ZANNI LOUISE’s book Cora Seen and Heard is a heartfelt and moving coming of age story.
We caught up with Zanni to ask about the inspiration behind her story and what she’s reading at the moment!
What sparked the idea for Cora Seen and Heard?
I came across a photo of an abandoned ballroom by Francis Meslet which really piqued my interest. I wanted to set a story there. But what?
At the same time, I was wondering what my key obsessions were when I was 12 and got to this: Why is it that everyone seems so confident? Their lives seem so sorted. Why can’t I be the person I think I am in my head? At 12, I wrestled to reconcile inside me with outside me. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered lots of people have the same internal struggle.
I decided to take 12-year-old Cora and her family into the abandoned ballroom. The story unravelled from there. It was fortunate that Cora’s internal conflict so perfectly paralleled the story of renovating an abandoned theatre. I wanted to look at what happens when you have the chance to start over. Can you be the person you want to be?
As someone who wrote down my most embarrassing secrets when I was young, my biggest fear was having those secrets read by others; of being exposed. As an adult, I’ve come to cherish vulnerability as a pathway to connection.
I wanted to put Cora under this same pressure I felt writing secrets in journals. What would happen if her most embarrassing secrets went public? Is being vulnerable as bad as she fears?
A lot of this book is me wrestling with questions I have tangled with my whole life.
What can you tell us about Cora and the challenges she faces in this book?
Cora has a lot going on inside her head. She’s sassy and has a lot to say. But every time she tries to be the person in her head, it goes pear shaped. Everyone ends up thinking she’s shy and quiet. It’s frustrating, more than anything else. And made more so by the fact that everyone out there seems to have it together. How do they do that? she often wonders.
Cora’s going through some external struggles as well. Her sister is about to move out of home. Her parents’ marriage is fraught. And she’s recently lost her beloved granddad who was one of the few people she could be herself around.
Cora writes letters to an imaginary penpal – do you still write letters? And if so, what do you love about it?
When I was young (before email and mobile phones) I constantly wrote letters. I loved sharing my life with others and the act of handwriting itself did wonders for my storytelling. I still have stacks and stacks of letters under my beds from family and friends.
Now, I only occasionally handwrite letters. I have a penpal school I correspond with as part of the Author PenPal project. But every day, I write to my writing pal Kiah Thomas on a Google Doc. We write about our stories, our lives … I love the daily communication with a friend. It’s a great place to untangle my thoughts about writing. And it’s a great document of what’s going on day to day.
What was your favourite part of writing this book?
So much. I wrote it during those heady covid years. My daughters were homeschooling so we’d do some school work in the mornings and go to the coast in the afternoon where they’d swim and play and I’d do my nature run through the hills. I would write chapters in my head then come home to write in my bed, with one of my girls sitting beside me reading.
I loved how the threads almost magically came together. I didn’t see the synergy before it happened. It was a very satisfying book to write. I also loved the editing process. My editors Candace and Chloe gave me such wonderful direction and I could feel the story getting stronger with every pass.
What are you currently reading?
About five books! Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer, Before The Coffee Gets Cold and Call Me By My Name are on highest rotation.
Describe this book in three words.
Contemporary coming-of-age mystery.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Based in the Byron Bay hinterland, Zanni Louise is passionate about writing quality books for children and inspiring people to write their own stories.
Zanni has written 16 books for children, including picture books and junior fiction. Her books have been described as quirky, warm and funny, and are sold in many foreign territories. She’s been twice listed in the CBCA Notables, and her picture book Archie and the Bear was selected for the highly prestigious international children’s catalogue: The White Ravens.
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