Northern Highlight - Hiba Noor Khan
NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT
HIBA NOOR KHAN
Why did you become a writer?
I've always wanted to be a pirate, explorer, baker, oceanographer, and many more, but instead somehow ended up studying engineering and teaching Physics! I think the only solution to desperately wanting to lead multiple lives - that many writers will identify with - is to write and of course read. I've loved words, stories and books for as long as I can remember, and writing is the way I process the world around me and my responses to it.
Despite it having been a sort of lifeblood for me since childhood, dabbling in freelance journalism and dreaming about publishing a novel, somehow I never fully envisaged myself as a writer. In 2018, I was lucky enough to get a commission to write for Penguin's Extraordinary Lives series and I so enjoyed the entire process and experience, it acted as the catalyst and the push for me to seriously consider doing more of what I love. That opportunity made what had barely been a far-off dream a real life prospect, and I haven't looked back since! Again and again I'm blown away by the power of children's books, how formative they are in childhood and indeed for the wider world, and am so grateful to be part of such a hope-pumping, love-giving, kindness-inducing and important industry!
Tell us about where you live.
I actually grew up down south, but over the last ten years have lived between Manchester, Glasgow and West Yorkshire. Spending my undergraduate university years in Manchester has secured it's place in my heart for ever, I love the atmosphere and vibe of our neighbourhood in Glasgow's West End, and there's just nowhere quite like the dramatic, heather-carpeted, windswept moors and hills of Yorkshire. I consider myself fortunate to have a relatively nomadic lifestyle and get the best of many northern worlds!
Where do you write?
I write predominantly from a desk looking out of the biggest window in my home. I love looking out at the huge old trees across the road and spotting cats in the street while I work, and can't function without natural light. When travelling, though, I have to be a little more adaptable and I have on more than one occasion found an ironing board to be a fairly satisfactory table for my laptop!
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| Illustrated by Laura Chamberlain, designed by Lorna Scobie, published by Macmillan Children's Books |
What for you is the 'spirit of the North’?
I'd say friendliness, the stereotype is true! I always notice a stark difference between how willing people are to stop for a chat up north, it's almost as if there's more time in the day - perhaps subconsciously more value placed on human interaction, which is absolutely lovely. The creative scenes are welcoming, and I'd say generally there's a tangible sense of shared identity and community in terms of being northern. Also a wonderful spirit of resilience (not just in the face of frequently grim weather!). Tony Walsh's poem 'This is the Place' captures being Mancunian so well. I taught Physics in Greater Manchester and loved drawing on the amazing STEM and historical legacies of the north. I feel it's important that young people know about the places they live/grow up in beyond the school curriculum.
Has this spirit influenced your work?
I think inevitably it has and always will. The influence is difficult to quantify or put into words, but I believe every environment and interaction we have shapes us in some way, and I'd like to think that as I continue to write that I'll be able to identify and celebrate this more.
Who for you are the great northern writers?
Ted Hughes, Sunjeev Sahota, and as a child I loved reading
Frances Hodgson Burnett.
If you could be transported to anywhere in the North right now, where would it be?
The dazzling sparkling silver-sand beaches of Morar on the Scottish Argyll Coast. The crystal clear waters and rugged hills are like something out of a story. Or a misty, rugged moorland in The Lake District at sunrise! I also wish I could experience York or Edinburgh two hundred years ago.
What would you like to see from children's publishing in the North?
Less London-centric everything, of course, and more opportunities for writers based up north to connect. Children's Books North is pioneering this and I'm excited to see more fantastic work on this. Hopefully post-pandemic we can all meet somewhere beautiful!
What's your favourite children's book set in the North?
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, set in the Lake District. I still get shivers of excitement sometimes when I find myself somewhere that takes me back to childhood readings of the story (and still really want my own boat!).
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