每週六去參加石頭湯讀書會總會有各種不同的驚喜，因為我對台灣兒童文學創作家的無知，造成我現在的幸福，上完課總有發現新大陸的感嘆。
Every Saturday there are always surprises in store for me in the Stone Soup study club. My ignorance for Taiwanese children's literature writers results in my immense bliss now. I always end up feeling like I've discovered a new continent every weekend.
今天的講者是知名的兒童文學作家林世仁老師，老師高高瘦瘦的，很像長腿叔叔，說起話來真誠開朗，就像春天的好天氣，令人意猶未盡。不過當老師被問到這些年以來的創作對他有何影響時，他回答說，其實他在小學四年級前是外向的孩子，還參加過演講比賽，但是上了國中之後變得很內向，透過創作，他才得以回到小學四年級之前的樣子，並且保持生理和心理上的青春。
The guest speaker today is Mr. Shi-jen Lin, who is a renowned writer in the children's literature in Taiwan. He instantly reminds me of Daddy-Long-Legs. When he talks, I feel his sincere and communicative personalities, right like sunny spring days. However, when asked how writing has influenced him, Mr. Lin says that he was an outgoing kid before 10. He even participated in speech contests, but in his teens, he became introvert and withdrawn. Through writing, he has managed to return to the young self before 10 and stay physically and mentally young.
老師雖然是文字工作者，但是有藝術研究的背景。在今天的演講中，老師不斷提到和插畫有關的議題，讓我收穫良多。他以最新出版的童詩作品：古靈精怪動物園為例，和我們分享創作童詩的過程，基本上他是慢型的寫作者，可是這本書的靈感來自「謝爾叔叔的古怪動物園」一書，老師在一個晚上靈感泉源，當時便創作了十幾首詩，儘管如此，這本書卻花了五年才出版，而最特別的地方在於他和好幾位插畫家的共同合作，老師說，他最期待的部份便是看插畫家如何詮釋他的文字。除了藝術家的觀點，老師對於圖面也有他自己的想法，同時編輯和美編也加入他們專業的建議，因此產生許多火花。
Though Mr. Lin is a writer, his background in art history also plays a crucial part in his works. In the talk today, he keeps sharing the process in which he and the illustrators cooperate, which really offers an insight into how writers and illustrators work. Take his latest work My Dear Animals for example. It is a collection of 50 poems inspired by Shel Silverstein's book Don't Bump the Glump!: and Other Fantasies. Though he tends to be a slow writer, he was inspired one night and wrote about 15 poems about animals that he created. Despite so, he didn't get to have the book published until five years later. Something most special about the book is that he got to work with several illustrators. In fact, he was really looking forward to how they might interpret his imagination pictorially. Apart from the illustrators' viewpoints, Mr. Lin had his own idea regarding the images. Meanwhile, the editor and art editor also assisted by providing their suggestions. Thus, there are many interesting visual presentations in the book.
這本書中收錄老師自創的五十種怪獸，老師在寫作的當下並未聯想到他們背後的意義，不過最後編輯建議把這些動物分類，讓讀者在閱讀時能有休息的空間，後來老師才發現原來這些動物代表的是各種人性中的弱點，雖然是虛構的動物，卻真實地存在我們心中，說著說著，老師把他們和人生結合在一起，我真的是心有戚戚焉。
The book includes fifty poems about fifty kinds of non-existing monsters. While Mr. Lin was writing, he didn't think about the meaning of every monster. It was not until the editor advised him to categorize the monsters for the reader to breathe when reading that Mr. Lin realized that these animals actually symbolize human beings' weaknesses. Though the animals are fictional, they are more real than the reality and exist in each of us. Mr. Lin goes on to connect his creation with life, and I can't help nodding in agreement all along.
老師說了好多可以供創作者參考的話，下午聽小野先生演講時，也說了幾乎一模一樣的話語，這裡我想引他的話：
Mr. Lin has said many great quotes which are very helpful to potential writers and artists. And I hear the same words while attending another speech by the famous writer Hsiao Yeh.
「一本書的樣貌有很多可能。」
〈「同樣的故事可以用各種方式說。」─ 小野老師〉
"There are many ways to make a book."
("The same story can be told differently." by Hsiao Yeh)
「開心的背後就有意義，有教育意義的故事不一定是好故事，但好故事一定有意義。」
"There's meaning behind a 'happy' story. Stories with educational significance aren't necessarily good stories, but good stories must have certain significance."
「對於插畫的詮釋，有把握時就正面迎敵，沒有把握時可以畫故事發生前的那一刻。」
"About how to illustrate, when you are sure, you can illustrate directly what's said in a quote, but if you are not, you can illustrate the moment before the story happens."
「每個創作者都是小小的上帝。」
"Every creator is God in his/her own way."
「寫童書要用小孩的心和大人的眼睛。」
"It takes a child's heart and an adult's eye to write books for children."
「真正好的童書適合八到八十八歲的人閱讀，因為它有觸動人心的部分，提到人心的核心價值，讓人心頭暖暖的。成長是擴散的過程，但隨者長大，我們逐漸被苦惱憂慮所佔據，忘了核心的部分。」
"A really good book for children can be read for people from 8 to 88 years old because there is something that touches everyone. The part about core human value will warm our hearts. Growth is the process of expansion. We expand what we've already known, but with time passing by, we are preoccupied with worries and anxiety and forget what's really important."
老師也帶小朋友創作童詩，他的工作過程是帶孩子們讀幾首童詩，看相關的圖片，之後便放手，先讓孩子自由地拼貼一隻怪物，再給牠想個名字，想想牠的個性是什麼，把這些想法寫進詩中，有趣的是小孩會因此暴露弱點，並且把他們的情緒變成怪獸的樣子。老師說與其教，不如說是他陪著孩子們做這件事，把此時此刻的心情記錄下來。
Mr. Lin also guides children to write poems. He will first make them read some poems and look at some pictures, and after that, he'll let them create freely. He usually asks them to do collage of a monster first, then name it, think about its personalities, and make these part of their poems. Interestingly, children will thus reveal their weaknesses automatically and turn their emotions into the monsters. Mr. Lin says instead of "teaching," he actually accompanies them to record their feelings of the moment.
老師也提到他的另一本舊書重印：十四個窗口，這本書的書名來自於老師在不同的窗口寫不同的故事，舊版的插畫家劉宗慧用故事裡的元素來創作，而新版的插畫家六十九則是利用故事以外的背景，以老師在不同窗口創作的理念，利用窗前有的物品來作圖面的發揮，值得一提的是，六十九先生因為聽不見，心特別細膩，插畫風格很文學。
Mr. Lin introduces another newly-printed old book of his: Fourteen Windows. The title derived from his writing each story in front of different windows. The illustrator for the old version of the book took the elements in each story to illustrate, but the artist of the new version based his concept on how Mr. Lin created the story and designed each illustration by using the objects found in front of the windows. The young artist named 69 can't hear, so Mr. Lin thinks that's why he is especially sensitive. His drawing style is literary.
老師最後分享他的另一本作品「宇宙魔法印刷機」，這本作品以老師對於「書」的看法，探討書可以以何種形式存在以及書的意義。沈從文說：我讀一本小書又讀一本大書。」我的人生目標則是：我寫一本小書又寫一本大書。
In the end Mr. Lin shares another book of his: The Magic Printer of the Universe. It is a book that explores his idea on books, discussing in what forms books can exist and the meanings of books. The famous Chinese writer Shen Congwen said: I read a small book and a big book at the same time. My life goal is: I write a small book and a big book.
