A first-time children’s author from Perth is making waves in the international literary scene becoming the first Australian to be part of North America’s largest children’s book festival; successfully securing a US publisher for his debut book within weeks of completion, then signing a second book to a UK publisher shortly after.

A professional actor and photographer by trade, Mark C Evans has crab-walked his way into the world of children’s picture books with his debut Crazy Crab (released 22 August 2017), a picture book about a crustacean that sells shells but has big dreams of becoming an astronaut.

Drawing on his background as an actor, he offers something unique by way of performance, transforming into characters from his book for live-readings and signings, a point of different which has led to his involvement in the Orange County Book Festival.

Held in October, the festival is North America’s largest one-day literary event for children and is frequented by more than 25,000 people each year. Mr Evans said he was excited to be the first Australian author to take part in the festival, now in its thirteenth year, and planned to use his acting skills to shake-up the children’s book scene.

“Most authors are hidden behind their stories, they’re not usually front and centre. It’s crazy to me that so few authors actually become their characters – I haven’t found any who are bringing their books to life by acting them out,” Mr Evans said.

“Just as David Bowie brought character and performance to music with Ziggy Stardust, I want to with children’s books – I’d love to contribute something unique, crazy and totally different to the world of children’s literature,” he said.

A father of two, Mr Evans reads three to four picture books to his children each night and is a member of more than a dozen libraries in Western Australia. It was partly due to running out of new picture books to borrow that he started writing his own.

“We read every picture book I could get my hands on; I started with our local library, then after about three weeks we’d exhausted their supply of picture books so we moved onto the next closest library and read every picture book there and then moved on to the next.

“We’ve read hundreds of picture books – it helped me figure out what sort of author I wanted to be and what I wanted to offer young readers,” he said.

Published by MacLaren-Cochrane in the US, another uncommon feature of the book is its release in dyslexia font, a typeface that makes it easier for those with dyslexia to read.

“My daughter is dyslexic and had some difficulty reading when she was younger. It would’ve been really nice to have had her favourite books in a font that made it easier for her to read, with less time spent deciphering words and more time enjoying the story,” Mr Evans said.

Mr Evans will be doing his first official live reading of Crazy Crab at Fremantle bookstore Paper Bird on Sunday 10 September. Paper Bird owner Jennifer Jackson said theatre and performance helped to engage children.

“A storyteller who is willing to be silly and have fun with the kids is fantastic. It’s not only more entertaining, but it brings the story to life, encourages a connection and captures the imagination,” Ms Jackson said.

“The children’s book market has changed a lot in the past decade- nowadays writers can benefit from being more visible with their books and this lends itself well to actors and comedians.”

Ms Jackson said performance had the potential to help put children on a path to reading more.

“I think this theatrical storytelling is particularly effective for children who aren’t big readers – by bringing characters to life, children are inspired to read about them. It encourages them to pick up a book and that book could put them on a path to a more literate future,” Ms Jackson said.

As a professional actor, Mr Evans has appeared in national TV commercials and TV series and had starring roles in a number of locally produced films. In addition to drawing on his acting background for Crazy Crab, Mr Evans took inspiration from his other day-job as a real estate photographer.
“Over the years of doing property photography I’ve met a lot of gun real estate agents that are great at their job but seem really unhappy – as if they wish they were somewhere else, doing something else – like touring the world as a lead guitarist,” he said.

“Crazy Crab’s protagonist Steve is in real estate selling shells for a living, but he dreams of being the first crab in space. Steve is like the property agents I know – great at his job but not doing what he loves. The book is about self-belief, listening to your heart and following your dreams,” Mr Evans said.

While Mr Evans is yet to sign with a publisher in Australia, he said he was hopeful one would come on board once they saw the positive reaction to Crazy Crab and his approach to storytelling.

Mr Evans will be appearing at the Baltimore Book Festival on Sunday the 24th of September and on the Storyteller Stage at the Orange County Children’s Book Festival on Sunday 1st October

Crazy Crab is available in hard and soft cover. Copies are available online at https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Crab-Mark-C-Evans/dp/1365861570. Further information on Crazy Crab can be found on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/CrazyCrabBook or www.mark-c-evans.com

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Media Contact: Amanda Weston | Hat Trick PR | +61 417 957 059 | [email protected]