During a recent visit to Britain from Australia the authors Carole and Lili Wilkinson took some time from their busy schedule to talk to Louise Ellis-Barrett about the inspiration that drives their writing. As a result of my Dictaphone refusing to work the interview was conducted in the old-fashioned way using pen and a notepad so I hope that I have accurately recorded and reported our chat! Carole was promoting her Ramose series of Egyptian adventures whilst Lili was concentrating on Scatterheart, set primarily on a convict ship.

Whilst in Britain Carole is planning to spend some time in London and Derbyshire undertaking some research, not being a great fan of travelling she is making the most of this visit. In London she will be researching her family history

"We are Australian but my grandfather moved here during the first world war and settled in Derbyshire. I went to a grammar school and was very conscious of class having a very strong Derbyshire accent" no trace of that remains now. "My father always wanted to return to Australia and we emigrated there when I was 12. My parents have never been back and this is only my second visit."

Carole's books, she told me, are all been inspired by place. They have been set in Ancient Egypt and China and she is hoping that a visit to Derbyshire will inspire the next story to free itself and develop. Lili on the other hand did not ever want to write particularly about history and certainly would not have chosen to write about either Australian history or convicts

"I was taught history at school by a Frenchman and although he did his best to make it interesting there is not much history in Australia so we don't learn our own history we learn about world history. After I was asked to write a story about convicts I remembered that my great great great grandmother had been on the 2nd fleet of ships from England and so I did lots of reading to find out more about all of that."

Carole explained that because her family were of a working class background there had been no push or encouragement towards writing, neither was there anyone to give her confidence

"I am a very shy person so to open myself up to criticism from absolutely anyone was very difficult. Once you have written a book everyone has the right to criticise and that can be very difficult. The incentive that I had to be a writer was that I wanted to see my name on the spine of a book, that is what made me start to write."

Lili was first published in a magazine at the age of 12 although they usually only took writers from the age of 14-26. At the same time Carole found herself being sent rejections slips having started her writing career much later, at the age of 40. She decided that although being a lab technician had been interesting she wanted to write. At first her idea had been to do research and write for magazines or newspapers. Writing for adults was however generating rejection; a suggestion from her publisher and a course lecturer to try children's books changed everything

CW "I took a degree majoring in creative writing and Chinese language because even at that stage I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I have used a little of the Chinese when I went there on a school visit, I was at least able to ask for directions and that sort of thing but otherwise I don't use it."

LW "when mum became a published author I decided it wasn't a cool thing to do any more so I went to uni and studied film. I carried on with my creative writing and always got better marks for that than the film work. When I finished uni I realised I still wanted to write and a publisher who had seen some of my work approached me asking me to write a non-fiction book on Joan of Arc, I agreed. Then having put down the phone realised I had no idea who she was and went off to do some research. What I found was a fascinating person and a word for word transcript of her trial."

CW "we have both written books in the series. Each chapter begins with a fictional aspect of the characters story and then presents the facts. I wrote a book on Ned Kelly. It is a great series intended to draw in all readers and we are both always drawn to history!" LW "Yes history is fascinating but I am also drawn to the contemporary world and want to write about that." CW "I just feel that it is easier to play with history, we live in the real world so in your head, as a writer it is nice to be able to go somewhere else for 8 hours a day. Perhaps I am just a history junkie!"

Carole explained that she loves writing about history. Her most recent book, though set in 1973, is still history to her and is probably as modern as she will get with her writing

"it is history for the children who will be reading it, they won't have been born then" LW "neither will some of their parents!" CW "it is set in the 1970s and is based on a young couple who follow the hippy trail from Britain to Australia, going through countries such as Iran and Afghanistan. My husband and I did it once; we went through all those countries quite freely, now they are on the news for bad things. I want children to understand how we used to be able to just wander through. I am not a traveller myself, I like to go and see places but I also like to stay at home."

The chat then moved on to the length of books. Carole's Ramose stories now reissued as two books in one can encourage younger readers to understand that big books aren't frightening. Lili felt that Harry Potter ensured that. Although her books are for older readers she has never experienced any issues with their length. Carole pointed out that it is usually only fantasy books that are long and that it would be nice to be able to change this.

Lili explained how she always saw her book in three distinct sections and that as she did the reading for the research she saw how it would come together and what would have to be included. Scatterheart is set in London, on a convict ship and in Australia. It is the story of Hannah Cheshire and her experience of deportation in 1814.

"I did lots of reading and when I read about the London Frost Fair I just knew that had to be in the book and so I was able to decide when to set the book. We also had an ancestor on the brothel ship (featured in the story) and I realised that as most 15 year olds, my intended audience, are not interested in Australian history it had to be about more than that. Our history is too short but I didn't want to focus only on the convicts I wanted some fairytale and romance. Then I realised that most fairytale usually has a passive female protagonist so I made Hannah proactive and strong. I wanted my historical fairytale to be an interesting read. I got most of the ideas through reading, I did come to London and walk around to find the street where Hannah would live and be able to see some of the places in my mind."

CW "whereas I do all my research from books, never from the place. I have been to China (the setting for Carole's Dragon Keeper series) but it would have been too arduous to visit lots of museums for research. I did visit New York after I had written Ramose and in a museum I saw a statue of his sister Hatshepsut which was wonderful to see and here in London in the British Museum I have seen the famous Egyptian statue of the black cat. Again it was wonderful to see but I didn't go out looking for them for the stories."

Both "the Internet is great" CW "but I don't use it much, there is a plethora of books and when I first started writing books were much more accessible for the facts that I wanted." LW "I have just finished work on my next book which is about the children's crusade and I made use of Google maps so that I could plot the journey that they would have taken. The Internet is great for things like that." CW "when I was writing the first Dragon Keeper books in 2000/2001 I was writing about the Han Dynasty in China and there wasn't much on the Internet because it was not a period of great interest. I found lots of great pictures in museum catalogues and the pictures were inspiring, that was enough for me."

Carole explained how she created a PowerPoint of all her pictures to keep and use when doing talks. She loved the era so much that she just had to set a story there and upon discovering that the Emperor was only 15 when he rose to power she used him, putting real life fact into her story.

"I am like a Jackdaw. I collect information, piece it together and the story will come piece by piece, a bit at a time."

I asked them both about the process they go through when they write and Lili explained how they start with a 'zero draft' which no-one but themselves will ever see. In this draft absolutely everything gets written down so that it gets out of the head and onto the paper or screen. Carole then explained that she always shreds her first few drafts and won't show anyone until she feels it is right. Lili does all hers on a computer using special software so that she can follow her practice of meticulously planning chapter by chapter.

Carole writes with a timeline so that she knows the day and time of the events in her story, that way she can be sure there will be no inconsistencies whereas Lili is obsessed with it! They both admit to never having been picked up on this type of detail and explained that they do it for themselves more than anything. Lili discovered, when writing Scatterheart that the dates of 1814 and 2009 were identical so she used her calendar to plot Hannah's life and still has all the detail in there! Carole on the other hand is not so concerned with the minute detail in quite the same way. She has only ever had one query from a reader regarding her ancient Chinese puzzle map in one of the Dragon Keeper books. Using her research Carole soon proved to the reader that she was actually correct!

Both are keen to ensure that their books are authentic. For example Lili, after finding out about the London Frost Fair had to set her book in that year. With the Dragon Keeper books Carole discovered that although the Han Dynasty had invented paper it had not happened at the time her book was set so she was careful not to use it in her story. Lili in reading about the crusades had used the word Infidel before discovering that it did not come into use for another 300 years so she changed it to Saracen instead. Both Carole and Lili have found errors in their books just before they have been sent to print and have spent sleepless nights ensuring everything is correct. Whilst they acknowledge that the reader may not notice they do it for their own peace of mind.

Lili and Carole both admit to keeping all their research, CW "I have 17 lever arch folders full of material on dragons!" LW "I have no plans to do any sequels but it is useful for me when I do school visits to have all my research. Also I get bored and want to move on to other stories so I tie up lose ends." CW "Fans of the Dragon Keeper books wanted more so I wrote a prequel, this was easy as my dragon started at 1,000 years old so I wrote about a young dragon."

They both actively attend author festivals in Australia and find that conversing with other writers is great for moral support and knowing that there are others out there!

Their pleasure at being in Britain to promote their books was evident. They agreed that international sales were like having another book published. The only problem they had ever experienced with this was with Carole's Dragon Keeper series - the French editor changed all the names and the Spanish put a green dragon on the cover of In the Garden of the Purple Dragon!

More books are being written, some of which we can only hope publishers will bring to Britain for us to enjoy as much as those we already have! As Carole and Lili headed off to enjoy the rest of their whirlwind stay we all thanked one another for an interesting and insightful morning and I take this additional opportunity to thank them once again on behalf of Armadillo readers.

Daniel Postgate recently took some time from a very busy schedule to answer some questions about his work as an illustrator and writer of children's books for the readers of Armadillo. Reviews of some of Daniel's recent work can be found in this edition and some exciting possibilities are mentioned over the course of the interview.

Thank you very much to Daniel for an insightful and amusing interview.

Looking for some background information about you I discovered that your first jobs were as a chef and painting sea and horse scenes on boxes! What was this for?

For money! To be honest, 'chef' may be laying it on a bit strong. I was merely a steak flipper and pizza-topping placement officer, hardly Gordon Ramsay. The box painting entailed getting old trunks and boxes and painting sea-scenes so they looked like old sailor's chests, where they'd store their particulars while at sea. It was a good and fast way to learn the basics about painting.

Have you have any illustration training or did it come naturally?

I enjoyed drawing cartoons from a young age and was a big fan of strip cartoons like 'Peanuts' and 'Hagar the Horrible'. I went to art college for a couple of terms but dropped out. Basically I taught myself to draw.

How long were you doing cartoon strips for? How did you move from that into picture books - was it natural once you had found a story that you thought would work?

I did a cartoon strip for about five years and worked as a newspaper cartoonist for about ten years. Strip cartooning is very demanding on the joke front, of course; and newspaper cartooning is murderous due to such tight deadlines, and, frankly, not very rewarding - you're just filling up space. Doing picture books is a far more sedate way of working. In order to get illustration work I wrote a story to illustrate rather than expecting some publisher somewhere to find me an appropriate writer. Once I had the story sorted out the pictures came easily (though it took me a while to get the style right)

Do you have a favourite character to draw?

Not really. They're all different and nice to draw in for different reasons.

Do you find that your characters take on their own life as you sketch them? Definitely. The characters really take on their own life when they're put into the situations in the book. When I initially sketch them just standing there they look a bit wooden.

Do you prefer colour or black and white work? (Daniel's books have both styles)

I have no preference.

I am sure it is inevitable that your father was an influence. How much encouragement did he give you?

I watched him and Peter Firmin working on things and of course they were a huge influence on me. My dad was busy with his own projects and didn't pay much attention to what I was doing.

Your first published book, Kevin Saves the World, has a strong comic strip style - would you attribute this to it being your first book?

Yes I think so. I did Kevin about seventeen years ago; my style is a bit looser these days.

How easy is to fit words and pictures together? Which comes first?

I'm moderately dyslexic, so I tend to think visually and run stories through my brain as if watching a little film. So words and pictures are very much entwined and develop at the same time.

Is it important that the illustration encourages visual literacy in readers?

I don't think visual literacy is a problem for kids.

How did you feel about the 'Kevin' DVD? Would you like to see any of your other books televised?

I have no issue with keeping the worlds separate. I'd love to see any of my stuff on the screen. My book 'Engelbert Sneem' has been optioned by a Hollywood development agency with an eye to putting it on the big screen. That would be absolutely fantastic. I think Smelly Bill would make a really good cartoon TV series.

Your books have a wonderful rhyming pattern. Is there a poet lurking inside you?

I love doing rhyme, I love the challenge and I think it makes a picture book far richer and more enduring. Few publishers touch rhyme because it's hard to sell abroad.

You do lots of school visits. What do you enjoy about this?

Doing books is often a solitary pursuit so it's great to meet the readers. The children are always absolutely great.

Do the children have a favourite book/character? The most common question?

Smelly Bill is by far my most popular book/character. Do you have a dog?

Are any of your books personal?

Stories must always have meaning in order to make sense. My life and experience definitely influence my books whether I want them to or not. I think even if you try to write total nonsense, you can look back at it and see a type of logic that bubbles up from your subconscious. Fairy tales are interesting in this respect - there's a lot of fear and repression expressed through fairy tales. It's a shame that the genre has died-out.

If you could be one of your characters who would you choose and why?

I think I'd be Engelbert Sneem. At the end of the book he becomes a romantic character, a loner who lives to do good but remains in the shadows.

What are your top tips for writers and illustrators?

Practice a lot to find your style and don't be put-off and feel downhearted at rejection - keep plugging away at it.

Do you ever illustrate other people's books? Are there any books you wish you had written/illustrated?

I very rarely illustrate other people's books. However, I've written books that others have illustrated. I think I like doing my own. The Sneetches on the Beaches (ed - a story by Dr Seuss)

Can we expect any more from Smelly Bill or are new projects on their way?

Yes, I'm just finishing off a new Smelly Bill book - not a picture-book though, it's a novel!

Who has been your biggest influence?

Dr Seuss.

How did writing and illustrating win over cooking?

I'm better at doing books.

Do you still cook or have a signature dish?

I don't cook much, just fish fingers for the kids!

Finally would you like to write a picture book about cooking?

Hmm. Could be a good idea...I thought about writing a pulp fiction private-eye book in which the protagonist occasionally cooks something up and the recipe is included. So you get a gripping story and some mouth-watering culinary ideas, all in one book!

I don’t often read much teenage literature as a Primary School Librarian so it was with some degree of trepidation that I read Gayle Forman’s latest book If I Stay. It turned out to be a harrowing yet very moving account of the experience of a young girl making some very important decisions about her life after a tragic car accident. I was completely absorbed by the story and this insightful interview reveals some of Gayle’s own feelings about the book.

With thanks to Gayle for taking the time to talk to Armadillo.

If I stay is the most compelling and moving story that I think I have ever read. Was it difficult to write?

Well, first of all, thank you. It’s lovely to hear such kind words. If by difficult you mean emotional, then the answer to that is yes. But in every other sense of the word, the book was easy to write, in that it flowed out of me like nothing I’d ever written before has (and nothing I’ll ever write again will, I imagine). Sometimes as a writer, you get into that sort of trance-like state where everything just kind of works and you don’t ask why but just go with it. That’s how it was with If I Stay. Then again, when I wrote it, I wasn’t really sure it was a book meant for publication. I didn’t have a contract (or an agent or editor) at that point, and it seemed sort of dark for teen fiction, and I suppose that uncertainty was sort of liberating.

Who do you hope that your audience will be? I can see it appealing to teenage girls and adults. Did you write with an audience in mind?

My one prior novel, Sisters in Sanity, was a teen novel, so when I started another book with a teenage heroine, I assumed it was also going to be a book for teenagers. But then it did start to seem rather dark, quite a bit of death, even for teen trauma-porn (a term I’ve since learned that makes me crack up). But, as I mentioned, not having the agent/editor/publishing contract, I really wasn’t writing this one with a specific audience in mind, though I suppose I do consider myself an author of teen fiction. The book seems to be getting read by a wide readership though. I get emails from 13-year-old girls and 62-year-old men, telling me that they loved the book.

Is this a completely fictional story or have you drawn on any personal experiences?

I don’t imagine you’d find too many fiction writers whose books are pure fiction. It’s hard to write a grocery list and not have it be somewhat autobiographical and there are definitely elements of my life in If I Stay. The whole punk music scene part is inspired by the years I spent living in Oregon during the early 1990s when the music scene was just exploding there (bands like Nirvana, Beat Happening, The Spinanes, etc.) And there are elements of my early romance with my now husband, Nick, in Adam, though Adam is a little more ideal than Nick was/is. I even named Adam Nick in my first draft.

How did the idea start and how did you decide on the best way to write the story?

You know, the story just percolated in me for years, and it was the answer to a question that had been haunted me for some time: ‘What would you do if something catastrophic happened to your family and you yourself were hovering between life and death and were somehow cognizant of what was going on? If you could choose, would you go with your family? Or would you stay?’ So, I’ve thought about this for years, when one day a few years ago, and totally out of the blue, this 17-year-old cello player named Mia (and I should mention here that at the time I knew squat about the cello) arrived in my head, fully formed, prepared to answer that question for me. I just started writing, no outline, no idea of how I’d structure it, other than the accident and her being the one left behind, and I went from there.

It is a sensitive story about first love, possible even true love. Do you think this will appeal to a female, teenage audience?

I hope so. And a female twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, and seventy something audience. And the men, too.

Of the accident, the relationships or the mental turmoil more difficult to portray?

Mia’s turmoil. That was the hardest part by far. In writing the book, I started to feel quite maternal for Mia. I’m 39, so she could’ve been my daughter had I had kids at the age that Mia’s parents had her. And the anguish she faces when she finds out about Teddy. That almost killed me.

Mia’s life almost is almost too good to be true. Was this intentional to make her decision and deliberations more harrowing for the reader?

A lot of people say that about Mia and her perfect life and I see what they’re saying because she has this great relationship with her parents—an anomaly in teen fiction—and has a devoted, hot indie-rock boyfriend (hey, I had one, too and I married him; they exist). But I don’t see her life as so perfect, nor did I give her this perfect life in order to rip it away. I gave her this close relationship with her parents because that’s what seemed true to the characters. I’ve had hipster friends who had kids young and the kids were almost like peers. If that child turned out to be like Mia—serious and musical and thoughtful—she wouldn’t have much to rebel against, and she’d also have these very cool parents who loved her unconditionally. At the same time, Mia’s parents don’t really get her, do they, and she spends her whole life being a fish out of water. And that also impacts her relationship with her boyfriend, which is no fairytale. And her family is poor. And her parents fight. And her mom can be an overbearing bitch. But, all that said, Mia is happy, and she loves her family and she loves Adam, so there is definitely a tug of war going on, before and after the accident, and that is deliberate.

I was extremely moved by the detail in the story. Did you research out of body experiences or speak to anyone who has had one?

Nope. I did quite a bit of medical research to get all the injuries and medical jargon right and I did a ton of cello research but the out of body stuff just seemed natural to me. I made up a list of rules for myself of what Mia could and could not do but that was just for my own sense of consistency.

The hospital detail is very realistic. Did you want a strong realism to parallel Mia’s reflections?

I wanted the hospital scenes to be realistic and I wanted the family scenes to be realistic. I wanted the realism to run through both of those, even if Mia’s family is unusual or eccentric or enviable, it still should feel like an authentic family, even if it doesn’t necessarily feel like yours or mine. I didn’t try to make one seem real to contrast with the other’s being magical or fake or too good to be true. I’ve known families like Mia’s. Happy families do exist. Happy teens do exist. They may be a rarity, especially in teen fiction but they are out there.

The accident scene made me wonder if I could read further. Was such explicit detail important to you?

That’s so funny because I feel like I was such a chicken-shit when it comes to the accident scene because I don’t actually describe the accident, I describe the aftermath and I describe it more in sound detail then visual detail. There are really only a couple of gory details there because I just couldn’t handle too much blood. And I never described Teddy on the page. The hardest part for me about the accident scene is Mia’s reaction to it—that moment of recognition when she realizes that this isn’t a dream. This is real. Having to empathize with that moment of horror was almost too much.

Are Mia’s struggle and the relationships equally important to the story or is it difficult to compartmentalise the different aspects?

The crux of Mia’s struggle is about relationships, about the myriad forces of love—family love, romantic love, friendship, love of music. As Mia weighs her choices, she contemplates all the love she has in her life and that love plays out in her relationships.

The seamless switch between memories and the present is seamless. Did you write it as a whole or was it written separately and blended?

As I said, it was one of those magical writing processes, where I just started writing. I didn’t even know I was going to do flashbacks until I finished writing the accident scene and needed a break so decided to write a flashback scene and once I’d done that I realized I had my structure. A lot of the time I didn’t know what the flashback would be until I finished the preceding section and during the revision process, my editor, just to see what would happen, switched the flashbacks sections around to see how the book read. It didn’t work out at all, so it was as if the flashbacks were where they were meant to be even though there was no meticulous planning ahead of time.

The scene with Brooke and the nurses is particularly funny and touching, lifting the readers’ mood. Were you aiming for a light in the darkness?

One of the nicest things I hear about this book is how, for all the talk of death, it’s actually quite funny and hopeful. I mean, even people who like a good cry in their books, don’t want to plod through something all dark and sobby, and I like funny! So there is a lot of humour in the flashbacks (I hope) and there is meant to be a back and forth between lighter moments and darker ones. The scene you describe was supposed to be one of the lighter and funnier ones in the book because it precedes a rather awful revelation for Mia and I wanted that sense of juxtaposition.

Were there moments whilst writing when the emotion was too much even for you? How did you deal with it?

I stopped. I cried. I wrote through it. It was pretty cathartic and emotional but it felt good, kind of like method acting. Method writing. I was very in the moment as I wrote.
Mia’s memories of her grandfather are perhaps the most touching. His strong silent character contrasts with the outward displays of grief. Was this planned? I just had this character in mind—this quiet, gentle, taciturn but loving man, who would be so heartbroken, almost as heartbroken as Mia, and would love her so much that he would be generous enough to do what he thinks might be best for Mia. I think that’s who this man is throughout the book, and I think he’s why Mia’s father is such a good father. So, no, I didn’t write him so I could have him be a quiet display of grief. I just pictured this grandfatherly type and as the novel moved forward, it was clear that he would give her this permission.

Adam is also very strong. When he finally sees Mia - without revealing too much - his words could only be bourne from true love. Did it take a long time to get this right?

I’d been thinking about Adam’s final scene for some time and actually the only time I wrote out of order was toward the end when one day I just felt ready to write Adam’s last scene till the end. So I just jumped ahead and wrote it in one very emotional belch. I spent a lot of time tinkering with it here and there but because I’d spent so much time thinking about that scene in my head, it was already written when it came time to put it on the page.

This is your third book. How has it been received? I understand that film rights have already been sold. Was this a surprise and how do you think it will translate to film?

This is my third book, my second novel and the first book that I’ve written that anyone has paid any attention to, so I am grateful for every minute of what’s been going on. So far, If I Stay is being published in, I think, 24 countries. My publishers have been incredibly enthusiastic and innovative in their publicity and now I feel that the book is out there enough that the word of mouth can make or break it, which is all an author can ask for. Film rights have been optioned by Summit, the studio that produces the Twilight films, and Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight has signed on to direct (yay!!!!). At first I was sceptical about film rights even selling because of the flashback structure and just so much of the book is in Mia’s head but then Summit bought it. I’ve met with Catherine Hardwicke and Shauna Cross the screenwriter and they have great ideas. Summit is a brilliant studio so I have faith they’ll make a good movie out of it.

How difficult was it to move from journalism to fiction? Are your journalistic skills helpful or have you tried to completely separate the two?

I started off reporting for a teen magazine, so the teen voice, as it were, has always come naturally to me (I think that means I’m arrested development). I wound up writing my first novel almost by accident. I’d just had a baby and could no longer travel around doing the kinds of articles I’d been doing, I was broke and my husband and I could barely make the mortgage. Someone suggested I write a young-adult novel and it was like a light bulb went on. My first novel is in fact based on an article I’d written for Seventeen magazine way back when, so I don’t really see the journalism and the fiction as all that separate. My first book was a non-fiction travel book that combined reporting and narrative so that kind of segued me from the journalism to the pure narrative style.

Would you consider giving up journalism and becoming a full time novelist?

I’m sure I’ll always do some journalism but as a mother with two young children, the lifestyle of a novelist works a lot better. I don’t have to travel as much. I don’t have to worry about scheduling interviews around naps or school days. I can write when I want to write. For now, at least, I find writing fiction such a wonderful escape from the sometimes drudgery of my mom life.

Do you have any more books planned? If so are they going to be more light-hearted or in the same genre?

Yes, lots of plans for lots of books. My next book is written and I’ll turn that in to my editor this fall and then I have an idea for a book after that. I don’t think I’ll write another book that has so much death in it but I think all of my books will have a mix of serious and humour and will show characters grappling with the serious issues that teens face with (because most teens have to deal with the kind of stuff Mia is dealing with, even if it’s with lower stakes). I love to write romance so I imagine most of my books with have some romantic stories in them, and the people I seem compelled to write about seem to be between the ages of 15 and 21 so I imagine I’ll keep writing YA. As I’m a Gemini I reserve the right to change my mind completely!

Jane Vejjajiva is well known in her native Thailand for her Silkroad publishing agency, as the editor and publisher of a children’s magazine as well as being a translator and copyright agent. She began her career as an author after writing for a children’s group. The Happiness of Kati is her first book. She reveals here her love of writing, her motivations and plans for the future. With thanks for Jane for taking the time to talk to Armadillo.

‘The Happiness of Kati’ left me extremely moved. Its an easy but compelling read. Is mine a similar reaction to that of other readers?
Yes, it is. Both adults and children found the story very moving. I think that maternal love is universal and everyone can identify one self with Kati.

What was your initial motivation for the story? How long did it take for you to find time to write the story?
I had always wanted to be a writer but I took a very long road to reach this goal. I was editor and publisher for a children’s magazine, translator and copyright agent before actually starting writing a story. I had an idea of telling a story of happiness through eyes of a girl when I wrote a tale for Foundation for Children in Thailand. I told myself that I should not put off the idea and spent time writing everyday for a month. ‘The Happiness of Kati’ is my first work.

Each chapter has a quirky title relating specific incidents. Did these titles come as you wrote and help to shape the story or did they come later?
They came with the writing as I gave myself a homework everyday: a title of a chapter. I pondered upon it during the night and wrote the chapter the next day. I wanted the book to have 2 dimensions: the ‘outside’ world and ‘inside’ world of Kati. What happened in daily life can be seen as simple incidents and also as reflections of what Kati felt. This allows me to capture attention of both adults and young readers. The structure of 3 parts, each part composed of 9 chapters also helps shaping the story. 9 is my favourite number.

As well as the chapter headings there are italic sentences relating to Kati and her mother. This is touching and unusual. Was this an original idea or did it come later?
‘Mother never promised to return’ appeared on screen on the very first day when I sat down to write. I wanted my book to be a page-turner. I thought of hiding something, a mystery, a secret that would lure readers to go on reading till the end. The idea of an absence of Mother seemed intriguing and in order to create a mystery, I needed a ‘voice’ that linked mother and child. One British poet that I met in Kuala Lumpur during a workshop organised by the British Council told me that he found it very poetic and haiku like. Lots of readers love them.

The story flows very gently through Kati’s life. It is amazing to think that there are no major events, no great thrills, just a great and simply told story that is compelling. Did you take inspiration from other writers or is this type of story symptomatic of culture?
I love a pure and simple style of language which then leads me to tell a simple story. It probably reflects my character. I think that the simpler a story is told, the stronger an impact is when it comes to the time for drama. The thunderstorm scene will not be as traumatic to readers as it is if the story of Kati’s life is more colourful. Also I translated novels by an Italian writer, Alessandro Baricco and I adore his simple style of writing. He probably has influence on my writing.

The delicate drawings add an interesting stimulus. Are they by you and what is their significance?
No, the drawings were made by a Thai artist commissioned by the publisher. They go well with the story and I am very glad that you found them enhancing the gentleness of the story.

Is the story written with personal memories of childhood, family and loss?

Not at all. It was pure imagination. At that time, I did not have much confidence in writing and I tried not to put myself in the book probably because of my shyness. I did not even realise that I wrote a sad and touching story, only when my editor mentioned it was I fully aware that I wrote about loss.

Was it a difficult story to write? Which language did you write in?
I initially wrote it in Thai language. My friend, Prudence Borthwick, loves the story and convinced me to let her translate it into English. We worked together and I was very pleased that it did not read like a translated work. I improvised a lot while writing the story. I did not have a story line in mind but wrote one chapter at a time. I did not find it difficult to write. I enjoyed writing so much and was overjoyed when it was done!

You have done lots of work encouraging children in Thailand to read. Was this story written with that in mind?
No, I wrote the story as I felt like I had a story to tell. I did not think of readers or of purposes of the book. It is a real bonus that the book received international interest and is used in schools and universities in Thailand. 300,000 copies have sold up to now. It has become a loving book for all walks of life and I am truly happy.

You have now written a screenplay of the story, how difficult was it to keep the sense of wonder, awe and overriding happiness?
It was challenging and I learnt a lot. Telling a story from words and from images is different. Books and films are different media of art but both can create senses of wonder and true happiness. I wish that the film would be shown in the UK. It has been selected to be shown at Fukuoka Film Festival in Japan and at Pusan International Film Festival in Korea.

You have written a sequel, was this to extend the story for other characters?
I thought it was a complete story that stood well on its own. I did not initially intend to write a sequel until the editor suggested the idea. I wrote ‘Chasing the Moon’ out of fun and to present an idea of the grieving process of a child. Kati is the main character with more details of her life at school with friends. The story started off from her new school year like in ‘Harry Potter’!

The cultural references, particularly to the monks are very interesting. Although this is not what the story was about was it tempting to write more about them?
The path to happiness is unique in each culture. For Thai people, happiness can be sought through Buddhism. I could not help myself presenting some aspects of Buddhist teachings in the story, hence presenting temple and monks.

As a cerebal palsy sufferer did this help you to write about Kati’s mother?
In retrospect, I probably projected images of being ill into Mother’s character but how Kati coped with it was my imagination.

Do you have plans for further books and stories now that you have become an author?
My latest novel deals with child trafficking problems in Thailand. I just finished writing a monologue on girls relationships and I am now writing a story about how music can be a part of a child’s life. Sky is the limit when it comes to topics for writing!

Doda Smith has been talking to James Mayhew and Jackie Morris about their latest picturebook, Starlight Sailor. Thank you James and Jackie for agreeing to talk to Armadillo Magazine.

Who came up with the vision for the Starlight Sailor, and what was your inspiration?
James The text came first. The idea of developing nursery rhymes into a sort of “narrative poem” was something I’ve often done with school children. It gives a structure and theme but allows for rule breaking and nonsense as well. I used this particular nursery rhyme when I was working with Mark Haddon at the Arvon Foundation in Devon. We co-tutored a course in writing for children and I decided to use nursery rhymes in one of my workshops. The skies at Totleigh Barton in Devon were brilliantly clear and starry and I remember thinking my scribblings and doodlings had some potential. The particular direction of the narrative was – as so often – inspired by my son, who was very young then, about four I think. He loved boats and pirates and dragons, and so I pushed the words in that direction. Of course Jackie has added her own unique vision to the words, which are few and far between. It is she who brings them alive, who reads between the lines, interprets and adds depth and sprinkles magic onto every page!
Jackie I first heard about this story while chatting to James about something. I think he read me the first few lines, and I fell in love with it. Then we talked about other things for a while and the next I heard Barefoot were interested and had asked Nicolette Ceccoli to illustrate it. Luckily for me she was very busy so wouldn’t have been able to begin for a couple of years and although I also was busy I offered to “slot it in” to my schedule, (which entails trying to fit more than 24 hours into a given day), but it is not often such a peach of a story comes along and I do so love working with James. Barefoot said ‘yes’. I produced a few samples that they liked and then things went a little pear shaped. Because it seemed that they didn’t really like them after all. They weren’t quite right, and I understood what they meant. They looked too old for the text. So I did a couple more samples, which they liked, but then the same happened again, so I pulled back, finished what I was working on and then came back to Starlight with attention undivided. However having had two false starts I discovered that I just couldn’t do it. I tried and sketched and tried again and nothing would go right. By this time my confidence had hit an all time low. Having worked on spreads twice which had at first been welcomed and then rejected I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. My main stumbling block was the boat. The child had a boat and I just couldn’t see what it looked like. So I did something that I haven’t done for years. I sent an email to James and one to Tessa at Barefoot and said, “I am really, really sorry but I just can’t do this.” And I walked away from it. It felt good to have finally admitted defeat, lousy to know that I was walking away from something beautiful. Good to be moving on, terrifying that maybe this was it and I would never be able to work again. Humiliated because I had decided to blog the book from its creation to publication so everyone would know that I couldn’t do it! I went to bed and at 4 in the morning woke up and started thinking about paper boats. I got up, Googled ‘how to make a paper boat’ started folding paper. I sat in bed at 4.30 surrounded by ginger cats and a brass telescope and paper boats and I caught the first images that worked for the book. I then emailed James and Tessa and said, “ignore last email, one more try, I think I have it.”

How would you describe Starlight Sailor to a potential reader?
James It’s a poem about imagination, and about wishes and dreams. The boy in the story has a simple wish-upon-a-star: to have a boat. But in the fantasy, it’s what he does in the boat and where it takes him that is the most interesting part. Dreams can be an adventure... That can bring fear too, of course. And so the story also touches on the idea that dreaming and sleeping is a journey, and the wishing star guides us safely to morning.
Jackie Starlight Sailor is a book for young children. A bedtime book. A book to inspire dreaming. It is a book to take a child away from the cares of every day to a land of play and dragons and knights and kings, where everything is possible. The paper boat can be made by anyone and I hope it will inspire readers and listeners alike to make their own boat and to travel in their minds on their own adventures. If you had a paper boat big enough for you to sail away on, who would you go with and where would you go?

How did you two first meet?
James Jackie will tell that story better than me!
Jackie Can’t remember! Only joking. I think we first met at an exhibition we shared in Hitchin, and I was scared of meeting James and almost sick watching him sign books with an effortless elegance. Since then we have met up when we can and James is a treasured friend who has got me into all kinds of scrapes, like working on ‘How the Whale Became’ by Ted Hughes. Not scared of meeting him anymore and always guaranteed cake when we do get together.

James, you are a wonderful illustrator in your own right, and Jackie, you also have a way with words. What made you decide to work together on this?
James I think we both really respect each other and Jackie is always on the end of a phone for any publishing or personal crisis and I hope I am there for her too. Our work is a solitary thing so when you find a kindred spirit you kind of hang onto them! Out of this friendship we gently encouraged each other to stretch ourselves. I suggested material for younger children to Jackie. She has encouraged me to do more writing, experiment with my illustrations, and recently nagged me to start a blog. We’re always egging each other on. I have to be careful though because if I do suggest things to Jackie she knows no fear and will follow it through! I once dared her to write to Ted Hughes, having sent her an old copy of ‘How the Whale Became.’ Being Jackie she did just that! The result was her ravishingly beautiful edition of those stories...
I think the real thing that made me want to work with Jackie (apart from being associated with her fame and glory of course) was my very genuine belief that her work deserved to be presented to a younger audience, which is when I wrote Can You See A Little Bear? for her.
Jackie I love working on books written by James. Because he is an illustrator he knows just how much space to leave in the text to let the pictures work.

It is unusual for an illustrator and author to approach a publisher together with a project. Have you found your route to publication a difficult one?
James In fact I tried the text with a few publishers without Jackie being necessarily attached. That was always my hope but I know that author/illustrator packages are not always successful. In the end it didn’t seem to fit any of their lists (or they just didn’t like it!). Barefoot did like the text and at first suggested another illustrator. Of course I always had Jackie in mind, and despite her busy schedule, urged them to approach her. Jackie had seen the text and knew all this was going on. In the end Tessa Strickland at Barefoot agreed that Jackie would be perfect. Phew! Mind you, it’s been a much harder book for Jackie than for me. It’s always harder for the illustrator. It’s quite liberating for me to not have to worry about the pictures for a change! So many people imagine illustrators drifting around, dabbling when the mood takes us. But the illustrating takes so much longer and is so much more intensive than creating even the most masterly text. And there is a terrifying permanence about an illustration; once printed it cannot be changed. That puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the illustrator, although good design and typography play their part too. One doesn’t always get a good designer alas...
Jackie Not sure what is difficult and what is easy really. ‘Can You See a Little Bear’ sold so many copies that I am amazed Frances Lincoln never suggested a follow up. I think Bookstart took about 230,000. Anyway, I think we make a good team so if there is a publisher out there that wants to work with us get in touch.

This is not the first time you have collaborated on a book. Can you briefly tell us about your first book together, ‘Can You See a Little Bear’.
James While Starlight Sailor was developed from a nursery rhyme (and is in fact the older text), ‘Can You See A Little Bear?’ was written very specifically for Jackie – and for a particular side to her. Like everyone, I love her Musician’s Benevolent Fund cards with their eccentric and beautiful pageants, and I felt very strongly that this side of Jackie's work should be enjoyed by a younger children and a wider audience. The text was written in a very ambiguous way, and deliberately so, in order to give Jackie the creative freedom I felt would bring out the best in her. As an illustrator there is nothing worse than working with an over- descriptive and highly specific and exact text which leaves no room for personal interpretation. I wanted Jackie to have the opportunity to produce something unique for young children. I wanted it to be a text that allowed her to really take wing and indulge herself, explore her fantasies and simply paint what she wanted to paint. That’s when illustrators produce their best work: when they are trusted. I think she exceeded even my expectations; it’s one of my very favourite books, that I’m especially proud to have been part of. I don’t see any other illustrator giving children the imaginative world – satisfyingly unexplained, eccentric, creative and full of magic and wonder – that Jackie does. I hope that ‘Starlight Sailor’ has captured a bit of the same magic.
Jackie ‘Can You See a little Bear’ saved me for illustration really. I was at the point of giving up, fed up with being pigeonholed into working on religious texts and in desperate need of fun. I had worked on a series of Christmas cards for the Musicians Benevolent Fund, and they had a theme that ran through them. James and I had both talked about the books that we had had for our kids when young that had worked, books with simple text but detail, detail, detail in the pictures so that there was loads to look at, stories in the pictures. He wrote ‘Little Bear’ for me so that I would have a vehicle to explore this world. It was a pact really. I was saying to him that I wanted to write something for someone else to illustrate and we decided that he would write a text for me and I would write a text for him. Unfortunately no one has picked up one of my texts yet for James, but I still hope and now I owe him 2. I would also just like to add here that I still remember the marketing conversation where I was told that they would have trouble selling the book as there was ‘no story’ as such. There was a ‘story’ as such, but it was in the pictures and when I offered to read it to said marketing person he was most offended and seemed to think I was being very rude. Great to know that someone in marketing picture books didn’t have the level of visual literacy to pick up on the story. Glad that the people at Bookstart got it though, as well as a professor of child physcology in Cardiff who has now bought 250 copies for children she deals with.

Do you think having worked together before made the road easier for you getting Starlight Sailor published. James Not especially as it was a different publisher... What do you think Jackie?
Jackie Probably the print run for Bookstart was a factor towards getting Starlight published. And the fact that James and I both worked for Barefoot and our books were doing very well with them.

Now that Starlight Sailor is finished, what projects are you both working on?
James I’m working on new Katie and Ella Bella titles. ‘Katie and the Waterlily Pond’ has just gone to be proofed and will be published next year, 2010 and will be followed by a Van Gogh Katie book. Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella is published in September and launched at the Edinburgh Book Festival this year. Right now I’m just starting on Ella Bella Ballerina and the Swan Princess, and I’m developing a children’s classical concert with the de Havilland Philharmonic Orchestra in which I will narrate stories and illustrate them live on stage with the orchestra. This will take up a lot of my time but I am quietly passionate about introducing art and culture to children, as the subjects of my books reveal!
Jackie I am currently illustrating ‘The Ice Bear’ for Frances Lincoln, a book about shape shifting transformation, love and loss - another picture book for older children. Also just about to start a book of Nursery Rhymes in the style of the little bear book and trying to catch a book about a baby dragon searching for a story.

Do you think you might work together on future stories?
James Jackie has asked for another text...so we’ll see. I’d really love to consolidate our partnership because I think there's a lot of potential. We understand each other uncommonly well. I think both books are very special, mostly because of the illustrations, frankly! Partly our future as a pairing depends of developing the right project for the right publisher.
Jackie I do hope so. I still want to get James back for putting giraffes and guinea pigs on the same page by writing something really difficult to paint, and I hope he will trust me again to put a vision to his words. He has such a gift and I love working with him.

Jackie, you have been keeping a very interesting blog of your illustrative journey for Starlight Sailor. Please tell us more about that.
Jackie There have been many times that I have wished I had never started with the Starlight blog. It hasn’t been an easy journey. Sometimes I have had to bite my fingers. Sometimes I have been surprised that the publisher has not stepped in and stood up for themselves in the face of some of the comments. There have been some things that haven’t been said. I was hoping to take the book from initial sketch through to design and printing, but after all the art was finally approved the publishers never really came through with the info re design, production, delivery or marketing so all that is a mystery to me and maybe I will do it all again with another book and a bit more positive commitment from the publisher to give some input into this. Anyway. Best thing really is to read the blog. You can tell where I get a bit stressed and tense.

Jackie, what is your favourite part of the text for Starlight Sailor, and James, what is your favourite illustration?
James Sorry, I have to say here that some of my favourite parts were bits that lie on the cutting room floor. The original text still resonates in my head when I read it, so I am afraid those are still some of my favourite bits. It is sometimes strange the way books change, how they are edited. I do love the text as it stands now, but I still feel that it was stronger before some of the changes were made.
And I have just gone back and looked at James’s answers. I was going to say that of all the paintings the one I liked most was the first cover that was never used, but decided not to say that, and now I see what James put. This was a picture edit. I still like the first cover best....
Jackie I loved the cover that was never used! (it’s a long story!). But of the inside illustrations...I love the mermaid spread. And the one with the quilt becoming the sea (very Robert Louis Stevenson!)... and the dragon in his cave... the one with whales and turtles. I love the sand castle...I think they’re all beautiful. Lucky children who get to look at this book, it’s full of dreams and wonderment.

And finally, what advice or encouragement would you both like to offer to writers and illustrators who have not yet found their way to publication?
It is very important to find the right publisher, one who believes in you and believes in the book. Beware the marketing department. Do not expect to get rich. Join the society of authors. Take a pinch of salt everywhere you go.
Believe in yourself and don’t give up. I’m terrible for putting myself down and dismissing ideas and not bothering with them. You have to bother; you have to hope and believe, and keep on trying. There’s so much luck involved – the right editor at the right time. Oh, and always have notebooks and pens to hand. Don’t be lazy – write ideas down as soon as you think of them, or they’ll be forgotten and gone...

Thank you both for your honest and interesting answers and insights into the creation of Starlight Sailor.

Shelley Instone interviewed, by e-mail, the Irish author Oisin McGann to discuss the themes, characterisations, historical settings and content of his two novels Ancient Appetites and The Wisdom of Dead Men. Oisin discussed in great detail how religion, science and history influenced the narrative structure of his books.

Thank you to Oisin for such an informative and insightful interview.

Your main protagonist, Nathanial has all the attributes of a traditional hero as his sense of adventure, courage and resourcefulness dominate the action of your two novels. Considering his macho appeal did you construct him with male readers in mind?
In some ways, the elaborate style of the period setting and the dialogue lends itself more to female readers, so I did want to make sure there was enough in there for the boys too. But I don’t think Nate is specifically a ‘boy’s’ character. He is an adventurer (albeit a frustrated one), the blunt, somewhat flamboyant action-man type I think appeals to both sides.

The character of Daisy outwardly conforms to the gender-role expected of her in Victorian society. However, she proves herself to be inwardly very powerful and by all means and purposes very likeable! Was this intentional and were you conveying to the reader the realities of Victorian life for upper-class women?
The setting demanded the story and characters have a certain shape, and the attitude to women was one of these constraints. Women of the time could not vote, take part in government, own property or own a business, so having the near-mandatory self-sufficient career woman you see in most stories now just wouldn’t fit in this setting. Enterprising and self-possessed women were certainly around, but they had to find other ways of taking control of their lives. Daisy is an example of this – she has to play power games, but within the arena she inhabits. Conforming to some norms allows her to take an interest and exercise control over many areas traditionally denied to women of the time.

Gerald’s role and function - questioning the existence of God against scientific discovery - permeates both novels. His role in bringing back ancient ancestors from the dead perhaps allows the reader to see the dangers of misguided and extremist forms of religious worship. Would you agree and do Gerald’s views and opinions reflect your own?
This is one of the central themes, and although I’d consider myself much more a follower of science rather than religion, I’m not an atheist. I don’t believe in an all-powerful God, but at the same time we know that science can’t explain everything in nature – although perhaps it will in time. But until then, there are still times when we rely on things like instinct, intuition and empathy. Gerald’s opinions are a bit more extreme, and though he is extremely rational, he’s not the most compassionate of individuals. I think any kind of extremist religious views are insidious and destructive, but at the same time, I don’t believe in living life with merciless reason either.

The engimals appear to be part machine/animal that feel pain, respond to love and have something akin to DNA by having their own unique footprints. What influenced you in creating them?
I think so many people relate to the idea of the engimals because all the machines around us are becoming so sophisticated. Most of us don’t really understand how the fuel injection system or the anti-lock brakes in a car work, or even all of the things our phones can do. Machines are electronic and software-based more than mechanical now, and they develop bewildering bugs and characteristics that can give them what seem like personalities. Most of us have cursed, shouted or exclaimed at our machines at some time in our lives. So the idea of machines behaving like animals isn’t a big leap for the imagination.

There is a clear hierarchy that exists between engimals as Flash dominates over other engimals through his strength and power whilst many engimals exist to serve humans in menial tasks such as mowing lawns. Can you explain this?
I see it as pyramid, as in nature, with peak predators at the top and the placid grazers at the bottom – although the engimals rarely actually attack each other – but all with apparent functions useful to mankind. Thousands of years of feral wandering has reduced many of them to savagery, while others are insecure and want to be domesticated. Again, it comes back to giving them personalities that fit their functions and how hard they would likely be to tame or train. It makes sense (at least to me) to have a motorcycle that’s almost untameable, a lawnmower that’s controllable but liable to bite your ankles, and a vacuum cleaner that skulks around behind the furniture.

The hierarchy that exists between engimals is also noticeable through the class structure of Victorian society in regard to the expected behaviour of servants i.e. facing the wall or turning their faces when they pass a Wildenstern. However, the narrative voice does not condone or condemn this? Was this a conscious decision and how important is it to allow the reader space to construct their own views and opinions on the polarity of wealth and poverty?
One of the key techniques of writing a fantasy story is that where you are featuring the ‘real’ elements of that world, they have to be as true-to-life as possible, in order to convince the reader that the fantasy elements are true too. I did a lot of research on life in manor houses at the time, and this is how staff would have been expected to behave. They were not seen or heard beyond their function in the house – it was an absolutely gruelling life for many of them. To have a modern voice narrating this and passing judgement from a contemporary point of view would have broken the spell I hoped to achieve in creating the setting.

Darwin’s theory of natural selection is an overt theme in both books. However, it also applies to the rules of ascension in the Wildenstern family as only the fittest survive! Was it your intention to fully utilise this theme?
Once I have settled on the themes for any book, I tend to use each one throughout to give shape to the plot and help define the paths of the characters. The Wildensterns take capitalism to the ultimate level, kill or be killed, but I don’t think being the ‘fittest’ is necessarily the deciding factor in surviving in the family – no more than it always is in business, or even evolution. There are plenty of parasites and hangers-on in the Wildenstern family who get by quite well by hovering around, making themselves useful to the real predators.

Roberto’s character is rather weak-willed. Alongside his disability and homosexuality was his demise inevitable and did you apply Darwin’s theory to him?
This is giving away a major part of the story! I think it’s unfair to call Roberto weak-willed; he can hold his own against the others when he puts his mind to it. In Ancient Appetites, he defies his overbearing father in a way that none of the others do. Berto’s just too nice a guy for life among the Wildensterns – he’s more into having fun than getting ahead. But he’s stuck in a position of power he has little interest in holding, with predators circling, looking for any opportunity to bring him down. And he’s determined to reform things as much as he can. His disability in The Wisdom of Dead Men is a real disadvantage however, which is why he is willing to go to the extraordinary lengths that he does to cure himself. As for his homosexuality, that in itself isn’t portrayed as a weakness, except as something that has to be kept hidden because it could land him in prison. Like Daisy’s oppressed position and the Gerald’s ‘heretical’ views on evolution, Berto’s sexuality is cast in a very different light when viewed with nineteenth century mores, made even worse by the fact that his relationship is with a servant. It’s why he was one of my favourite characters to write.

The description of Marcus’ funeral is quite elaborate. The theme of death permeates the works of many Victorian novelists such as Charles Dickens. Were you in some way adhering to this in order to make your own novels appear authentic to the historical setting?
Part of it was authenticity and part of it was to create the right atmosphere for the subsequent scenes. Victorian funerals were very elaborate – a pauper’s grave was the ultimate shame, and premature death and the resultant funeral were so common that families had to put money aside in anticipation of that expense. There was so much ceremony and so many interesting rituals and superstitions surrounding death in those days, and I wanted to bring some of that in. But it was also important that a Wildenstern funeral be dark and spectacular, to help maintain the gothic setting. Some of the description of the scenes was drawn from the funeral of Queen Victoria herself.

The role of religion, particularly in The Wisdom of Dead Men appears to be steeped in religious superstition that functions as a cover up for murder. The insidious corruption it relates to is very relevant to Ireland’s history. How important was it to incorporate this theme into your novels?
I have issues with the influence religion has had on life in Ireland, but I didn’t want to highlight a particular example. It’s not faith itself I object to – I think everyone has a right to believe whatever they want, as long as they’re not bothering anyone else – but institutional religion in those days went hand-in-hand with politics and power, not just in Ireland, but everywhere. The resultant corruption and abuse of power made a mockery of the kinds of things Christianity claims to represent. It still sickens me, when I see it happening today. I didn’t want to deliver any lectures with the story; like most of the issues that come up in my books, I just wanted to ask questions and prompt the reader to do the same.

Ireland’s history is further explored through the subject of the great famine and the incarceration of innocent women. Is this your way of educating the reader on Irish history?
I’d never claim to be trying to ‘educate’ my readers. I do want to leave them thinking after they’ve finished the book and prompt questions in their minds. When I lived in London, I remember being disappointed with how little British people knew of Irish history. In Ireland, we have to learn a fair bit about British history along with our own because the two are so intertwined. Given how many terrorist attacks Irish ‘nationalists’ carried out in the UK, I’d have thought British people would be more curious about why it was happening . . . The only thing they seem to teach in UK schools is the famine (and it was only one of many famines over the centuries). Seeing as about half the population of Ireland either died or emigrated in the space of five years, I suppose they had to cover it. In the third Wildenstern book, there will be more mention of the great famine as part of one of the characters’ background, but it still remains secondary to the main story.

There is a clear anti–British sentiment in both your novels! However, it appears to be the only thing that connects the upper and lower classes throughout your two novels. Would you agree?
This was a thorny one, as I have no real issues with the British (apart from when you try to do things like claim U2 as a ‘British’ band). I’m certainly not a raving nationalist and have never had anything but contempt for the likes of the IRA. Most of my generation are over that kind of thing – and I do want to sell my books in UK! But as with the oppression of women, the conflict between religion and science, and the illegality of homosexuality, it was a feature of the time. If anything, I’ve played it down. It would be hard to overstate the hatred most Irish people of the time felt towards the British landlords and their government. There were numerous acts of rebellion and constant unrest, so I had to feature that background. As for it being something that united the upper and lower classes, there is an element of truth in that. The peasants had it the hardest, of course, but nationalist leaders like Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet were from upper middle-class backgrounds and Daniel O’Connell’s and Charles Parnell’s families were land-owners.

Hope this answers all your questions – it was a pretty in-depth interview! I’m going to go to bed now. My brain is tired.