LAURENCE ANHOLT

1. Who are your favourite children's authors/illustrators?

Of course I have to put my wife, Catherine Anholt first, or I will be in trouble! I also love John Burningham's books and anything by Allan Ahlberg, Tony Ross, Arthur Robins, and Jacqueline Wilson. 

2. What are your favourite modern children's books?

There are so many brilliant books around, but I still like Tintin; and the Cat In The Hat is fantastic. For older readers, Paul Jennings or the Harry Potter Series.

3. What's your favourite place for reading?

In a bath, or a bus, or a bed,
In a shower, or a shop, or a shed,
On a plane, or a picnic in the park,
At the dawn, of the day, or the dark

On a train, or the trunk of a tree,
In a street, or the sand by the sea,
In a car, or a coach, or a chair
Sit and look at a book ANYWHERE!

3. What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

Parachuting upside down into a volcano, with a swarm of killer bees attacking my toes.

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a painter - preferably Picasso.

5. Why did you decide to write/illustrate children's books?

I started writing and drawing for my own children when my oldest daughter was born fourteen years ago, (anyway Picasso¹s job was filled).

6. If you weren't a writer/illustrator what else would you be?

A Gorillagram

7. What do you like best about being a writer/illustrator?

Nearly everything - being my own boss, playing with words and pictures, visiting schools, getting great letters from lots of different countries and I even get paid sometimes!

8. What influences your writing/illustrations?

I had some very odd jobs before I started writing and illustrating; like being a hotel-night-receptionist, an Art teacher and a carpenter, I also sold encyclopaedias and tropical fish (Really!). Every experience helps, but family life is my biggest influence and I get lots of ideas from my three children, Claire and twins, Tom and Maddy.


9. What advice would you give to aspiring writers/illustrators?

A lot of people think that authors must be super-intelligent alien beings with brains as big as the Millennium Dome; well it ain't true! Most of us are ordinary humanoids with brains like small prunes. (Some very old authors have brains like salted peanuts!) When I was at school I was not very clever
at all - my maths was sort of 2+1=6ish and my spelling was eevun wurs. BUT I was good at jokes and silly voices and I had lots of weird and wonderful ideas. So if you want to be an author, you don't need to be a boffin, just be yourself, trust your imagination and try to be confident about what you do.


10. What is your favourite place in the world?

I would have to choose two very different places. 1) Amsterdam, where I grew up which is the most exciting city in the world. 2) The beautiful countryside around Lyme Regis where I live now.

ANNE FINE

Who are your favourite children's authors?

Hilary McKay, Anthony Buckeridge, Helen Cresswell, Robin Klein, Richmal Crompton, Peter Carter

What are your favourite modern children's books?

The Exiles - Hilary McKay - 3 books and more.

The Bagthorpe Saga - eight so far!  Helen Cresswell.

Harry and the Wrinklies - Alan Temperley

The Hunted - Peter Carter.

What's your favourite place for reading?

In bed. In the bath. On trains (if no one's sniffing). In a chair by the fire.

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

I read five chapters in the operating theatre when I was recovering from having a baby.  And once in a stuck lift.

BERLIE DOHERTY

Who are your favourite children's authors?

Philip Pullman, Gillian Rubenstein, Philippa Pierce, L.M. Montgomery, Janni Howker

NEED TO CHECK THIS FORM...

What are your favourite modern children's books?

Tom's Midnight Garden, Foxspell, Day 4 Zoe, Northern Lights, Isaac Campion.

What's your favourite place for reading?

Curled up in my comfy armchair by the fire.

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

The island of Vulcano, north of Sicily.  I was lying on the beach with fun,.. smoking round me, reading 'Mire' by Caroline Pitcher.

BIOGRAPHY

Berlie Doherty was born in Liverpool and spent most of her childhood in the Wirral.  She studied Honours English at Durham University.  She was a social worker for ten months and left to start a family in Sheffield.  Ten years later, in 1978, she became a teacher and worked for schools radio, which was where her writing began.  Her first book, How Green You Are! was published in 1982 and she has been a full-time, compulsive writer of novels, stories, poems and plays since then.   Her books have been translated into seventeen languages.  Her three children, Janna, Sally and Tim are now grown-up, and she lives in a three hundred year old cottage in the Peak District, where she spends her spare time walking and day-dreaming.

December 1998

Ernest Henry

Humorist writer Ernest Henry was discovered by Bloomsbury Children's Books in 1996 and encouraged to write his special brand of quirky and engaging stories and verse.  His particular gifts are the sound, image and texture of language, all married to a great physical and sometimes dark sense of humour which children love.  Called by his growing number of fans 'the Roald Dahl of silly verse' his stories are equally bewitching and comical.

Ernest's first books of humorous verse Poems to Shout Out Loud... and some to whissssssper and Not More Poems To Shout Out Loud have been featured on BBC TV's top rated children's show Fully Booked and are now established as firm favourites.  Channel 4's The Big Breakfast used segments of the books featuring some of its guests including jeff Goldblum and Frank Bruno.  Even Kermit and Gonzo from The Muppets have been at it on BBC TV.

EMI signed Ernest to produce spoken word versions of two of his books, Poems To Shout Out Loud.... and some to whissssssper and Rub~A~Dub~Dub, Ernest's wonderfully special collection of babies verse (Bloomsbury).  His adventure storybook about two extraordinary kittens, Phil & Lill, sold 50,000 copies.

His New Improved Limericks has become Britain's biggest selling book of original poetry for children this year and is regularly featured on tv, radio, The Disney Channel and in the kid's press.  The completely off the wall audio cartoon version New Improved Limericks...Live!!! (Limerick Books) is stocked out nationally in book stores and record shops.

Ernest has featured regularly on BBC TV's "Fully Booked."   He has two columns running in Young Telegraph and Girl Talk, BBC Publications' flagship magazine for girls.  He repeated last year's success at the Birmingham Readers & Writers Festival and received rave support for his two wildly successful sell-out performances at The Edinburgh Festival last month.  He's now taking his riotously supercharged humour into theatres and venues around the country, including guest appearances at The Cheltenham Festival and the Northern Book Festival.

In addition to his tv, radio and personal appearances, Ernest's latest book for Element Childrens Books has just been released.  The New Adventures of Phil & Lill and More Adventures of Phil & Lill (Limericks Books) launch September 11, followed by the audio CD and cassette of the musical version of the stories.  Christmas as Cozy Warm, a further Phil & Lill story, comes out next year, with the musical play scheduled for production at Christmas '99.  Two more New Improved, mad-cap comedy books are launching in February, and his black comedy Bunge is due out March '99.

He is featured on the Rom Rats CD-ROM children's software guide.

GERARD BENSON

Who are your favourite children's authors?

Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, Richmal Crompton, Anne Fine, Terry Pratchett, John (I've forgotten his name - he wrote The Stinky Cheese Man and the True Sotry of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf) - SCIESZKA.  Poets: Kit Wright, Chas. Causley, me. 

What are your favourite modern children's books?

As above: the John Scieszka books - Sterne for the times.  Ted Hughes, the Iron Man.  All the books about the planet Xargle they are guides to earth behaviour - very sharp and funny.  Pongwhiffy and wife of filthy habits.

What's your favourite place for reading?

On the sofa with my back to the window.  [But I read anywhere, any corner, any chair; bus, train, garden shed, or under the duvet on my bed; in the shelters during the war; bath, toilet and many more.]

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

I used to read, up against ihs back, when my uncle Johnnie took me for rides on the back of his push bike.  I've also read a book in a working lighthouse:- O brestat Fyr.

NO PHOTO NO BIOG WOULD LIKE TO BE INVOLVED _ CHECK FORM AGAIN

GILLIAN CROSS

Who are your favourite children's authors?

Peter Dickinson, Philip Pullman, Frances Hodgson Burnett, William Mayne, Hilary Mackay, Morris Wilson, Jane Gardam

What are your favourite modern children's books?

Tulku by Peter Dickinson.

Goggle Eyes by Anne Fine.

The Katie Morag books by Mairi Hedderwick.
A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam (and lots of others)

What's your favourite place for reading?

In bed

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

Up a tree

GWEN GRANT

        Who are your favourite children's authors?

I haven't sorted this question out myself yet!  There are so many good ones!  I think I'd like suggestions as to which books to read to help me to decide once for all!

What are your favourite modern children's books?

Does 'Charlotte's Web' by E.B. White count?  Or - 'The Trees Kneel at Christmas' by Maud Hart Lovelace.  Again, there are so many.  Any suggestions for reading?

What's your favourite place for reading?

Anywhere where it's quiet.

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

In my mother's Airing cupboard when I was a little girl.  It was the only place I could get away from my brothers and sister.  It was also the only warm place and quiet place.

Some of her books.....

'PRIVATE-KEEP OUT'

'KNOCK AND WAIT'

'ONE WAY ONLY'

'LITTLE BLUE CAR'

'JONPANDA'

'BONNY STARR and the RIDDLES OF TIME'

'THE REVOLUTIONARY'S DAUGHTER'

'THE LAST CHANCE'

Biography

Gwen was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.  She has twin sons and three grandchildren. 

She left school at 15 and went to work in a shop..and from there to a factory...and from there to Night School and an office...and from there to an Open University Degree in Humanities.

She launched herself as a writer in the 1970's and since then has written many books, poems, short stories for radio, magazines and anthologies.

Her work has been translated into many languages.

Gwen in an experienced Workshop Leader and Oral story teller working with children and adults in many different places, including Prison, Detention Centres and Hospices.

Short listed for THE CARNEGIE AWARD.

Short listed for THE OTHER AWARD.

Nominated for THE CARNEGIE AWARD.

Nominated for THE LANCASHIRE CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD.

Short listed for THE GUARDIAN CHILDREN'S FICTION AWARD.

Winner of THE NOTTINGHAMSHIRE CHILDREN'S ACORN BOOK AWARD.

HAZEL TOWNSON

Who are your favourite children's authors?

Penelope Lively, Helen Cresswell, Peter Dickinson, Berlie Doherty, Elizabeth Laird, Jacqueline Wilson.

What are your favourite modern children's books?

'Jay' by Elizabeth Laird.  'Chandra' by Frances Mary Hendry. 'The Suitcase Kid', Jacqueline Wilson, 'The Nature of the Beast', Janni Howker.

What's your favourite place for reading?

At home in my reading-chair when I have the place to myself.

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

Sitting on a rock half-way up Snowdon.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Born Nelson, Lancashire.  Brought up in the lovely Pendle valley.

Educated Accrington High School; Leeds University (B.A.); Manchester Polytechnic (A.L.A.).

Begun writing career with 'Punch' magazine and was a regular contributor for many years.  An invitation from 'Punch' to write some reviews of children's books began a change of direction.

Worked for some years as Chief Assistant Librarian for part of Greater Manchester, in charge of work with Young People.  This included responsibility for libraries in 110 schools, 11 public children's libraries and 4 colleges.

First book, 'Looking for Lossie', published 1975.  Up to present date (1998) has had 55 children's books published, ranging from picture books to young teenage novels.  Specially interested in helping less willing readers.   Aims for fast-moving plots with lots of humour and excitement.

One book, 'Trouble Doubled', was shortlisted for a children's award in the north of England and 'Secrets of Celia' won the prestigious di Cento Italian Children's Book Award after being translated into 1997.

Some books ('Speckled Panic', 'Terrible Tuesday') have been televised.  Has also had stories commissioned for Granada television's 'Time for a Story', 'Tickle on the Tum' and 'Story World' programmes and contributes verse and short stories to anthologies.

Spends a great deal of time visiting schools, libraries, colleges and writers' groups to talk about children's literature and help with creative writing.

Since its inception in 1985, has chaired the panel for the annual Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award.

Relevant articles:-

    Books for Keeps, March 1990

    School Librarian 2 May 1989

    Pamphlet  - Library Operations Checklist 5

    Authorgraph in Books for Keeps March, 1992

Widowed with one son, one daughter, four grandchildren.

JOHN CUNLIFFE

Who are your favourite children's authors?

William Mayne, Beatrix Potter, Philippa Pearse, Leon Garfield, Beatrix Potter, JRR Tolkien, Walter De La Mare, Michael Rosen, Jane Gardam, Alan Garner

What are your favourite modern children's books?

Tom's Midnight Garden, Rosie's Walk, Wibbly Pig Books, Silly Verse for Kids, Mind Your Own Business, The Rattle Bag

What's your favourite place for reading?

In bed, on a dark and stormy night.

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

Sitting in the back-cabin of the good boat "Ragdoll" whilst Rosie and Jim were filming on the roof, on the River Severn.

KAYE UMANSKY

Who are your favourite children's authors?

Richmal Compton, Philip Pullman, JRR Tolkein, Pamela Brown, Kenneth Graham, Noel Streatfield, Lewis Carroll, Louisa M Alcott, Bob Wilson, AA Milne, TH White, Alan Garner, Terry Pratchett, Sue Townsend, Margaret Mahy, Richard Adams

What are your favourite modern children's books?

Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman.  Ging Gang Goolie, it's an Alian (Bob Wilson) Diggers, Truckers and Wings (Terry Pratchett)

What's your favourite place for reading?

Curled up on the sofa on a rainy day.

What's the most unusual place you've read a book in?

In a helicopter.  Anything to stop me looking down!

BIOGRAPHY

I was born in Plymouth, Devon, in 1946.  As a child, I was plump, with freckles, and was always chosen last for the netball team.  I had no brothers or sisters and spent a lot of time writing stories to amuse myself.  (We were the last in our road to get a television.)

When I left school, I came to London to train as a teacher.  I did that for years and years.  I enjoyed teaching music, drama and creative writing, but was worse than the children at maths!  I met my husband (Mo) twenty four years ago and we formed a soul band and played cheerfully but badly in a variety of London pubs, also for years and years.  We never became rich and famous, but we had a lot of fun.  I started writing children's books just before I had my daughter, Ella, who is eleven.  I live in North London with Mo, Ella and two cats called Charlie and Alfie.

I like eating cheese and chocolate, but try and stop myself.  My worst food is the skin on rice pudding and the yucky bits of animals (tripe, kidneys, parson's nose, pigs' trotters, baboon's bum, etc.)  My hobbies are reading and listening to music.   My favourite books as a child were the William books, The Hobbit and The Swish Of The Curtain by Pamela Brown - sadly now out of print.  My favourite T.V. programme is Red Dwarf.  My special virtue is probably modesty, but I have so many it's hard to say, ha ha.  My motto is: Never Refuse Lunch.  I still can't play netball, and what's more, I don't car