By Christine Yunn-Yu Sun
Dragonkeeper, the 2024 animated fantasy adventure film based on Australian author Carole Wilkinson’s award-winning 2003 novel of the same name, is now showing at Cameo Cinemas in Belgrave.
The voice cast includes Bill Nighy and Bill Bailey.
Not to be confused with American author Robin Hobb’s 2009 fantasy novel Dragon Keeper, Wilkinson’s book is set in ancient China where a nameless slave girl escapes from her brutal master and saves the life of an ageing dragon.
Together, they must deliver a mysterious stone to the ocean in order to protect the dragon’s legacy.
Dragonkeeper is the first in a series of seven books, including two trilogies and a prequel.
The book has sold more than 250,000 copies and is the winner of multiple awards, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year (Younger Readers) and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Best Children’s Book Award.
In March 2019, Wilkinson spoke on ‘Researching China’ at the Chinese Reading and Writing Festival in Box Hill.
The author said her personal experience of living and traveling across China/Asia helped inspire the writing. But it was diligent research combined with much hard work that contributed to her success.
Wilkinson cited Dutch author Marinus Willem de Visser’s The Dragon in China and Japan (1913) as an important source. She also mentioned Zuo Zhuan, a Chinese narrative history that is more than 2,000 years old. In the author’s words:
“In [Zuo Zhuan] was a very short story about an emperor who had two pairs of dragons. The man who was supposed to look after them didn’t know how to care for dragons and one died. To get rid of the evidence, the man chopped up the dead dragon and made pickle out of it. I thought that was the most amazing little story I’d ever heard. So I used that as the beginning of my story.”
In shaping Long Danzi or ‘Courageous Dragon’, Wilkinson re-conceptualised the many dragon images found in folk religious texts, drawings and paintings across China.
As in any work of fiction set against a certain historical era and/or cultural background, the author highlighted the importance of respectful world-building.
Specifically, because the dragon as a mythical creature is portrayed and idealised in considerably different ways worldwide, cross-cultural fantasy novels like Dragonkeeper rely on universal values to keep readers interested. Equally important is to breathe new life into traditional tales while challenging some of the long-lasting assumptions and prejudices.
Finally, those interested in dragons may want to check out ‘Carole’s dragon tour of Melbourne’ on Wilkinson’s website.
“There is a surprising number of handsome dragons to be seen within Melbourne’s central business district… Some binoculars or a telephoto lens will help to see the detail of some of the loftier dragons,” she concluded.
Wilkinson’s website: carolewilkinson.com.au/faqs/#faq-4
