Category Archives: Interviews

An Interview with Dr Dominic Walliman & Ben Newman, Creators of Professor Astro Cat

To celebrate Science Week I am extremely pleased to welcome Dr Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman to Teen Librarian to talk about Professor Astro Cat.

vitruvian astrocat

I will break up my first question into two parts, the first being how long have the two of you worked together and how did you come to be co-creators of Professor Astro Cat?

BEN: We’ve been friends since secondary school. I got to know Dominic better when he and a friend of ours put on a comedy night. A few of my close friends and I were involved in the evening. We always stayed in touch despite going off on very different paths.
Back in 2010, I designed and printed a solar system poster which sold really well from my website and I approached my publisher, Nobrow about publishing a book about Space for children. They agreed and asked if I knew anyone who could write it. I immediately thought of Dominic and when we were back in our home town for Christmas I asked him and he said ‘no’…. kidding! He said ‘yes’, really.

DOM: I got really into astrophysics when I was in 6th form after reading a book that tied in with a BBC documentary series called Universe. I wasn’t studying physics at the time, but I remember all the facts blowing my mind, and I used to come into school and tell everyone all the crazy stuff I had learned. I think that is probably why Ben thought of me when he wanted to make the book; and I jumped at the chance!

I love the Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System app and would like to know if there are plans for more apps and if they will be available for other operating systems?

BEN: Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System is in the digital mechanics being fine tuned as we speak. I believe MiniLab will be announcing some really cool stuff very soon in regards to the app and other operating systems.

In terms of new Professor Astro Cat apps, I have had numerous conversations with MiniLab about a couple of ideas that we are throwing around. Nothing in the works yet but I’m not sure I could tell you even if there were… Or could I?

What is your working dynamic like? Did you meet up to discuss the layout of Frontiers of Space and Atomic Adventure or did you write the text and work on the illustrations separately?

BEN: At the start of ‘Frontiers of Space’, we did physically sit down and work out the running order and how we thought the book should work. After the text was finished and while I was about half way through drawing that book, Dominic moved to Vancouver in Canada to work on Quantum computers.

We stay in touch via email but we found that while making the ‘Atomic Adventure’, we needed to talk more often face to face over skype. This was a huge help to both of us and made us feel like a team again. We work together very closely despite the distance.

The text is never concrete so it means that Dominic and I can revisit it while I am drawing and designing the layouts. This was a big help for ‘Atomic Adventure’ because the text informs the image and then the text can be integrated and adapted to work with the images. This fluidity was a real breakthrough for us.

DOM: Our work mostly involves me getting down a first draft of each spread and then running it past Ben. Then we do several iterations of back and forth, cutting things out and adding things in. Then when Ben is illustrating we do a few more tweaks on the text, and I sometimes help out on the images if Ben gets stuck on thinks like the technical details. I think it helps that I’m a very visual person and have some art and graphic design skills.

Ben how long did it take you to illustrate each book and do you work digitally or with traditional paper & paint/ink?

BEN: More than a year but less than two years. It’s difficult to judge the time it takes because I try to fit in other projects at the same time. In both books, there has been a lot of trial and error which at the time is incredibly frustrating but ultimately it is a detrimental part of the process.

My work is a mixture of both traditional and digital. Much more of Atomic Adventure was sketched out on the computer this time. Mainly because I wanted to illustrate with the text laid out in front of me. Frontiers of Space was illustrated in areas that I measured on the computer and then drew by hand.

Dom, there is so much information collected in so little space how long did it take you to put the text together? How many sources did you use to collate the information?

DOM: The first book took about 2 years, but now I have got the a book down to about a year. This might seem like a long time but as I’m working full time at D-Wave I use my evenings and weekends to write. Getting the word count down has definitely been something I have got better at though – it is almost like a crossword puzzle! How do I get what I want to say in as few words as possible, and it be very clear at the same time. It is super fun though.
For Atomic Adventure, most of the material came straight out of my head as Physics is a subject I have been studying for a very long time. Then I did a lot of fact checking to make sure I got it all right.

What scientific exploration will we experience next with Professor Astro Cat?

BEN: Well, there is a Professor Astro Cat space project out this summer and maybe even another project later in the year. Dominic and I are already working on his next adventure into science but it’s top secret.

DOM: I can say that the first draft of the next book is done, and I can’t wait to be able to talk about it. It is going to be a lot of fun!

Frontiers of Space was my favourite scientific picture book of 2015 and with Atomic Adventure you have given me my favourite for 2016 (it is a combination of engaging art and really interesting snippets of information) and since discovering your work I have seen more picture books dealing with scientific themes and information. Do you think we are at the beginning of a revolution in scientific picture books?

BEN: I hope so. It would be great to be a part of a movement towards engaging minds young and old in science. Children’s non-fiction has been an area well in need of some TLC for a long while now so finger’s crossed there is a resurgence.

DOM: I hope so too! I would love for science to become a bit more mainstream. When I talk to people, I find a lot of adults who think science is some mixture of intimidating, difficult or dull, and I think it is such a shame. When explained well, science is none of these things. In fact there are few things as enjoyable as understanding something new about the fundamental nature of the Universe. So if we can give the young people of today a more positive experience of science, that is fantastic, and I heartily encourage others to do the same.

For readers who fall in love with your work can both of you give a suggestion for further reading (both your own works and any other authors/illustrators that you think we may enjoy)?

BEN: I love Jim Stoten’s Mr Tweed’s Good Deeds as it is mind bogglingly illustrated and fun. Jim and I used to share a studio together when we were working on our books so he was a big inspiration. Also, Andrew Rae’s Moonhead is a brilliant illustrated story. It’s really funny.

DOM: If you haven’t read the Calvin and Hobbes books yet, I would highly recommend them. They aren’t about science, but are philosophical in the most fun way.

Thank you so much for giving up your time to answer these questions!

Eight Questions With… Anthony McGowan

Hi Tony, and welcome (finally) to Eight Questions With… an interview for Teen Librarian. I was just trying to work out why considering how long we have known each other I have never interviewed you before – do you have any idea why?

I seem to remember that you did interview me for Teen Librarian, back in the Henry Tumour period … In fact, YES! Found it.

Editor’s note: yes, I did interview Tony, it appeared way back in 2007, you can read it here: TLM May 2007 Now let us never mention this embarrassing incident again and get on with the interview…

You currently have three books published by Barrington StokeThe Fall, Brock & Pike, would you be able to give a short introduction to each for readers that may not have already discovered these?

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It might be easiest if I discuss Brock and Pike first. They both feature brothers Nicky and Kenny. At the beginning of Brock their family is in a bit of a mess. Their mum has left them, and their father can’t really cope – he’s lost his job, and generally fallen apart. Nicky is the narrator, and acts as a sort of carer for Kenny, who has special needs. Nicky thinks the best word to describe his brother is ‘simple’ –

People say he’s simple, and he is. I know you’re not meant to say ‘simple-minded’ anymore, but it seems to me that it’s the exact right word for Kenny. He hasn’t got all the stuff going on that mess up other people’s heads. He isn’t always trying to work out the angles, or how to stitch you up. He thinks other people are as kind as he is, and he only has one idea at a time. His brain was starved of oxygen when he was getting born, so now he has what they 9781781124666call learning difficulties. But, like I say, I think ‘simple’ is better and kinder and truer than talking about ‘difficulties’ or ‘disabilities’.

The Nicky-Kenny relationship is the key to the two novels. In Brock, they save a badger from a terrible fate, and Pike is a sort of treasure hunt/adventure story about a body in a lake, and a gold watch, but the relationship between the brothers remains central. They’re stories about love and friendship and redemption. The boys love helps to save the family. Unusually, for me (!) the books have upbeat endings.

The Fall is a rather darker book, telling two traumatic linked tales, about a kid called Mog. The book is about betrayal, and bullying, but doesn’t end well … But I think it has a certain bleak power.

I recall reading a while ago that Brock & Pike are the first two parts of a trilogy – is this true or is my brain making up things as I have not been able to find anything about it?
fall mcg
I decided that The Fall was just too depressing – especially as the main character is partly based on me, so I bring Mog back in Pike, giving him a kind of redemption, too. So The Fall, Brock and Pike do finally form a sort of loose trilogy.

You are one of the most entertaining authors I follow on twitter and facebook, will you ever be producing a book or e-book of your online musings & conversations?

Hah! Well, a few people have suggested it. I’m not much good at Twitter – my speciality is a sort of rambling surrealist anecdote, and I can’t squeeze that into a tweet. My whimsy really needs the greater length of Facebook. But I do think that some of the best things I’ve ever written have been ‘wasted’ on Facebook, so it would be quite nice to give them a second life.

Are you currently working on anything you can share with the audience? (I am hoping for a follow-up to Hello Darkness as it was one of my favourite reads last year)

I’ve just finished a book I’ve been writing on with another author – the brilliant Jo Nadin. It’s called Everybody Hurts, and it’s a twisted little love story, written from male and female perspectives. The first draft is done, and we’re about to give it a final polish. It probably won’t come out until 2017, as these things always seem to take forever. I’m also well into a huge blockbuster horror project – a sort of Stephen King for teens. The working title is The Wrath. There’s a lot of blood.

Apart from your books, can you recommend any other titles on the Barrington Stoke teen lists?

Barrington Stoke, although small, attract some amazing authors – Kevin Brooks, Keith Gray, Meg Rosoff, Sally Nicholls, Aidan Chambers, Eoin Colfer, Frank Cottrell Boyce, to name but some. Really, you can’t go wrong with any of their Barrington Stoke books.

Are any of your works based on personal experiences?

They all are, to some extent – even the mad, surreal ones, like Hellbent and Hello Darkness. But Brock and Pike are very much set in the small town where I was brought up – Sherburn in Elmet, in Yorkshire. Although it isn’t named, anyone from Sherburn would recognise it instantly. But, in general, most of my characters are versions of people I’ve met. Warped, twisted versions …

Lastly what are you currently reading and would you recommend it to a bunch of librarians?

I’m working my way though the My Struggle sequence by Karl Ove Knausgård – which reads a bit like a po-faced version of my facebook posts. It has a richness and depth, but can also be a bit … dull. So not sure I’d recommend it. What I would certainly recommend, however, is How To Be A Public Author, by Francis Plug (really Paul Ewen) – an hysterical novel about a drunken would be writer, who attends every possible book event to learn the job. It’s ludicrously funny and silly, but also oddly moving, and a tribute to all us bibliophiles.

Thank you so much for giving up your time to participate in this interview!

Eight Questions With… Andy Mulligan

Hi Andy, welcome to the Teen Librarian Eight Questions With… interview! The first thing I usually ask is for interviewees to introduce themselves but I think that you are so well known that I will instead ask you to introduce LIQUIDATOR.

liquidator
LIQUIDATOR unites a number of child-heroes: the weak, the strong, the dim, the brilliant…and I send them happily off on a week of work-experience. My characters soon go way beyond their placements, however, working to expose a multi-national corporation that’s threatening the world – and this isn’t 007 land, by the way, where the villains are psychopathic criminals. My villain is real. It’s developing a so-called health drink that will addict a new generation to sugars, steroids and caffeine: a performance enhancing health-drink with a billion-dollar marketing campaign, and a history of very dubious medical trials in the developing world – the stuff of fact, in other words.

The second question is… what would you do if you found out something bad… something really bad?

I’d walk away very quickly and pretend I hadn’t seen it. Sorry, but I’m a coward and I don’t like conflict.

Did you ever participate in a work experience scheme in school?

For some reason, no – I went to a grammar school in the seventies when all we did was learn by rote and sing ‘Jerusalem’. I used to supervise such weeks, when I was a teacher – and they were all too often a predictable disappointment, as kids returned to school having experienced only the stranglehold of insurance and safety concerns. I always hoped that one day, a would-be teenage surgeon would come rushing back to class, shouting “It was great! I cut someone open!” It never happened in life, so I’ve put into fiction.

What inspired the writing of LIQUIDATOR?

– see above. The thrill of the chase, too: I do love fast-moving, action packed adventures with real jeopardy.

Apart from LIQUIDATOR, what other works for young readers can you recommend?

I’m afraid I don’t read that much, for fear I’ll either be dismayed at its brilliance, or seduced into copying. I have a few ‘touchstone’ YA books, the main one of which is John Boyne’s THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS. If I get stuck, I read a chapter of that and it always unsticks me. Other than that, I am desperately traditional. I love the Moomins, for sheer surrealism.

What is your favourite part of the writing process?

First draft, for sure. It’s like playing with dolls: you get lost in the game as the dolls come to life and do things you never expected. Returning to the m/s for editing is good, too – and it’s lovely to share your work with agent and editor. But there’s nothing quite like the virgin sand of first draft.

With LIQUIDATOR only having just landed it may be a bit premature to ask this question, but I will ask it anyway. Do you have anything new planned that you can share with the audience?

I’m working on a film-script with Steve Coogan, and radio plays for Radio 4. The next children’s book is well underway, too – a bit of a departure. It’s about a dog with a crippling identity crisis.

Finally, do you ever visit schools or public libraries and if you do what is the best way to get into contact with you about organising a visit?

Yes, I try to say yes if I possibly can – and the best way to get something organised is through the excellent AUTHORS ALOUD – annemarley@authorsalouduk.co.uk

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions!
THANK YOU FOR ASKING! -ANDY

Liquidator by Andy Mulligan is published by David Fickling Books and is available on 1st October

Prattling about Pocket Pirates… an Interview with Chris Mould

Hi Chris, welcome to TeenLibrarian for the Pocket Pirates Q&A!

captain crabsticksAs is traditional I usually ask first time visitors to the site to introduce themselves to the audience, so can you please let us know something about you?

Hi Matt, yes of course. I’m an illustrator at heart and have been for over twenty years.

I began to write to create narrative content that made sense of the worlds and characters growing out of my sketchbook and from there, I began to write ‘in real life.’ Proof that anybody can do it if they really want to.
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Without giving too many spoilers can you tell us something about the Pocket Pirates?

The home of the pocket pirates is one of miniature people in a human sized environment. So whether it’s being stuck inside an old teapot, having to climb a stack of old books just to get back home, being harassed by a swarm of huge flies or trying to retrieve a stash of biscuit crumbs, the world is a tricky place when you’re only an inch high, even for a brave buccaneer. But the biggest danger comes from the mice beyond the skirting board and the eight legged menace in the tangled web up above. Look out, the enemy are hungry. It’s dangerous out there in the Old Junk Shop.

jonesHow did you come up with the idea of daring pirates living in a bottle ship?

To be honest I was ready to have a rest from Buccaneers. They’re such a terrible lot. I was having a holiday and I spotted a ship in a bottle as I walked round an old shop. I was always a huge Borrowers and Old Mrs Pepperpot fan and I just thought to myself, ‘aha, tiny pirates would live in there.’ And the Pocket Pirates were born. It allowed me to look at pirates in a different way. They were land lubbers and they were little! What could be more fun?

LilyConsidering that they were basically muggers of the sea and worse back in the day (and still are in some parts of the world) why do you think that Pirates seem to be enduringly popular?

I don’t think it’s the habits of the pirate that people find endearing. There are endless pirate publications for children but most of them avoid any serious reference to cut throat lifestyles. I think it’s the period costume and the on board environment they live in that has timeless appeal for illustrators and authors. It’s a very well-trodden path I know. But creating character and narrative has a lot to do with visual appeal. What can be more fun than big pirate hats, striped socks, skulls and crossbones, frilly shirts, huge sleeved coats and a huge rickety old timber house that moves from place to place? And of course, your average pirate is a cheeky scallywag and we all love a mischievous rogue who can mix it up a bit.

old uncle nogginI have seen your name popping up a lot on twitter, most recently next to a map for Matt Haig’s Christmas book – where else can we find your artwork gracing other author’s words?

Ah yes, drawing pine trees and snowy landscapes in the middle of August was a good way to keep me cool this year (as well as living in the UK 😉 I’ve also been working with the hilariously funny Barry Hutchison on the Benjamin Blank fiction series for Nosy Crow. Tremendously chucklesome fun. Very funny writer.

Returning to things piratical, can you recommend books about pirates by other authors?

You mean the pirate enemy? On the other ship?? Of course not! Buy a copy of Pocket Pirates, and nothing else.

Oh go on then, if I must. Make sure you’ve seen Chris Riddell’s beautifully drawn Pirate Diary. And Shipmate Johnny Duddle is always a pirate winner. His new black and white pirate fiction is genius. And don’t miss the Jim Ladd and Benji Davies Space Pirates series from Nosy Crow. I could go on….
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Who is your favourite fictional freebooter? and do you have any favourite non-fiction pirates?

Fiction: Ah I always come back to ‘Silver’. He’s THE BEST. Treasure Island is a text I can read over and over again. And I have to be staring at the Ralph Steadman version.

Non Fiction: I can’t favourite any of the real ones. They’re all bad uns and I’d lock em all up.

What is coming next for the Pocket Pirates?

In the next book the hungry Buccaneers dare to venture outside when their food supplies get low. I won’t give much away but when it rains and they are washed into a storm drain, the rain soaked fun begins.

To inject a bit of levity in to the serious subject of swashbucklers, do you have a favourite pirate joke, and can you share it?

Oh….. And my pirate joke…..

Errrrr…….

Why does it take a pirate so long to learn the alphabet?

Because he spends years at C!

Thank you so much for giving up your time to drop by and answer some questions!

Thank you Matt. Your support is hugely appreciated.

The Secret Fire: Interview with Carina Rozenfeld and CJ Daugherty

Alchemy… the occult science devoted to matter transmutation, best known for the search for eternal life and the quest to turn lead into gold.

Now two authors, CJ Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld have combined their talents and turned mere ink and paper into literary gold with their new book The Secret Fire.

The power of two does not end there today two blogs have two interviews about the creation of the novel. Read the interviews below in French and then follow the link to the English interviews at La Voix du Livre

I interviewed Carina Rozenfeld and my blog twin Tom of La Voix du Livre interviewed CJ Daugherty.

Bonjour Carina, bienvenue à l’interview The Secret Fire pour Teen Librarian et La Voix du Livre ! Mon binôme blogueur Tom a interviewé CJ donc tu es mienne pour toute la durée de cette interview (insérer une voix menaçante). Je te présente mes excuses pour mes lacunes en français et j’espère que les poser en Anglais ne posera pas de problème.
Carina
Ma première question que je pose à tous les auteurs que j’interviewe pour le blog est de les inviter à se présenter aux lecteurs, peux-tu s’il te plaît nous dire quelques informations sur toi ?

Quelque chose à mon propos ? Alors, je suis une écrivaine française. J’ai écrit environ 20 livres en France, pour les enfants, les adolescents et les jeunes adultes. Je suis aussi la mère d’un adolescent qui étudie les arts appliqués. Je vis à Paris avec lui et mes chats, pas très loin de la Tour Eiffel…

Est-ce que The Secret Fire est ton premier roman à quatre mains ?

Oui, c’est la première fois que j’écris un roman avec quelqu’un d’autre. J’ai écrit environ 20 livres seule et c’est un beau changement et une super expérience de pouvoir explorer d’autres façons d’écrire.

Comment c’était de travailler avec CJ ? Quels ont été les plus grands challenges auxquels tu as dû faire face dans ce travail collaboratif ?

Travailler avec CJ, c’est génial, drôle et facile. Ça aurait pu être vraiment difficile, mais à la fin, on a trouvé une façon d’écrire ensemble qui a parfaitement fonctionné. La partie la plus difficile a été la langue, sans aucun doute. C’est déjà difficile de trouver sa propre voix, sa propre façon décrire dans sa langue natale, alors vous pouvez imaginer comment ça a été difficile en Anglais ! Mais CJ m’a beaucoup aidé. Merci à elle !

Quelle a été la meilleure partie de cette expérience d’écriture pour toi ?

J’adore (j’utilise le présent car on est en train d’écrire le tome 2 en ce moment même) qu’on puisse échanger nos idées. Et j’adore attendre les chapitres qu’elle m’envoie, car je suis alors à la place du lecteur, puis prendre celle de l’écrivain pour lui permettre d’être la lectrice. C’est très motivant.

Est-ce que vous avez établi un plan scénaristique, une frise chronologie, pour être sûr que vos personnages restaient sur la bonne voie tout au long de l’histoire ?

Pas vraiment. Dans le premier livre j’ai écrit les chapitres sur Sacha, et CJ ceux sur Taylor, alors on savait toujours où les personnages en étaient dans l’histoire. Mais de temps en temps on décidait ensemble ce qui allait se passer dans les chapitres suivants.

Comment avez-vous séparé les scènes d’écriture ? Je suppose que tu as écrit celles sur Sacha et CJ a travaillé sur Taylor (ou je me trompe ?) Mais quand ils se rencontrent, comment avez-vous fonctionné ?

Oui, j’ai écrit les parties sur Sacha et CJ celles sur Taylor. Quand ils sont ensemble ou discutent ensemble, alors, quand c’était mon chapitre par exemple, CJ était libre de changer des choses, pour aller plus dans la profondeur de la pensée de Taylor, pour être plus proche de son personnage, et inversement.
J’ai un peu honte de dire que j’ai une connaissance très limitée des livres non-anglophones en YA ; peux-tu nous recommander quelques auteurs européens de YA que tu aimes ?
Je ne suis pas surprise. La plupart des écrivains français ne sont pas traduits en anglais, alors n’ayez pas honte. C’est vraiment dommage parce qu’il y a beaucoup d’écrivains européens particulièrement bons. Je pense à Charlotte Bousquet, Samantha Bailly, Yves Grevet, Christophe Lambert, Victor Dixen qui sont français et Cindy Van Wilder qui est belge. Je pourrais encore en mentionner beaucoup. La littérature française est pleine de trésors.

Qu’est-ce que ce travail t’a apporté dans ta vie personnelle et dans ta vie professionnelle ?

C’est une expérience incroyable. Dans ma vie personne, j’ai une nouvelle amitié avec CJ et j’ai réalisé un rêve, celui de publier un livre en anglais, parce que mon frère vit en Amérique et ma belle-sœur et toute sa famille sont américains. Je suis ravie de savoir qu’ils vont finalement pouvoir lire un de mes livres. Dans ma vie professionnelle, je peux maintenant savoir ce que c’est d’être un auteur « anglais ». Les choses ne sont pas les mêmes : sa façon de travailler avec son editor/publisher (Ndt : en anglais, le mot n’est pas le même. L’editor est celui qui s’occupe du travail éditorial tandis que le publisher est celui qui publie le livre – c’est un poste plus logistique et directorial), la façon dont son livre voyage dans le monde parce qu’il est en anglais.

Est-ce que The Secret Fire est ton premier livre disponible en anglais ?

Oui, et j’ai beaucoup d’optimisme sur la suite, quelques éditeurs anglais seront peut-être intéressés de traduire mes autres livres après celui-ci !

Quelques uns de mes éditeurs français sont en relation avec mon éditeur anglais Atom Books. Peut-être que quelque chose se passera un jour ?

J’ai eu une longue période d’intérêt en l’alchimie durant mes penchants gothiques adolescents, alors j’aurais aimé savoir si vous avez fait des recherches sur l’alchimie pour cette histoire ?

La plupart des recherches ont été faites par CJ, parce que son personnage est plus concerné par l’alchimie. Mais j’ai lu quelques choses sur ce sujet.

Vous avez décidé d’écrire une histoire fantastique. Pourquoi cela était-il important pour vous ?

La plupart de mes romans ont une trame fantastique. Alors j’était familière de ce genre. CJ, elle, voulait faire une histoire plus fantastique et paranormale que Night School donc ce genre nous est venu assez naturellement.

Crois-tu que les alchimistes peuvent vraiment transformer des matières en une autre forme ?

En fait, en un sens, ne sommes-nous pas des alchimistes quand nous allumons la lumière dans nos maisons ? On transforme quelque chose, de l’énergie, de l’électricité, en lumière…

Que penses-tu de la magie ?

J’adore les bonnes histoires avec quelque chose de magique dans celles-ci. Et quand je vois un magicien, je suis toujours étonnée par ce qu’ils sont capables de faire, et je veux croire que c’est possible ! Peut-être que c’est pour ça que j’écris des histoires avec tant de fantastique : j’aimerais que tout cela comme la magie, les extraterrestres, avoir des ailes, être le Phénix puisse vraiment exister…

Si tu étais alchimiste, que ferais-tu de tes capacités ?

M’aider à travailler plus vite ? Trouver un moyen de voyager super vite, comme la téléportation ? Sentir le monde autour de moi de façon plus forte ?

Penses-tu que le réalisme magique de votre histoire peut aider le lecteur à considérer les vrais problèmes auquel un jeune adulte est confronté dans notre monde ?

Je lis beaucoup de YA et je pense que dans tous les livres, peu importe le genre (fantasy, paranormal, SF, réalisme…), on a toujours une certaine résonnance avec les problèmes des jeunes adultes : devenir un adulte avec des responsabilités, choisir quel genre d’adulte on aimerait devenir. La relation au monde, aux autres, aux parents, les capacités qu’on a pour construire la personne qu’on va devenir, comment faire face aux changements auxquels on va être confrontés, la réalité de la vie et de la mort…

Peux-tu nous donner quelques informations sur le tome 2 ?

Je n’en suis pas sûre… Mais peut-être que je peux vous dire que vous allez en apprendre plus sur les alchimistes, et que vous allez rencontrer des créatures encore plus terrifiantes.

Merci beaucoup d’avoir répondu à cette interview !

Some People Are Dangerous

Bonjour CJ, bienvenue sur La Voix du Livre pour l’interview sur The Secret Fire ! Mon binôme blogueur Matt a interviewé Carina (nous échangeons nos auteurs locaux) !

www.darrenbrade.comEst-ce que tu peux nous dévoiler quelque chose à propos de toi ?

Je suis une ancienne journaliste qui travaillait sur des meurtres et aujourd’hui j’écris des romans !

Est-ce que The Secret Fire est le premier roman que tu as écrit à quatre mains ?

Oui, j’ai écrit seule tous mes autres romans.

Comment c’était de travailler avec Carina ? Quels étaient les plus gros challenges ? Et quel a été le meilleur moment de cette expérience littéraire ?

C’était vraiment génial ! On se motivait mutuellement. Quand on a commencé à travailler sur The Secret Fire, on l’appelait « Le livre aux deux cerveaux ». On a décidé qu’il serait deux fois mieux que n’importe quel livre qu’on a écrits chacune de notre côté.
Ce qui a été le plus compliqué a été de décider comment nous allions procéder. Est-ce que nous devrions Skyper tous les jours ? Est-ce que nous devrions partager toutes nos idées avant de les écrire ? Mais finalement nous avons mis en place un système de chapitres alternés, et ça s’est bien mis en place.

Est-ce que vous aviez prévu ensemble la chronologie de l’histoire pour être sures que vos personnages restent sur la bonne voie durant tout le roman ?

Non, pas au début. On écrivait simplement les chapitres comme ils venaient. Mais quand l’intrigue s’est vraiment développée, c’est devenu nécessaire d’organiser la suite. Nous avons donc décidé ensemble de ce qui allait arriver et nous avons ensuite écrit le reste de nos chapitres. Et pour le second tome, nous avons un synopsis détaillé et nous essayons plus ou moins d’y rester fidèles.

Qu’est-ce que ce travail vous a apporté, dans votre vie professionnelle mais aussi personnelle ?

Ca a supprimé la solitude du travail d’écriture. J’avais un retour immédiat sur mon travail. J’envoyais un chapitre à Carina dans la matinée et elle me répondait le plus souvent dans les heures qui suivaient. Et j’adorais lire ses chapitres, c’était comme avoir un petit cadeau chaque jour.

Est-ce que vous avez dû effectuer beaucoup de recherche sur l’alchimie ?

ENORMEMENT. J’ai lu des traductions de livres d’alchimie du XVe siècle et j’ai étudié les inventions et l’imaginaire de l’alchimie. Et le titre de notre roman est emprunté à un célèbre texte du XVIe siècle sur l’alchimie.

Pourquoi est-ce que c’était important pour vous de créer une intrigue fantastique ?

Je n’avais jamais écrit de fantasy avant et j’avais envie de voir tout ce qu’on peut faire quand les lois de la physique ne s’appliquent plus à vos personnages et que vous pouvez aller au-delà des limites. Lorsque nous écrivons de la fantasy, nous ne somment pas limités.

Est-ce que vous croyez que les alchimistes pouvaient transformer une substance en une autre ?

C’est ce que nous faisons toute le temps à notre époque. Nous transformons le fer ou le minerai en acier, le plastique en tissus.
Et le plastic vient du pétrole. Quand on assemble deux molécules, on peut créer quelque chose de complètement différent. Associe le sodium et le chlorure, tu crées du sel de table. Notre monde est plein de transformations et les alchimistes étaient juste en avance sur leur temps. Après tout, l’alchimie c’est 90% de la science et seulement 10% de magie. Et est-ce que tu ne crois pas aux 10% de magie ?

Quel est ton point de vue sur la magie ?

J’aimerais être une sorcière, est-ce que c’est trop demander ?

Si tu avais des compétences en alchimie, qu’est-ce que tu aimerais faire ?

J’aimerais faire de belles choses, rendre les gens heureux, donner à mes amis tout ce qu’ils veulent. Et aussi, agrandir ma maison.

Est-ce que tu penses que le mélange de magie et de réalisme de votre roman peut aider les lecteurs à voir les problèmes réels auxquels les jeunes adultes sont confrontés dans le monde ?

Dans le roman, Sacha meurt alors qu’il vient juste d’avoir 18 ans. Je pense qu’il est juste de dire que quand on est jeunes, les 18 ans peuvent symboliser la fin de la jeunesse et le début intimidant d’une vie d’adulte. Ce livre parle du désir de survire à 18 ans et montre les incroyables possibilités qu’apporte le futur. Ce livre montre également à quel point la science peut être géniale. Donc, je contribue à ma manière pour éduquer les jeunes ?
Est-ce que vous avez le droit de nous donner quelques indices sur le deuxième tome ?

Le tome 2 commence trois semaines avant les 18 ans de Sacha. Ils sont sur le point de découvrir qui est le Dark practitioner et pourquoi il est passé de l’alchimie à la démonologie. Le temps file mais Taylor devient plus fort.

Est-ce que tu peux nous dire quels autres auteurs français et anglais de YA tu apprécies ?

Evidemment, je recommande tous les livres de Carina Rozenfeld, en particulier Phaenix, elle est une auteure formidable !
J’adore également Cindy Van Wilder, qui est belge mais qui écrit en français. Elle a par exemple écrit Les Héritiers et La reine des neiges.

Et dans les auteurs anglais ou américains, j’adore Holly Bourne (Am I Normal Yet ?), Mel Salisbury (The Sin Eater’s Daughter) et Cassandre Clare (The Mortal Instruments) et plein d’autres encore !

All my thanks go to Tom & his girlfriend for the rapid translation of these interviews from English into French!

Longbow Girl: Interview with Linda Davies

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Hi Linda, welcome to Teen Librarian for the Eight Questions With… interview! The first question I ask all authors is: can you please introduce yourself to the audience?

Hi Matt and hi to all you lovely readers out there, so, who am I? Good question. I’m lots of different people depending on what novel I am writing (I get so into the book I do feel as if I am the main character and am living their lives!), but I suppose there’s an external consistency to who I am: I’m an Oxford University economist by training but a novelist by nature. I spent seven years working as an investment banker in London, New York and Eastern Europe, being exposed to more potential plots than was decent. Then I escaped and wrote my first book, Nest of Vipers. Longbow Girl is my twelfth book.

I’ve lived in various parts of the world.

I spent three years living in Peru and more recently eight years living in the Middle East. In 2005 my husband and I were kidnapped at sea by Iranian government forces and held hostage in Iran for two weeks before being released after high-level intervention by the British government. I wrote about that in my first non-fiction book, Hostage.

I am married and have three great children are who occasionally drive me mad but then they’d no doubt say the same about me. My family play a big part in my books. My husband reads various drafts aloud to the children and me, then they all give me their brutally honest opinion. I then slink away to try and write a better draft!

I also have two dogs, Rhodesian Ridgebacks called Boudicca and Beowulf, and a desert cat called Cutie. We live near the sea in Suffolk, where I try to swim all year round.

Longbow Girl is a thoroughly gripping tale set in the Wales of the modern era as well as the late Tudor period, how much research went into writing it?

Longbow-final-tweaks-bigger1One way and another, I’ve done a lot of research, both years ago and recently. The roots of Longbow Girl are very personal and go back to my own childhood. When I was eight years old, my father gave me a longbow for Christmas. I would shoot it for hours, perfecting my aim, practising until my hands were covered in calluses. My older brother, Kenneth, also had one. We would shoot cans off walls and also, rather terrifyingly, we’d aim for the high wires on the electricity pylons. Happily, we missed!

As a girl, I just wielded my longbow for fun, but I always used to feel different whenever I picked it up. Longbows are lethal weapons. They changed the course of history. This October sees the six hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, an ‘unwinnable’ battle, won by the Longbow against all the odds. I did a lot of research into this and also the battle of Crécy in 1346, another ‘unwinnable’ battle won by the Anglo-Welsh longbowmen.

I didn’t really need to research the locations. The setting of Longbow Girl, in the Brecon Beacons and in the Black Mountains, was close to where I grew up. When I was a girl we would regularly go on forced family marches up Pen Y Fan in all weathers. I used to grit my teeth until we got to the top, and then run all the way down to the Storey Arms with my brothers. I never thought that I would write about it, but I love that journey back in my head to the mountains of my youth. It’s my very own form of time travel! I went back several times when I was writing Longbow Girl as well, just to see it all with fresh eyes. It’s such a beautiful and atmospheric part of the world. Revisiting was a joy and an inspiration.

The historical aspect of Longbow Girl took a lot of research. I read widely about the Tudor period, both in factual books but also via fiction. Sometimes it is fiction that gives you a much more vivid portrait of a time and place. Here is a photo of some of the books I’ve either read or repeatedly delved into for my research.
Linda's books
Are you a fan on the Mabinogion and are you able to recommend any particular translations of the text?

I am a huge fan of the Mabinogion. My father had a copy of the 1989 Everyman revised edition (translated by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, one of whom signed it but with an illegible signature!) and he gave that copy to me over twenty years ago. I always had a sense even then that I would write something linked to it. Recently, my brother Roy gave me an Oxford University Press hardback Mabinogion published in 2007. It’s lovely but my late father’s copy will always be my favourite.

Linda and her longbowMuch like Merry, you grew up using a longbow, have you kept up proficiency in its use?

Absolutely I still have Huntress. If you have a look at my website: www.Lindadavies.com, you will see a video clip of me shooting arrows with Huntress. I practice every few weeks. I wish I could say I can consistently hit an empty can on a wall 50m away… but I’d be lying! I can consistently hit my standard archery target from 30m away and if I sneak a bit closer I can periodically get a bull’s-eye or what archers insist on calling the ‘gold’ at the centre of the target.

Are any parts of Longbow Girl based on actual historical events or have you just woven historical characters into a fictional setting?

Yes, they are! A particular historical fact that I discovered about six years ago acted as a catalyst to writing Longbow Girl. I learned that Henry VIII issued an edict ordering the destruction of wild Welsh ponies under a certain height in order to improve his stock of destriers, or war horses. I was outraged on their behalf! The other childhood inspiration for Longbow Girl was my own black Welsh Mountain Section B pony, Jacintha. I was horrified by the idea of her ancestors being hunted down and destroyed, just because they were small! I dreamt of being able to go back in time to rescue some of those ponies, and then I thought, what if a young girl did just that…

So I came up with the brave, strong and wonderful Merry – the fifteen-year-old heroine of Longbow Girl. She is a supreme archer, the first longbow girl in a tradition of longbow men that stretches back seven hundred years to the Battle of Crécy. She’s also a great rider. One day, while out on her pony Jacintha, Merry discovers a treasure that offers her the chance to turn back time. She travels back to the brutal kingdom of Henry V111. Fighting against battle-seasoned men, she has to wield her longbow to save her family. To save herself… and a few ponies too!

In a strange co-incidence, mirroring one of the central plot lines from Longbow Girl which I dreamed up over five years ago, I recently discovered that in 1346 the Longbowmen of Llantrisant (the village right next to where I grew up!) fought for the Black Prince at the Battle of Crécy and saved his life.

The grateful Prince granted them a piece of land to be held in perpetuity. To this day, nearly seven hundred years later, the direct descendants of those longbowmen hold that parcel of land in Llantrisant.

Here’s another personal link that goes all the way back to the Battle of Crécy. During the battle, the Black Prince claimed the emblem of the defeated Bohemian King: three ostrich feathers. This emblem has been adopted by every Prince of Wales since. I was given a ‘Royal’ ring bearing the crest with the three ostrich feathers when I was a little girl when our current Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales. My father was involved in the Investiture and gave me the ring to mark the occasion. I still wear it now! I have never taken it off.

Have you ever read The Gauntlet by Ronald Welch? I read it about 25 years ago now, Longbow Girl reminded me a bit of it as they share a slightly similar time-slip plot and it is also set in Wales.

I’ve never come across it till now. It sounds intriguing! I’ve just ordered it.

Although the main storyline was tied up there were a couple of plot threads dangling at the end – do you have any sequels planned?

There are a few dangling threads aren’t there…? And yes I would dearly love to write a couple of sequels exploring what and where Merry goes next. I’ve just started plotting a different book, also Y/A/middle grade and will write that one first.

I am also a big fan of your Djinn books and reviewed the first two back in 2009 & 2010, moving away from Longbow Girl for just a moment can you let me know when Djinn War is due out?

Thank you so much! I am delighted to hear that. War of the Djinn is currently filed away, both in my brain and on my PC. I have done some work on it and hope to reprise it one day. At the moment, the wonderful Tanabi Films is deep in the process of putting together a deal to make an animated movie of Sea Djinn and then hopefully the rest of the Djinn books after that, so watch this space!

Thank you so much for giving up your time!

Is my absolute pleasure Matt. Thank you for your interest in my books and for your support and kind words.

Eight Questions With… Esther Ehrlich

Hi Esther, welcome to the Eight Questions With… interview for Teen Librarian:

The first question I generally ask is for authors to introduce themselves to the audience- who they are, where they come from and so on, if you wouldn’t mind?

My pleasure! So, right now I’m sitting at my desk, looking into the branches of the oak trees right outside my window in Wildcat Canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live with my family. I like it here, but I miss the east coast, which is where I was born and raised. NEST takes place on Cape Cod, and I really enjoyed hanging out there in my imagination—dunes and swimming ponds and salt marsh—while I was writing the book.


Nest is your debut novel and a thoroughly enjoyable read! Can you let me know what inspired you to write it?

Hmmm…There are so many answers to that question! In a way, I feel like everything I’ve ever experienced in my life filters through me and shapes my writing. What’s true is NEST began with an image that came to me and captured my attention—two sisters dancing together in the road in a summer rainstorm while their mother, a dancer who wasn’t feeling well, watched them from the porch. I wrote that scene and the rest of the story unfolded from there.

Did you set out to write specifically for younger readers or do you write for yourself and hope that your work finds an audience?

Honestly, I wrote the book that I wanted to write, not even thinking about an audience. It was other professionals in the book world who decided what niche NEST fit into. I’m glad that younger readers and adults seem to be really enjoying the book.

What is the most rewarding part of the writing experience for you?

I love discovering who my characters are. There’s a kind of careful listening that I have to do: What hints are my characters throwing in my direction? If I pay careful attention, I find out what matters to them. Over time, I get to know them really well, and that’s so gratifying.

I also just love words—the sounds and rhythms, and, of course, meanings. I like stringing them together and creating something new. It’s deeply satisfying.

Do you read the works of other writers for children and young people? If yes, can you give some recommendations?

Let’s see. I love The Pictures of Hollis Woods. Counting by Sevens. The One and Only Ivan. Okay, for Now. As a child, The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books. Charlotte’s Web. Stuart Little. The Trumpet of the Swan. I’d strongly recommend all of these to everyone. I recently read All the Bright Places and thought it was wonderful. Without Tess is another beauty. These last two, I’d recommend for teenagers and adults.

Which books would you recommend for readers who enjoyed Nest?

All of the above!

Are you currently working on anything new, or do you have any new books planned?

Stay tuned…

You are based in USA so visiting schools and reading groups in the UK may be a bit difficult but do you ever do Skype visits to international groups that are interested in meeting you?

I haven’t done Skype visits yet, but I’d like to give it a whirl! Also, I’d be thrilled to visit the UK. I’ve never been “across the pond!”

Thank you so much for giving up your time to answer these questions!

Thanks for your interest in me and NEST!

NEST publishes in the UK on 2nd July (Rock The Boat, £7.99).

Follow Esther on Facebook and Twitter: @EstherEhrlich

Eight Questions With… A.J. Steiger

Hi A.J. welcome to the Eight Questions With… interview for Teen Librarian

The first question I generally ask is for authors to introduce themselves to the audience- who they are, where they come from and so on if you wouldn’t mind?

Hi, I’m A.J. Steiger, and I live in Illinois. I’m a writer and freelance transcriptionist. My work keeps me in front of the computer a lot, so I try to get out into nature sometimes to remind myself that the world is more than words and screens. Mindwalker is my first young adult novel, and it’s out now with OneWorld Publications, and also with Knopf in the U.S.

Mindwalker is your first novel, can you give us an idea of what it is about and what inspired you to write it?

Mindwalker is set in a future where people can choose to have painful memories removed. Seventeen-year-old Lain Fisher is a prodigy who’s already skilled at wiping away her patients’ traumas. A troubled classmate asks her to erase a horrific childhood experience from his mind, and while exploring his memories, she learns that he’s connected to something much bigger…something their government doesn’t want the world to discover.

I’ve always found the idea of memory modification to be a fascinating and disturbing concept. There’s a quote from Gregory Maguire that sums it up well: “Memory is a part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our hearts pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work too: it keeps us who we are.”

If you change someone’s memories, you change their identity. It’s the ultimate power over an individual. It could be used for good—to help people overcome horrors like war, abuse, and assault—but it could very easily go wrong, especially if institutions gain the power to control which facts people remember and which ones they forget.
Mindwalker is also a novel about mental illness and the social stigma that often goes along with it, which I think is a hugely important issue.

Dystopian novels seem to have an enduring popularity, especially amongst young adult readers, what do you think the reason for this is?

The world is already pretty scary. Transforming our fears into fiction gives us a sense of control and reminds us that there are things we can do about the situation we’re living in.

I think young readers especially like these books because they often involve themes of rebellion or bucking the system. When you’re young, the universe hasn’t had time to wear you down and make you cynical and complacent, so there’s still this burning fire to tackle injustice, and that’s a wonderful thing.

There’s a danger of sliding into escapism, though. If we satisfy our need for rebellion vicariously, through movies and books, it can take the edge off our hunger for real change. So I think a good dystopian ought to leave you at least a little bit nervous. Truth and justice doesn’t always win—it doesn’t happen automatically. You have to keep fighting for it.

Mindwalker has been compared favourably to The Giver by Lois Lowry – have you ever read it and do you read novels by other YA writers? If yes would you be able to recommend some authors and titles?

I first read The Giver as a teenager, and it left an impression on me. Its world seems very safe and civilized and pleasant on the surface, but once you peel back the outer layers you see the darkness underneath, and to me that makes it more interesting than a world where everything is blatantly horrible. Real horror doesn’t always advertise itself.

I’ve also read more current YA fiction like The Hunger Games and Marie Lu’s Legend series, and I enjoyed all of those. But my favourite YA novels tend to be brooding, introspective stories like The Adoration of Jenna Fox.

Did you set out to write specifically for teenagers or do you write for yourself and hope that your work finds an audience?

I think all writers have to strike a balance between writing for themselves and writing for an audience. I originally conceived of Mindwalker as a science fiction story for adults, with adult characters. But in the process of writing, I decided to make it YA, and something clicked.

What is the most rewarding part of the writing experience for you?

Revision. Apparently, many writers hate editing, but for me it’s a lot of fun. Writing the rough draft is kind of like generating the raw clay—it’s messy, lumpy and unfinished—and once you have enough of that clay, you can start shaping it and playing with it and seeing it really become what it’s supposed to be. That’s a very exciting feeling.

Of course, I also love getting feedback. Writing is fundamentally an act of communication. Without readers, the experience is incomplete.

What is coming next after Mindwalker?

I’m currently working on the sequel, Mindstormer. After that, we’ll see. I’ll probably continue to write young adult fiction, though I’d like to try branching out into different genres, like fantasy.

You are based in the US so visiting schools and reading groups in the UK may be a bit difficult but do you ever do Skype visits to international groups that are interested in meeting you?

I haven’t yet, but that could be a possibility for the future.

Thank you so much for giving up your time to answer these questions!

Mindwalker is published by Rock the Boat and is available now

Rocking the Boat at Oneworld: an Interview with Juliet Mabey

Hi Juliet welcome to Teen Librarian and thank you for giving up your time for the Q&A
I am sure that almost everyone in the library and book world already knows who you are but for those who do not would you like to introduce yourself to the audience?

My husband and I founded Oneworld almost thirty years ago to publish quality non-fiction on a broad range of subjects, always looking for ways to make big ideas accessible and interesting to a wide readership, and we now publish over 100 titles a year. Six years ago I launched a fiction list to publish beautifully written novels that showcase emotionally engaging stories, strong narratives and original literary voices, which is going from strength to strength and now makes up about a third of our output.

What spurred you on to start a YA imprint?

I had a chance conversation with a children’s publisher at a conference who mentioned that issue-driven novels are very popular in the YA market, and since many of our adult novels deal with big issues and explore the human condition in all its vagaries, like all the best fiction, we thought extending our approach into the YA market made a lot of sense. I have four children myself, so we are focusing on publishing the sort of books I would have loved them to read as teenagers!

YA publishing has been growing year on year – do you have any idea why it is so popular?

I think right now some of the best writing is popping up in YA. Publishers of YA fiction are bringing out some incredibly well written and exciting novels – they have set the bar very high – and this is clearly resonating with a wide range of readers, not only teens but also many adults. They are also putting a lot of effort into great cover designs and innovative marketing, and the YA market is particularly responsive to creative social media campaigns.

I read recently that you will also be publishing narrative non-fiction, do you have any authors lined up or will you be initially focusing on your fiction titles?

Our primary focus at the moment will be on fiction, but we have recently published an edition of Jared Diamond’s best-selling non-fiction book, The Third Chimpanzee, adapted for teenagers, which we’re very excited about. And making cutting-edge research and ideas – from science to history and global issues – interesting and accessible to a YA market is a challenge we would love to embrace, so watch this space.

The books are all so different – Mindwalker is a dystopian tale, Conversion is a modern retelling of The Crucible and written by a descendent of three of the accused women from the Salem trials (which is awesome); Nest is a contemporary drama and Minus Me is one I have just started so am not sure what exactly it is yet. How did you find these authors and why did you choose them for your first Rock the Boat titles?

They have all come to us in different ways. I met a translator who had read Minus Me in its original Norwegian and adored it (it is a beautiful story about a teenage girl who develops a heart condition and comes up with a bucket list of things every teenager should do at 13), and her enthusiasm was so infectious I immediately contacted the publisher and asked for the English-language rights, while Mindwalker came up in a chance conversation with a literary agent, and when I described what we were looking for in our YA novels, she immediately recommended Mindwalker and its sequel, Mindstormer (out in 2016). Conversion and Nest both came with passionate recommendations from American editors.

How many titles are you planning on releasing this year?

This year we are publishing 6 titles for YA and Middle Grade readers, with two novels coming out in the Autumn. The first is a fantastic fantasy novel called Illuminae, the first in a trilogy, jointly written by two bestselling YA authors, Jay Kristoff (author of the Lotus War series) and Amie Kaufman (author of the Starbound series). It’s set on a spaceship in the year 2575 in a time of deadly plague, and told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents, including emails, schematics, military files, medical reports, interviews, and more. And we are also re-publishing Richard Adams’ classic The Plague Dogs, about two dogs who escape from a science lab in the Lake District, who may have been infected by a deadly virus that could put the public in danger.

The book Minus Me by Ingelin Røssland has been translated from Norwegian – translated YA titles are still fairly rare. Do you plan on introducing more non-English authors to young readers?

We are certainly very keen to sign up the best YA writing from around the world, so we will include translated fiction whenever we find titles we think will work well for our audience. We have both a Mexican and Russian YA novel currently under consideration, and last year we published the Korean novel The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang, which was very popular with both a teen audience as well as adults. Looking further ahead, we are delighted to welcome Sarah Odedina as Publisher of Rock the Boat, whose credits include serving as Editor in Chief at Bloomsbury where she oversaw the publication of the Harry Potter series, among others, and she is planning to publish around 15 titles a year going forward, some of which will definitely be fiction in translation, as well as fiction that engages with diversity.

It would be unfair to ask you which titles are your favourites so I instead I will ask which book you would suggest readers pick up first when they discover them?

That’s an impossible question to answer – we publish what we love, so I think it will depend on where readers’ interests lie. Our list is deliberately wide-ranging, from Conversion and a group of teenage girls in the 1690s who accuse a woman of withcraft, to Mindwalker, set in the distant future, which asks interesting questions about the desirability of mind-wiping bad memories and the implications for state control. I hope readers will find each one a gem, a beautiful story, well told.

Interview with Sarah Govett Author of The Territory


Hi Sarah, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for Teen Librarian!

My obligatory first question is could you please introduce yourself to the audience?

My name’s Sarah Govett (but I guess you know that already!). My debut novel, The Territory, is out this month with Firefly Press. I was initially a lawyer, then a tutor, a mum and now a writer. Please buy my book as I really like writing and want to keep doing it!

How far in the future is The Territory set?

It’s set in 2059, but the exact date isn’t important. It’s just supposed to be enough in the future that environmental meltdown has happened, but close enough that people and their attitudes are pretty recognisable.

The global catastrophe that occurred – one of polar ice caps melting and the lower levels of land being flooded is potentially a very real threat, do you believe it is a catastrophe that can happen in our lifetimes?

I do. And it really scares me. I genuinely believe we need to take pretty drastic steps now to reduce population and carbon consumption, but I’m worried we’re collectively too selfish to do this. Humans are notoriously rubbish at prioritising long-term gain over short-term hardship.


Do you think that Britain is moving towards a police state?

There have been some worrying developments, but I think we’re a long way from a proper police state scenario. I hope, maybe naively, that us Brits value have such a strong tradition of liberty that we will stop any drastic infringements on our freedom. I don’t think, for example, that Spain’s draconian Citizen Safety Law would ever get through Parliament here.

The use of school students is a fairly common one in dystopian fiction (the biggest example being Battle Royale) but it is more realistic with them actually attending school and seeing the division between norms and the kids that have nodes implanted allowing them faster access to learning and near perfect recall. What inspired this?

I think the biggest influence has been working as a tutor these past 12 years. I’ve taught some incredibly bright and talented pupils at low performing schools, who, without additional input, have no chance of competing against their often less able peers at more spoon-feeding, exam-factory style schools. I wanted to take this unfairness and heighten it to a life or death situation.

I felt through the novel that you are not a fan of the levels of testing that students undergo today, nor the push to side-line the arts over the sciences – would you say that is accurate?

Absolutely. I have seen first hand the horrific pressure our results-obsessed education system places on students and I wanted my novel to reflect this. Teenagers work so hard to sit exams in 9 or more subjects, often to be rewarded by newspaper headlines denigrating their results and declaring this year’s exams to be ‘the easiest ever!’ The more creative students are forced to sweat their way through maths and science knowing that more weight will be placed on those results. And I think, growing up, I was as guilty as anyone of seeing maths and science as more important subjects or maybe better indicators of intelligence. I mean the stereotypically ‘brainy’ student is more associated with a lab or mathletes than poetry. I think my change in opinion has come through working closely with students who are clearly hugely intelligent but whose brains, for whatever reason, simply cannot process more abstract concepts in maths or science. And they feel terrible about it and somehow lesser. But the arts and humanities help foster an understanding of motivations and empathy, which I believe we need now more than ever to make the world a better place. When you imagine a world without stories, music and art you realise that whilst the Arts might not be necessary for human survival, they are necessary to preserve our humanity – even people with highly logical jobs like to relax at night with dramas and comedies, or perhaps even a YA book with crossover appeal.

Noa is a very unusual heroine, she comes across as flawed and human compared to many of her near perfect contemporaries on the dystopian YA bookshelf, what inspired you to create her?

I wanted a heroine who was a bit more relatable. I think that even in the most dystopian of societies people would be caught up in their own little trivial worlds, scared to act and, above all, determined to survive. The will to live is really, really strong, even if it means sacrificing others.

Will we be introduced to more of the drowned world in later stories or will we be confined to what remains of Britain?

Book two has the working title ‘Into the Wetlands,’ so there’s a clue!

Moving the spotlight onto your publishers for a moment, Firefly Press is a very new addition to the publishing market; apart from The Territory can you recommend any of the other titles they will be publishing?

They’ve got some great titles coming out. Also out this month is the mad sci-fi epic Lost on Mars by Doctor Who writer Paul Magrs (10+). In June they’re bringing out White Petals by Maria Grace – a warm and funny real-life drama set in a care home in the south Wales valleys (13+). And two great books in September – Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot by Horatio Clare, a modern day fable about a small boy determined to fight his dad’s depression (8 to 12); and The Boy Who Drew the Future by the brilliant Rhian Ivory – a YA fantasy fiction set in the past and present about two boys compelled to draw events that later come true.

Apart from what you may already have mentioned in previous questions, what inspired The Territory and what inspires you to write?

I’ve thought about writing for a long time and finally decided to have a go in snatched half hours while my baby slept. I’ve always been drawn to accessible novels about big ideas and my biggest influences are probably John Wyndham (The Crysalids is probably my all time favourite book), John Christopher (the amazing Death of Grass), Margaret Atwood (too many to name), Daniel Keyes (Flowers for Algernon – if you haven’t read it you need to get a copy, believe me), and more recently Gemma Malley (her thought provoking The Declaration). On a more personal note, my eldest girl is called Noa. My husband and I often panic about having given her such an unusual name so I wanted her to be able to read about a cool heroine called Noa to make her feel better about it all.

Apart from the sequel, is there anything else that you are working on at the moment?

I’ve written a few thousand words of a more humorous coming of age novel but I think I’ll return to this later. I want to crack on with the sequel!

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions.

Thank you!