Interview with Sefik Daupovic - Fiko

Published 2014-09-08.
How do your stories for children come about? Favourite time and place for writing?
I find inspiration in all sorts of art, especially the books I read, whether classical or contemporary. That opens up a whole new space for creation in my soul, at the same time enriching my life and hopefully readers' experience too. Other sources of inspiration are nature and all its beauties and attractions. Nature is the greatest artist of all. And spending time with the many wonderful people that inhabit this Earth. There is no particular place and no exact time for my writing: inspiration comes at its own pace and you have to react immediately otherwise it will disappear into oblivion. The important thing is to work out and choose those artistic qualities that will resist the challenges of time.
You often perform in schools. What kind of questions do children ask most often, compared to their parents and teachers? And how do you normally respond to those questions?
I perform anywhere I’m invited, if I can. The financial aspect isn’t important: I just enjoy making children happy. The questions I get asked all follow more or less the same pattern, but there is always one child who is more interested and who animates the others. But the important thing is never to underestimate any question. People who join in a conversation, no matter how old they are, are entitled to respect. That is a key precondition for the spontaneity of communication that transforms a fear of questioning into a smile, the most wonderful thing on children's faces.
Do you believe that children’s writers have to be softer-hearted than authors in other genres?
To write for children, considering the sensitivity of their hearts, most of all means to be just. Children are most sensitive to injustice. And if you express your point through mild humour, in your own way, positive effects will follow.
Children's literature gives us an opportunity to enrich memories of our own childhood, while writing for children means relaxing in honest company. There is nothing more wonderful than exploring the endless imagination of children. To be a witness to the happiness of the children's world can't be compared with anything.
Plans for the future?
I write for adults too. But as time passes, I am more and more focused on writing for children. Looking back, I see that many of my works have been included in anthologies. Up until now I have written several children's books: poetry, The Wind Sells Newspapers (Vjetar prodaje novine); Kingdom Jah Jah (Kraljevstvo Jah Jah); Stories from Elephant Lake (Priče sa Slonovog jezera), Stories from the River Pa Pa (Priče sa rijeke Pa Pa), which is about to be published; a picture book, The Little Nail (Mali ekser); and a radio-play, The Audition in the Zoo (Audicija u zoološkom vrtu). A play, How Nice It is to Have Clean Hands (Kako je lijepo imati čiste ruke), and a book of poetry, The Barman in Love (Zaljubljeni barmen), are ready to be published.
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Books by This Author

Elephant Lake
Price: $2.10 USD. Words: 10,870. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2013 by Style Writes Now. Categories: Fiction » Children’s books » Fairy tales & fables
Sefik Daupovic - Fiko, the author of ELEPHANT LAKE, this collection of ten stories for children, has visited many unusual places, including Drum Town, where parents play the drums whenever they want to discipline their offspring. He has also observed an elephant working as an elevator and been in a town whose inhabitants do nothing but play marbles. Illustrations: Rifat Sahman