Northern Highlight - Anne Fine

 

NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT

Anne Fine 

Where do you live, and how would you sum up the place in three words? 

Barnard Castle.  Old fashioned, friendly, rural.

What is special to you about creating children's books, and what is your favourite part of the process? 

I think most of us know from our own childhoods that young readers are the most committed. They never lay a book aside, saying, "No time to read any more today." I have two favourite parts of the process. The first is when something odd shifts in your brain and you think, "Yes, I have a book here, and I think I know how to approach it." And the second is when you sit down to start. For me, that's like dropping under water in an indoor swimming pool. All the noise around you cuts out. It's just you and your work together.

.Tell us about your most recent book.

It's called Aftershocks and it's for my core audience, middle to older readers. I'm usually dead realistic, but this one's a bit off-beat in that it's part ghost story as well as my usual stomping ground, social and family observation. And it's a deal less domestic than usual, taking place in a strange setting amongst an isolated and other-worldly people. I've never dared to tackle the topic of grief before. I really, really hope I've got it right.

                                                                                                Old Barn Books, 10th Feb 2022

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

     Anywhere between Embleton Bay and Seahouses. I've had so many wonderful days along the coast there. The dog adores it. And it's so calming. Endlessly crashing waves remind you of how small and insignificant you are, and somehow that makes your worries seem even more so. I think that coastal waters restore a sense of proportion that it is horribly easy to lose in day to day living.

What literary/kid lit events have you attended  recently (in the North/Scotland)?

I helped judge the huge Climate Tales competition during Cop 26, run by BBC Scotland, which entailed a couple of trips to Glasgow. Before that came a visit to a local primary school, and a trip for Hull Libraries for their Big Malarkey Festival. It's held in a fabulous old Victorian park in the middle of the city. (It seemed so very strange to be back on trains again.)

  Name your favourite children's book organisations in the North/Scotland.

I'm one of those hundred of thousands, if not millions, of people who wouldn't have stood the slightest chance of ending up doing what I do, and what I love so much, without the library services I've used all over England and Scotland, right back from when I was a small child. All superbly helpful and welcoming.  But I'll give a special shout out to Durham Library Services. They're so accommodating. My grandchildren appeared from America for three wet weeks, and Barnard Castle library got them into the summer reading challenge (which saved our lives). And I get sent a huge number of brand new, lovely children's books. They always find a way to slide them into the system. Brilliant!

What advice would you give to aspiring writers in the North/Scotland? 

The same as I would give to anyone. Don't assume that creative writing courses are right for you. Some people thrive at them. It keeps them writing and they find the feedback helpful. They cause other people to shrivel. If you're the sort who hated 'discussing your ideas' at school, and hid your work, and didn't care  for 'sharing', then  spend the money instead on a trunk with a good padlock. I never show my work to anyone until I think it's finished. Only then am I in the market for anybody's else's opinion or advice.

What would you like to see from children's publishing in the North/Scotland? 

I obviously want Barrington Stoke, in Edinburgh, to keep on doing what they do so well. I love working with them. But I'm also glad to see some of the publishers finally setting up Northern bases - HarperCollins, Hachette, Penguin Random House. I'm hoping this means strong regional voices will be more readily recognised, and the tastes and interests of those outside London catered for in a more consistent and generous way.

Shades of Scarlet, David Fickling Books 2021

Who for you are the great Northern/Scottish children's writers/illustrators?

I'm going to start with two whose deaths were a sad loss. The Newcastle writer, Eva Ibbotson, whose enchanting Journey to the River Sea celebrated its anniversary last year, every bit as fresh and original as when it was awarded the Smarties Gold Medal twenty years ago. And Alison Prince, a friend from the Isle of Arran, whose ghost stories for children I think pretty well unsurpassed. (Start with The Ghost Within.)

       Another colleague from when I lived in Edinburgh was Debi Gliori. Not only is she a superb illustrator, but she's done so much to support reading, including creating The Reading Bug, a character used to great effect by Scottish Book Trust.

 

What's next on your TBR pile by a Northern/Scottish creative? 

I am a tremendous Andrew O'Hagan addict. I've never read anything of his - novels, journalism, essays, reviews – I haven't admired. So his novel Mayflies is sitting waiting, along with Jenn Ashworth's most recent book, Ghosted. I've been a fan of hers since she began.