It may sound like a fantastical amalgam of serpent stories but ‘Leonardo’s Dragon: Five Far-flung Dragon Tales’ – award-winning Taupō author Donovan Bixley’s latest book – has emerged from a historical nugget.

By Chris Marshall

During research for his 2022 ‘A Portrait of Leonardo’ Bixley discovered Leonardo da Vinci indeed had a pet dragon – a lizard the artist had “dressed up to look like a dragon.”

The true story seemed to be crying out for expansion and Bixley, ever the storyteller, thought why not capitalise on all that previous work which threw light on Leonardo’s quirky nature.

“He had a great sense of humour, and he was a professional storyteller himself.”

In ‘A Portrait’ Bixley depicts the great 15th century artist as flamboyant and gregarious – more of a chameleon, think a Renaissance David Bowie, than the fusty picture of him as artistically brilliant but an old grump with wispy beard and thinning hair.

In ‘Leonardo’s Dragon’ Caterina, a serving girl in Belvedere Palace in Rome is excited to learn the great Leonardo is visiting.

“It's the mystery of the book,” said Bixley, “she wants to find out about Leonardo's dragon. She gets to explore these dragon stories from around the world because she's in the Vatican and hearing all these stories as the Vatican is a diplomatic hub.”

A keen advocate for getting children to read, Bixley admitted reinterpreting dragon stories from around the world (including one about a taniwha) has allowed him to revisit his own enjoyable early reading experiences.

“It's like harking back to the old days,” he said, retrieving a tattered 3B school notebook from his bookshelf, the cover reclad in newsprint and bearing early Bixley title art.

“The first book I ever wrote, when I was seven, a sequel to The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the Bellrog (Balrog).”

Fast forward back to the present where he admitted the success of his portrait on Leonardo came with the usual pressures.

“People always want you to tell them what's the next thing? … Are you going to do Michelangelo? Are you going to do Raphael. I thought, I've already spent decades of my life working on Leonardo, and I'm really into that zone, what about if I go back into that world?”

And it was good to be at a stage in his career, he said, where he was given free rein.

“Because this is my 135th book, and it's nice to have a publisher who really supports the art form… this is a real hark back to trying to make a book that I would like as a kid, but also a book that I would like as an adult.”

A frequent visitor to schools, he is concerned though at an apparent decline in the desire of young people to pick up books and read.

“Anecdotally booksellers are also saying kids aren't moving on to chapter books.”

He is hoping ‘Leonardo’s Dragon’, while still full of colourful Bixley pics, will drag them in to text.

“It's the same length as a chapter book, but in a picture book format… It's a bit sad, more than sad, it's dismantling that children just aren’t reading that much anymore. There are so many other things to compete for their time, but if you're going to make a book, you’ve got to make it entertaining.”

His own personal entertainment had come in exploring the myths and legends around the famous tales.

“They’re basic frameworks, really. These are like the bullet points of the story. Each new storyteller comes in and fills in the gaps and makes it anew.”

And he may have twisted the tails of the dragon tales a little – ditching any moral that legitimised kingly or princely power.

“Something that makes someone look really awesome because they killed a dragon. I've turned them all around and tried to make them dragon focussed… not stories about people with a dragon in the background who eventually gets killed.”

He was hoping some strong early international interest would result in a publisher picking it up overseas.

“You've always got your eye on a little bit or more of the international market for each book, but the market has been quite difficult lately.

“I had two projects this year which almost got canned because the price of making books had gone up so much. And the price that people are willing to pay for them hasn't shifted.

“You have your fingers crossed. Great hopes, low expectations. You try to do the best job you can and hopefully people will be really into it. Being able to frame it around the real story of Leonardo is hopefully something that makes it a bit different from all the other dragon books out there.”

The New Zealand release of ‘Leonardo’s Dragon’ on Thursday August 14 will be heralded locally with Bixley in store at Paper Plus on Saturday August 16, 11am-1pm drawing dragon pictures.