Northern Highlights - Liz Flanagan

NORTHERN HIGHLIGHTS

Copyright Sarah Mason Photography

LIZ FLANAGAN

1.    Why did you become a writer/illustrator?

I firmly credit Hebden Bridge library with turning me into a reader – I used to trot down there most weeks with my little cardboard library card, and I read my way along the children’s and young adult shelves. And I’m a writer because I’m a reader, I think, because I hope to give child readers the same experience I valued so much. So if I can write northern stories now, there’s a lovely circular process going on. 

Illustration by Angelo Rinaldo, design by Alison Gadsby. Published by David Fickling Books

2.    Tell us about where you live.

I live in Hebden Bridge, where I grew up. It’s a small West Yorkshire market town that is better known than many similar-sized places because of its specific demographic – lots of writers, artists, musicians and others settled here around the time my parents did, in the 70s. It’s changed a lot in my lifetime, but it is still known as being quirky and artistic. And it’s the most beautiful place I know, with its hills and rivers and woods – but I’m thoroughly biased. 

3.    Where do you write/illustrate? 

I mostly write at home, or sometimes on a train or in a café, if I’m working away from home. I have a desk in my bedroom - sometimes the cat joins me there. I write first in my notebook and then type it up soon after, as part of my first drafting process. 

4.    What for you is the 'spirit of the North’?

Ooh, very interesting question. I’m intrigued to see what others say. For me it’s something about connection to place and community and family. There’s also a northern spirit of grit, determination and resilience I think. And humour!

5.    Has this spirit influenced your work?

It definitely influenced my debut novel Eden Summer, which is set in Hebden Bridge and couldn’t have been about anywhere else. The plot is structured around the landscape as my protagonist Jess runs from place to place looking for her missing best friend. And there are definitely themes of resilience there. Less of the humour though! 

Artwork by Tree Abraham. Published by David Fickling Books.

6.    Who for you are the great northern writers?

Looking back: David Almond, Susan Price, Robert Swindells, Robert Westall. But recently there’s a wonderful range of contemporary children’s books by writers who either grew up here or who are now living in the north including: Melvin Burgess, Juno Dawson, Sophie Anderson, Ross Welford, Chloe Daykin, Tom Palmer, Gabrielle Kent, Phil Earle, Danielle Jawando, Anna Mainwaring, Pete Kalu, Martyn Bedford, Tariq Mehmood, Mark Illis, and many more. 

7.    If you could be transported to anywhere in the North right now, where would it be? 

As I’m typing this, we are in quarantine, so I’d settle for walking three miles up the valley to my favourite swimming place, high up where the woods end and the moors begin. Followed by a day trip to Manchester.

8.    What would you like to see from children's publishing in the North?

I’d like to see more northern children’s writers being published, and for those voices to show the diversity and richness of the north. I’d like to see more novels set in the north, showing a wider range of northern experience. I’d love to see more schemes to help young northerners access careers in publishing and related areas, so that the agents and editors of tomorrow understand, seek out and publish more northern voices. 

9.    What's your favourite children's book set in the North?

I have been known to argue that if Jane Eyre were to be published today, it would be YA, so I’m sticking with that! (Plus then I don’t offend any of my wonderful northern writer friends by choosing someone else’s work!)

Illustration by Angelo Rinaldo, design by Alison Gadsby. Published by David Fickling Books

You can find Liz on Twitter @lizziebooks and on Instagram lizziebooks17