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...

SPECIAL GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT Tilda Johnson,  The Golden Egg Academy North When was the  Golden   Egg  Academy  North  set up and why?  When I moved to Manchester the Golden Egg Academy had been in business for around five years, and I was well aware of it and some of the writers who had reached publication after studying with Golden Egg. But at that point (in 2017) all workshops and editorials took place in London or the SW (at Imogen's kitchen table initially!), and 'Eggs' from further away had to organise travel and sometimes accommodation. Imogen was really keen to set up a Northern hub, so once we got in touch Golden Egg North came about fairly swiftly!  There was a really positive response when I set up the first regional branch, in Manchester, and we've since opened further branches for Wales & the SW, Brighton and Scotland. Writing and developing a novel is a hugely personal experience, so many writers (and editors!) are keen t...

  NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT Joan Lennon Why did you become a writer?    I think it was inevitable. I love words – love stories – love everything to do with words and stories, like movies and poetry and eavesdropping and people watching and wondering why?  Making my own stories out of all that was just the logical next step, which started when I was about 8. It took me another 40 or so years before I became a writer full time, but it was always on the back burner. Tell us about where you live.    I live in the top two floors of a Victorian house, in a village overlooking the River Tay, in the flamboyantly-named Kingdom of Fife. Where do you write?    I have a desk in my bedroom in the eaves. And a flat roof I can climb out onto. What for you is the ‘spirit of the North’?    I’m from Canada, though I’ve lived most of my adult life in Scotland, so I have two countries’ worth of ‘North’ in me. There are similarities between them, not...

Northern Highlight Photographer Maggie Barclay Joseph Lamb 1. Why did you become a writer/illustrator? I’ve written ever since I was VERY young! I don't know if I ‘became’ a writer, or just wrote because I wanted to. I like reading other people’s stories and wanted to write some of my own.     2. Tell us about where you live. I live in Dundee, Scotland. In a ‘Regenerated’ “Village” where I used to live as a child when it was a sprawling housing scheme.   3. Where do you work? As an author, I write wherever I can, but I DO get an awful lot of work done in the “Olympia” cafe at Dundee Leisure Centre. 4. What for you is the 'spirit of the Scotland’? I see the spirit of the North being quite Nordic in places, which isn’t too unusual given our ancient history. I see us as an honourable, but proud people. And mess with one of us, and you mess with us all! 5. Has this spirit influenced your work? Without a doubt. I do tend to find I have...

 NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT     Lucy Fleming   Why did you become an illustrator? When I was at school I became enthralled by the idea of making books. I loved reading and coming up with ideas of my own, and I wondered what it would be like to be an author. People could read your words and nobody need ever necessarily know what you looked like! Readers could love your work rather than your clothes, weight or what you looked like - all the things a teenager worries about would be immaterial. What a wonderful thing to do. What joy you could bring to others. That all changed when I found a new way of creating characters and telling stories – through drawing! I became obsessed with drawing and making art, but I always came back to the storytelling as well. Inevitably, illustration felt like a natural marrying of my love for art and books. Tell us about where you live. I live in Stalybridge in Greater Manchester near moorlands and the Peak District.  I've lived in a few area...

 SPECIAL GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT Mairi Kidd, Seven Stories - The National Centre for Children's Books Perhaps you could start by giving us a potted history of Seven Stories.  When did you start up? Seven Stories was founded as a charity in 1996 by Elizabeth Hammill OBE and Mary Briggs OBE. They recognised that Britain needed an institution whose mission was to collect, champion and celebrate its children's literature. They believed that it should be founded in a place where it could make a real difference to the children and families living nearby, knowing that early experience of books and stories is vital to childhood development and raising aspiration. In the 1990s the original manuscripts and illustrations of some of Britain's influential authors were being sold to overseas collectors and institutions. There was nowhere in Britain that saw its role as protector of our literary heritage for children. Mary and Elizabeth set out, with the help of many authors, illustr...

    NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT Photographer Susan Singfield Philip Caveney 1. Why did you become a writer? Because it gave me the opportunity to shape the world the way I wanted it to be. That rarely happens in real life! 2. Where do you live? I live in the fabulous city of Edinburgh. It’s home to a castle, an extinct volcano and it’s only a short trip to the sea.  3. Where do you work? Usually in the National Library of Scotland in their fabulous reading rooms. All you need to get in there is a library card! 4. What for you is the spirit of Scotland. Scotland is one of the most diverse places on the planet - it’s also one of the friendliest! As well as being home to some fabulous cities it has some of the most beautiful locations you could ever hope to visit. I’ve only recently started to visit some of them. 5. Has this spirit influenced your work? Yes! Several of my books are set in Scotland, many of them in E...