Purple Green and Yellow started in 1990. Every year, a group called The Storytellers School of Toronto has a festival where they invite lots of storytellers from all over the world.
Every Friday night in Toronto this same group has a storytelling where anybody can tell stories and I often go to that, and once a year I also go to their Festival.
Well, in 1990 I was sitting around hearing lots of other people telling stories, wondering if I was going to get any ideas for stories myself.
At lunchtime I was sitting beside a girl named Brigid. She was coloring her fingernails purple. I asked Brigid if she liked to colour with magic markers and she said she certainly did.
I thought about that and went into a room full of people and said “Hey, I’ve got a new story. Who wants to hear a new story. It’s about a girl named Brigid.” The story I told was Purple Green and Yellow, pretty much the way it is in the book.
When I think about it, the book is also about my daughter Tyya, who went through a long period of colouring herself with magic markers, and also with face paints.
