Bronwen Hampshire has dreamt of publishing a children’s book about her beloved character, Bounce, a bunny with one normal and one very long ear since before her daughter (12) was born. After a big health scare with a serious cancer diagnosis, Bronwen put pen to paper and brought Bounce to life.
“It was something that I enjoyed in my downtime and I kept a book next to me in the lounge where I used to write a few pages or so whenever the feeling grabbed me. It was just my story about how it is okay to be different and that you can use the magic of differences to your advantage. “
Bronwen explained that in 2019 she had a double pulmonary embolism – a blood clot in her lung – which came from a deep vein thrombosis as big as the full length of her right leg.
“After a stint in ICU and going in and out of hospital, I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. While dealing with my illness, chemotherapy and recovery, I started writing again – my blog ‘The Chronicles of Super Bronnie’ was a way for me to express myself during this time. Following my recovery, I am currently in remission and have been for three years, I had awakened my love for writing and exploring my imagination during my fight with cancer,” added Bronwen.
That’s when she decided that she would dream big and gave herself the goal to complete Bounce’s story.
“I wanted to get it illustrated and published as something for me. And of course for my daughter in the future,” she mentioned.
“I was introduced to my illustrator by one of my best friends who had spent many a day or night hearing all about my bunny and how I wanted an illustrator that would draw pictures in a more of a Beatrix Potter type of look and feel. A lot of the illustrators that I found had a much more modern feel for drawings and that wasn’t how I imagined Bounce. His name stands for brilliant, one-of-a-kind, understanding, naughty, caring, and exciting,” she explained.
Bronwen self-published to ensure her creative freedom, although it wasn’t the cheapest hobby to have.
“While working with my Illustrator I decided to have my story translated into both isiZulu and Afrikaans. I am proudly South African and am passionate about the joy of reading no matter what language and I thought that the moral of my story works in any language,” she added.
Curro Wilgeheuwel’s isiZulu subject head Ntobeko Mlangeni played an integral part in “uQhasha” by translating the English book into isiZulu, also suggesting that later versions of the book include a glossary to help children improve on their vocabularies in the different languages.
For those interested in reading more about Bounce’s adventures, Bronwen loves to attend local markets and chat with attendees about her book!
