John Vlachos

Nero in the Land of Nut John Vlachos

Writing is the most unusual way to create. I have always been used to painting where materials such as brushes, canvas, and colors are at hand. Everything has a tactile quality about it, but writing is the opposite. It is more cerebral. You are dealing with words colliding with each other in your mind trying to make sense of them. But this can be more liberating, especially in a children's book where anything goes. Nero in the Land of Nut is a play on words so convoluted and over-lapping it becomes infectious and incorrigible. At some point, the reader laughs hilariously in his/her attempts to make sense of it all. It reminds us of life itself and how serious we take things, when all the while, life just wants to laugh.