UNE's Chief Operating Officer Professor Peter Creamer moonlights as a children's book publisher in partnership with his writer-illustrator wife of 33 years Kathy - and their four Chinese Crested editorial assistants.
What is your private passion and how did it develop?
My wife is an illustrator and writer, and together we run Little Pink Dog Books, which specialises in publishing children's picture books. We focus on providing opportunities to new and emerging writers and illustrators. We started not just for our own fun, but to help people to enter the children’s book market. We're always pleased when they go on to secure contracts with major publishing houses.
Each year we invite people to submit manuscripts and illustration portfolios, and we normally receive 400-500 submissions. We then pick the people whose work we really like and match the writer with an illustrator. We're about to put out our 25th children’s picture book.
This is like my hobby farm. I wanted to do something completely different to my day job, that uses a few of my skills for project management and delivery. Kathy manages the creative side, working with the writers and illustrators, and I sort out all the commercial and production activities. I make sure they stay on track, look after all the contracts and negotiations, and do a bit of design work. I also get the book printed and delivered to the distributor.
How much of your time does this passion consume?
I work occasionally in the evenings and most weekends. We have so many picture books in various stages of development, and I enjoy keeping all the balls in the air. In some ways it's not dissimilar to my COO role, which is to make sure that everyone at UNE is safe, happy, can do their job and has the right equipment.
What does Little Pink Dog Books bring to your working life?
It enables me to get into more of a creative space, rather than a delivery space. While it involves a fair amount of work, it's more play than work, and a source of relaxation for me. It means I am not focused on my day job the whole time.
How does this passion enrich your life?
It's something creative and involves dealing with a completely different set of people and challenges. I'm an engineer at heart [Peter's undergraduate degree was in mechanical engineering] and I apply the same engineering processes to the delivery of books.
How do you feel when you deliver a new book?
It's very satisfying. We work with writers and illustrators who have submitted picture book manuscripts to big-name publishers and have not been successful, for whatever reason. We support them with mentoring and advice, so they better understand the industry. Many start out as novices and several have gone on to make successful careers with larger, mainstream publishers. That's very pleasing.
What subjects do your books cover?
We are passionate about conservation, and always have been. Our first book was about an orang-utan at Singapore Zoo, named Ah Meng, and we both worked at the zoo as volunteer docents [guides]. We also publish picture book stories concerning mental health, family life, bereavement and disability.
Where does the name come from?
We had 27 Chinese Crested dogs at one time; we used to breed them in the United Kingdom and show them at championship dog shows such as Crufts. When we came to Australia, we flew five of our dogs over, but now we only have four, all of them rescued dogs. The business emblem is modelled on Angel, our very first little pink dog.
What do you hope your books give readers?
We hope the words and pictures appeal to children, and that the stories will be shared and enjoyed by parents and teachers as well as children. We hope that they enjoy the book, pick up messages that will help them, but most of all that they have fun and come to understand the world a little better.
As a trained engineer, what have you learned about the arts through Little Pink Dog Books?
The artistic side was never part of my early life; I was never engaged in art in any way, shape or form. It's only later in life that I've come to find the artistic side enjoyable and to recognise how important it is to society.
Artists, in the main, are quite fragile. If you are an engineer, you tend to be quite robust; criticism is part of the job. When you are an artist, the work is so personal and is viewed very subjectively. That's why I think it's important to support people who have been unsuccessful in their earlier attempts. We try to give them confidence, as well as a contract!
How does an engineer collaborate with an artist?
Kathy is the exact opposite to me - she's the creative who can turn her hand to pottery, watercolours, oils, all sorts of media. Her studio spills out, rather untidily, over four rooms in our house.
I am the engineer. I put things in boxes and my office is nice and tidy. I can't work in a mess.
I help Kathy by doing most of the organisational stuff, so she can concentrate more on all the creative work, which she enjoys.
Do you have other personal passions you would like to share?
I like to play golf and I do a bit of photography. That's more than enough to keep me going.
