Sofie Laguna on the Bond Between Brothers

Early in 2014 Peter Greste, the Australian journalist reporting for Al Jazeera in Egypt, alongside two other reporters, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, was accused of reporting false news and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood. Like many Australians at the time, I was painfully aware that Peter Greste had been kept in solitary confinement in an Egyptian prison before any charges had been formally made. Then later, that he was to serve a seven-year sentence, on charges that seemed without evidence.

By now heavily pregnant, I watched the ABC in grave concern as the journalist’s parents, Lois and Juris Greste, shared their fear for their son, expressing their hope that the international community might intervene. What most struck me around this time, was seeing Andrew Greste, Peter’s brother, in Egypt, to support Peter. I was deeply affected by witnessing how family might be there for each other. How brothers might try to rescue one another.

I wrote When You’re Older, in November of 2014, a month after giving birth to my second son. Peter Greste was still in prison in Egypt. I remember standing at the bottom of our steps, holding the new baby in my arms – and calling to my husband at work in his studio, ‘Marc, take the baby!’ I had a story to write! An idea had arrived and I needed to get up those steps as quickly as possible. An older boy longs for his newborn brother to grow older. Longs for the adventures that lie ahead.

I think these two strands are interwoven in When You’re Older. The Greste brothers, and my own two sons. This makes the picture book sound very serious – but it is just as much a book about wild adventure, beauty, nature, the imagination and expanding our horizons – as it is about rescue. Judy Watson, the illustrator of When You’re Older, understood all this perfectly. Judy has depicted the trajectory in the narrative – it’s forward thrust towards a wider world, it’s movement from pleasure and thrill to danger, and back to peace again. Her illustrations are full of colour and joy, and gorgeous detail. I am honoured and humbled that the words have inspired this talented artist.

Publishing this picture book, now seven years after Peter Greste’s release from prison – and dedicating it to my sons – has been a deeply rewarding and hopeful experience.

Buy a copy of When You’re Older here.