Interview with Hilary McKay

What books were your favorites as a child?

All the classics, L M Montgomery (loved Emily of New Moon). Ursula Le Guin, Tolkien, Joan Aiken, Rosemary Sutcliff, Elizabeth Goudge, Eleanor Estes, Nesbit, Kipling, Blyton, Arthur Ransome, John Masefield, all of those plus many more. As much Natural History as I could get my hands on.

Are there any that you still go back to as an adult?

I go back to them all.

I’ve heard that Forever Rose will be the last of the Casson books. True?

Yes, yes! Hurray! Hang out flags, light rockets, open a bottle of something that fizzes, it IS the last.

In explanation as to why I am stopping:

I am a great believer in: Stop While You Are Ahead (First rule of child rearing): If you love them let them go.

How do you go about naming your characters?

I collect interesting names. For instance, if I’m in the back of a cab, and I notice that the driver has an unusual name, I’ll jot it down in my notebook. (Just the other day, I was driven across town by a cabbie named Bellatrix. She was a very pleasant lady with the ideal name for a villain. I can already see the character in my head. She’d wear extra-long Lee Press-On Nails and raise chinchillas.)

What advice do you have for young writers?

My best advice would be to read a lot. I love reading. And also listen to people telling stories, that’s where you get ideas. Read and listen, that would be my advice.

Hilary McKay

Hilary McKay lives in Derbyshire with her husband and two children. She is a highly-acclaimed author and has won many awards.

By Hilary McKay

Awards

Hilary has won the Guardian prize for The Exiles, the Nestle Smarties prize for The Exiles at Home, and more recently the Whitbread Award for Saffy’s Angel in 2002.