Who or what always puts a smile on your face?
This is embarrassing. It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer! I became hooked on my last day at university and I’ve been a Buffy fan ever since. It’s pure escapism: silly and stylish – with witty, inventive dialogue. I rely on Buffy to cheer me up whenever I’m worried or sad.
Which author do you most admire?
A close call. Probably Susan Cooper or David Almond. Susan Cooper, because her sequence of books – The Dark Is Rising – captivated my imagination one summer when I was growing up in Canada; and David Almond, because he manages to create such magical, believable stories that seem so effortless and yet carry all the weight in the world.
What's your earliest memory?
A gigantic chest in the middle of a sunlit room. The ‘chest’ was probably an ordinary cardboard box – although it seemed impossibly large to me at the time (I was three) – and we were just about to move from England to Canada.
What's your greatest fear?
Cockroaches. They give me the creeps. They’re supposed to be perfectly harmless, I know, but I can’t stand them. I run away whenever I see one coming (luckily, this is not very often).
What's your favourite book/word?
This is hard. The Dark Is Rising (by Susan Cooper) was my favourite book when I was growing up, but The Subtle Knife (by Philip Pullman) inspired me to start writing much more recently: it reminded me of why I care so much about books and just how exciting children’s literature can be. A darker, more disquieting book, which I love, is What The Birds See by Sonya Hartnett.
Have you ever had any other jobs apart from writing?
Yes. I have dusted books, lectured on books, catalogued mouldy books, written thousands of footnotes for an academic book; but now I am doing what I love most: writing them!
What are you proudest of?
My characters, Duck and Blake. They kept me company for many years while I was writing Endymion Spring. I’m proud of the way they work together to overcome the obstacles they face in the book – and I’m also proud of Endymion for travelling so far on his own.
Where do you write?
I wrote Endymion Spring while living out of a suitcase in a variety of places: an empty flat in Berlin, a haunted house in Surrey, and a little wooden hut at the bottom of someone’s garden in Oxford. Most of my ideas come to me while I’m walking in the countryside and so I’d like to live and write – somewhere within easy reach of the sea, with lots of walks nearby.
Where's your favourite city?
Chicago. I stood on the bridge dividing the city for just a few minutes several years ago and fell in love with the comic book-like architecture. I prefer the countryside, however. My favourite spot in the whole world is a dark cave beneath a massive cliff at the southernmost point of Iceland, where I saw hundreds of puffins flying out to sea. If I could live anywhere, though, it would be on the north side of the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland.
One wish; what would it be?
To turn back the clock, to believe in myself more, and to worry less about the future.
