Telling the untold

A small Orange-based children’s book publisher is on a mission to bring stories to the world that do not fit the commercial mould.

Margrete Lamond spent 20 years working for large publishing firms, but over time she began to notice that only certain types of books were making it to print.

“I noticed that the breadth of books we found to be commercially viable was narrowing and I felt that readers were being short changed,” said Margrete, “By only having that certain brand of colourful, happy books there weren't any that had a little bit more layers to them or books that were appealing to older readers.”

But Margret believed there was still a need and desire for these sorts of books.

“I thought people are still interested in that kind of book, maybe not in a commercially viable way, but that doesn't mean that the interest isn't out there,” said Margrete, who in 2015 set about forming her own not-for-profit publishing company, Dirt Lane Press.

The idea of the Dirt Lane Press is to ‘publish around the margins.’ To make available a broader range of narratives and even stories with difficult themes told in a child-friendly way.

“Anything that doesn't fall into an easy format or formulae,” said Margrete. “So the first book was a chapter book, but it was the size of a picture book. It was about dysfunctional friendships and the message of it was that no friendship is perfect and there may be unequal power play, but you can work through it rather than just abandon it.”

Another title published by Dirt Lane Press, The Dream Peddler, was actually a fable about drug addiction.

“It was inspired by ‘ice’ addition but we turned everything into a fable that operates on lots of different levels,” said Margrete, who told a story of how the book has brought hope to adult addicts at Sydney’s Wayside Chapel.

“And I’ve also heard of 5-year-olds requesting it again and again,” she said. “We do picture books that appeal on all levels. We've done another one that is an indictment of slavery called Winter of the White Bear and at the end of next year we are doing one for young adults — a 104 page picture book, which is very unusual — about the experience of bipolar A which is bipolar with hallucinations. It’s by a man in his mid 50s who has lived with this all his life and wants this to be an inspiration to young people.”

Their most recent book, Where Happiness Hides  —written by Anthony Bettini and illustrated by Orange local Jennifer Goldsmith — was to be published next year, but given the global pandemic the decision was made to release it free online to as many people as possible.

And so, they had the book translated into 35 languages.

“It is all about being in the moment and noticing little things around us and not being distracted by big things but just being quiet and noticing the joy of small things,” said Margrete

“It was slated for early next year, but then I had this thought in the middle of the night that it was the perfect book for now and the very next morning Anthony rang me and said we need to publish it now.”

For Margrete, bringing these books into the world is an artistically freeing experience, but more than that, she has seen firsthand the powerful influence the right story can have on a person’s life.

“There is a way of looking at our life’s experience through a metaphor or a fable that makes it easier to understand,” she said.

“Visual narrative, stories told with pictures whether they are moving pictures or graphic novels or the short form of a picture book. I think is very, very powerful and you can convey so much in it. You know the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, well it is absolutely true. But you can really manipulate those so called ‘thousand words’ in a way that can have a very profound effect on the viewer on the reader. So that is what I do… It is my passion to bring beautiful, quality, meaningful books to the world.”