Award-winning Ann Pilling has won rave reviews for her original and effective fiction for young people. She has often chosen to tackle tough themes, ranging from one-parent families in HENRY'S LEG to the IRA in STAN. In doing so, Pilling never succumbs to being worthy or depressing, preferring to provide an injection of hope and a positive ending.
THE BASICS
Born: Warrington, Cheshire, October 17th 1944
Jobs: English Teacher until 1972
Lives: Oxford
First Book: Black Harvest, 1983
THE BOOKS
"I knew from the beginning that books and words were a kind of life-blood," says Ann Pilling. She describes her family home as "groaning with books" and remembers "my mother sat by the fire and read us poems... Goblin Market, The Forsaken Merman, The Lady of Shalott. The miracle of words quite carried me away. I was writing my own stories and poems by the time I was eight."
Ann read English at King's College, London. She had already written a short novel, The Small Corner, about her experience teaching in a primary school. She wrote another novel, The Love Child, in 1972. Ann regards both these novels, along with her M.Phil thesis on C.S.Lewis as "very good preparation for the writer's life", both in terms of learning "to organise a lot of unwieldy material" and becoming used to working alone.
It was Dorothy Edwards, author of the popular My Naughty Little Sister series, who encouraged Ann to write for children and advised her "don't jump on any bandwagon... be true to yourself."
Ann took this advice to heart. Her debut novel, The Year of the Worm, an established classic, set out Ann's stall with a central character very different from the conventional heroes of contemporary fiction. This continued in Henry's Leg, for which
Ann won the Guardian Fiction Award, and The Big Pink. As Robert Protherough in Twentieth Century Children's Writers observes, "these central characters in Pillings stories are placed in odd or embarrassing situations... however, each of the novels moves towards a conventional happy ending."
This latter quality may derive from Ann's commitment to Christianity. At the age of 12, Ann started going to church, alone in an unbelieving family. Later, she thought seriously about becoming a priest, in the days when this was not possible for a woman. Ann's Christianity strongly influences her writing, chiefly in her belief in hope. "If a child is deprived of hope, and of what D H Lawrence called 'the wonder of life' then he is deprived of everything that makes living worthwhile."
WHAT SHE SAYS...
"Although when writing for children one's scope is limited in some ways, it is a mistake ever to talk down to them, or to think they deserve less than the best."
"Children need something to cut their teeth on. Too much is offered that is bland, not stylistically demanding... I don't understand how people can say they write 'for themselves'... I go regularly into schools for feedback."
"My books may deal with grim events, but they are never hopeless and always have positive endings."
On Henry's Leg:
"Henry's character was loosely based on my older son... a restless energy never quite focused on a tangible goal. Also from life came the habit of collecting useless junk. There was a time when we had dozens of egg boxes stored in our garden shed and one of my son's most prized possessions was a squashed left-hand bicycle pedal. It occurred to me that the junk collecting habit offered both humorous and dramatic possibilities, the point being - where does it all lead? Seemingly nowhere. Henry does not want to do anything with his junk, he just 'wants' it."
"I care a lot about words, about the beauty and the mystery of them and I don't follow what's 'in' and what's 'out' in children's writing. Love is never out of fashion, nor courage, nor truthfulness, nor hope. That's why I love Charlotte's Web. Look at any book that has endured and you will find these qualities."
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ANN PILLING...
"Ann Pilling is an original and effective writer of stories for young people, ranging from infants to adolescents... (her) books encourage readers to reassess judgements about people and situations; her recurrent theme explores how young people can learn to come to terms with themselves and others."
Twentieth Century Children's Writers
"A moving teenage novel."
Parentwise on Mother's Daily Scream
"A bold novel, both in language and emotions... many children will be able to identify with the characters... thought-provoking."
Christian Herald on Mother's Daily Scream
"Ann Pilling manages sensitively to examine a variety of themes, such as religion, responsibility and love, in a mature and thoughtful way which fully engages the reader's emotions."
Bookquest on Our Kid
"Pilling gives her readers a fully credible slice of life setting with characters we believe in."
Essex Review on Our Kid
"(Ann Pilling) writes in a contemporary style which is authentic and devoid of condescension."
Books For Keeps on Vote for Baz
"A great book to have in school."
School Librarian on Vote for Baz
"A complex and fast-moving story."
TES on Vote for Baz
"A funny, touching novel."
The Guardian on The Year of the Worm
“History does not come more powerful than this”
The Times on Black Harvest
“A beautiful, quiet book about faith, miracles and the kindness of strangers”
The Guardian on Amber’s Secret
AWARDS
Guardian Fiction Award 1986 for Henry's Leg
Carnegie Nominations for Star and On the Lion’s Side
