEMPLE: Yes, yes, yes.

KATE TEMPLE: What do you think, Jol?

JOL TEMPLE: The one I can most relate to is Detective Barkley from 'The Underdogs'. Now, Detective Barkley is a German shepherd, and he's very, very, very straight-laced, and he's by the book. He does things the right way.

KATE TEMPLE: He keeps mucking everything up, though, Jol.

JOL TEMPLE: Sometimes he does get into a bit of a muddle and misses the main culprit as they walk straight past him.

KATE TEMPLE: But you're not like that.

JOL TEMPLE: I couldn't relate. Yeah. So maybe Detective Barkley is a bit like me.

KAASHIF: And you?

KATE TEMPLE: Oh, there's always a bit of me in all the characters, whether it's a good bit or a bad bit. And I think one of the characters that I relate to the most is probably-- I really like the 'Bin Chicken' character.

I know that seems like a weird answer. But it's such a resilient bird, and it's a native bird, a naughty native bird, and I love that that bin chicken always finds ways to get lunch and has this lovely family, and it's got this lovely friendship group, and I really like the 'Bin Chicken's' character. So I hope I'm a bit like a bin chicken.

JOL TEMPLE: Yeah, and bin chickens are very resilient, too.

KATE TEMPLE: They are. They are.

JOL TEMPLE: They are resilient birds. They've learned how to adapt.

KAASHIF: Are you working on any new books, or is that top secret information?

KATE TEMPLE: It's totally top secret, but we're going to tell you anyway.

JOL TEMPLE: We can share it with you. OK, so we have another 'Frog Squad' coming out soon, and we've just finished--

KATE TEMPLE: How about the title.

JOL TEMPLE: I can't remember. Oh, no, I can remember.

KATE TEMPLE: I remember.

JOL TEMPLE: It's called 'Frog Squad, Bungle in the Jungle'. You heard it here first. And then there's the third one, which doesn't have a title yet, but we have finished writing it. We're working on the title.

KATE TEMPLE: I can tell you this about it, though. The third one, which doesn't have a title yet, has quicksand in it.

JOL TEMPLE: Yeah. Who doesn't love quicksand, right?

KATE TEMPLE: Why isn't there more quicksand in books?

KAASHIF: Do you have any favourite books?

JOL TEMPLE: Favourite books.

KATE TEMPLE: That we haven't written? Books that we-- or of ours? Any of ours. Oh.

JOL TEMPLE: Can I say the Tintins again?

KAASHIF: Yeah.

JOL TEMPLE: Yeah, I love Tintin.

KATE TEMPLE: Yeah.

JOL TEMPLE: My Favourite, though, is probably 'Flight 714' where they're on the plane that goes on that island. Yeah, that's fun.

KATE TEMPLE: I think my Favourite book of ours-- it's hard, but in picture books at the moment, I'm liking the new series Goat, where the goat thinks it's the goat because it's a goat. So he wakes up, and this goat says, oh, I'm the goat. And all of his other friends who aren't goats are ducks and other animals, like, yeah, I'm not sure about that. Like, no, I'm a goat, so I must be the goat. So I think that's really funny at the moment.

KAASHIF: Do you have any impact you want your readers to have?

JOL TEMPLE: Yeah, I want them to keep reading. I want them to get interested in books, and I want them to start writing their own stories. That's the most amazing thing. When we hear that kids have read a book, and they want to write a book as well, that's the best for me.

KATE TEMPLE: For me, I think that if there's anything I'd really like kids to take out of our books is that they read for fun, and that they read for pleasure, and that books are something that are really fun and joyous for them. So that's what I'm hoping our books do for kids.

KAASHIF: Well, is there any advice you would want to give?

KATE TEMPLE: Ooh, that's a great question.

JOL TEMPLE: What do you think, Kate?

KATE TEMPLE: I do have a piece of advice. OK, here's my number one writing piece of advice, and it is that perfect is the enemy of awesome. And what that means is, when you're doing your writing, you know that little voice sometimes that says, my writing's not working, I don't know how to spell this, I'm not sure where this story is going, all that doubt?

If you get that voice going, then I think that you need to ignore it because really awesome ideas are fragile, and they need to hit the ground, and the page, and feel like they can just go wherever they want. So don't worry about getting things perfect when you're doing a creative writing. Just get your awesome ideas down on the page. That's what's really important.

JOL TEMPLE: So you're saying ideas are like little wild antelopes that you want to run all over the page and just be free.

KATE TEMPLE: I didn't say anything like that.

JOL TEMPLE: Sort of like that. I have some advice, too.

KATE TEMPLE: What's your advice?

JOL TEMPLE: You're a writer, right, Kaashif? You like writing.

KAASHIF: Yeah.

JOL TEMPLE: Do you ever feel stuck sometimes?

KAASHIF: Yes, a lot.

JOL TEMPLE: OK, all right. OK, that's a good sign. It probably just means you've got a lot of good ideas in your head, and you're trying to work out which one to get out on the page. When this happens to me, you know what I do? I go and have a sandwich. I do.

I like to make a cheese toastie, maybe cheese and ham sometimes. And I take a short 5-minute break. I eat something, and then I come back, and that problem has just disappeared, and I can write again, and the problem's just gone. Yeah.

KATE TEMPLE: Take a break.

JOL TEMPLE: Take a short break. Come back.

KAASHIF: Well, thank you so much for letting me interview you today. I hope everyone enjoys your novels as much as I did.

JOL TEMPLE: Thank you, Kaashif.

KATE TEMPLE: Oh, thank you. You're a wonderful interviewer. I think you're headed straight to '60 Minutes'.

JOL TEMPLE: I think so. Best interview ever. Thank you so much.