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we had was very stiff and at times uncomfortable. You

must realise at this stage that the relationship between an

author or the author’s representative and the publishing

house is not always amicable. I at that time was a published

author myself and although it was in different market (adult

fiction) there was no love lost between myself and my

publisher because they demanded so much and paid so

little; this was the principal area of conflict. The union

president was quite categorical at first that he would not

help me in any way; he considered that a publisher was not

to be helped in any way and they were low in the ranking

of society in general. Like an Estate Agent perhaps and

now a Banker. Once I learnt through the translation his

main grievance, I gave an undertaking to change the

system in Brazil by offering to both the author and

illustrator related commission on the sales of the book. Up

to this point this had never happened. It was always a fixed

fee which then gave little incentive to the author or the

illustrator once the book’s rights were bought.

The union official warmed slightly to my view and agreed

to give me the Brazilian regional union representatives’

contact details, but he would not endorse me or help me

in any way to set up any collaborative meetings. The main

project we were working on was called the World Bank

Northeast Book Project which included six states: Rio

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