Our Story - A Sister Collaboration

It all started when I (Jennifer) began reading the story about the day our dad blew up the cowshed at family reunions. Our nieces and nephews loved it. I thought perhaps it could be a children’s picture book. But who could illustrate it? It sat in a filing cabinet for five years until, in a chance phone conversation with my sister Margery, I discovered she had been painting for years and had detailed visual memory of the farm. She said it had always been her dream to be a children’s book illustrator! I realised Margery was the illustrator I had been waiting for. And a book was born…

Jennifer Somervell, Author

When my family gave me a box of my mum’s writing after she died, I knew it was symbolic. I was meant to pick it up. Mum had always wanted to publish and never did it.

I used to write stories in the long school bus ride home to the farm. Many of these were about the farm. But back in the 1970s, adventurous career choices were not encouraged, especially for girls. So after Central Hawkes Bay College, a passion for pigs and growing vegetables led me south to Lincoln University for a B. Hort Sci degree. Not sure what to do next, I teacher trained at Christchurch Teachers College (secondary) for a nice ‘safe’ career.

I taught horticulture at tertiary level for 8 years, then transitioned to teaching, learning skills and academic writing at Christchurch Polytechnic and then at Lincoln University. I was getting closer ...

I established a specialist mail order herb nursery with my husband, which led to an invitation to write for New Zealand Lifestyle Block magazine, a job I love and still do.

When I was diagnosed with secondary melanoma, it basically grounded me for two years. But it took me back to my roots and what I was always meant to do. You guessed it - WRITE!

I diaried my way through cancer. After cancer, and with aging parents, I realised we needed to capture our family stories before it was too late. And ‘Tales From The Farm’ was born…

It took a while, but now, when people ask me what I do I say, “I’m a writer!”

PS I still love growing our own vegetables and have an extensive garden.

Margery Fern, Illustrator

I enjoyed art at school and I was good at it! I came first in art at high school. But art wasn’t considered a serious career back then. So I did a degree in geography and history, graduating BSocSc. in Geography and History (Hons) Waikato University. 

While raising a family of four, I trained as a counsellor and then as a teacher in 2000. I taught primary level, rising to principal at Waitetuna School near Raglan. It was while teaching, that I took up painting more seriously to balance my busy teaching life. Painting renews my energy and at the same time I get to do something I love.

I’m going back into my past reliving it - almost recreating it through the pictures. It’s almost like going into a movie, into another world. I always dreamed of being a children’s book illustrator. But doing the whole thing - writing and illustrating - was too big. With Jennifer writing, it was more acheivable.

I have taught for 20 years. I am now wanting to put more time into art and especially painting and drawing. 

Our Talented Team

It takes a family to raise a story from family anecdotes to a published book.   The writer, illustrator and designer are key, but they rely on the work and support of editors, classes, children and adults who provide feedback, advisers on technical issues, printers, specialists who deal with print files, and husbands, as well as the raconteur who brings the story to life. We are grateful to you all!

Ezra Andre, Graphic Designer

I’m Margery’s eldest daughter and Jennifer’s niece! So naturally the Tales from the Farm series holds considerable sentimental value for me. I eagerly joined the Tales from the Farm team in 2012 whilst completing a Bachelor of Media Arts majoring in Graphic Design at Waikato Institute of Technology, New Zealand.

My creative journey over the past seven years has been an educational one! I now work independently as a brand designer and photographer alongside sustainable businesses in Oakura NZ. www.designfolk.com

Ken Fletcher, Administrator

With a bent for history, a career as an economist, time on the Environment Court, and now a mediator and resource management commissioner, precise writing is part of who I am. Throw in a lifetime interest in, and connection to, things rural, as Jennifer’s husband, I am tailor-made to be an editor to Jennifer’s writing. Add in Microsoft Office expertise, basic accounting and a bent for information organisation, and I become also the accounts officer, IT-guru, researcher, and the structure behind the writer’s imagination.

Rene André, Songwriter

Hello, I am René André, Margery’s husband. I have been writing songs since I was 16. I used to busk back in the 80’s, and I was part of the acoustic music scene in Hamilton. In 2009 I recorded a CD Pseudo Moon a collection of original songs and performed with Raglan-based band, Twisted Timber. My latest project, which I am very excited about, is a series of songs for Tales From the Farm Publications: Old Truck, The Eel Hunt, The Day Dad Blew Up the Cowshed and Uncle Allan. In my other life I work as a counsellor.

OUR BOOKS