What are you most looking forward to at the 2016 Festival?
I’m looking forward to meeting new readers and writers, and having time to share ideas and stories. I’m really excited to be exploring Dubai for the first time too. When did you realise you wanted to be a writer? I loved telling stories as a child. Sometimes I told such tall stories that I became lost in the blurred margins of imagination and reality. However, I never thought I would be allowed to be a writer because I thought writers had to have neat handwriting and needed to be good at spelling. Some forty years later, I discovered that wasn’t true. What book do you find yourself re-reading most often? The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico, illustrated by Sir Peter Scott. I loved this story even when I struggled with reading as a child. It is a story of kindness, compassion and bravery. The illustrations and words portray a vivid sense of place on the wild marshes. If you weren’t a writer, what would you be? A wildlife vet or a forensic anatomist. Failing the former two options, I would like to run a little café on a small beach in Cornwall, selling tea and cakes. And finally, we have a number of aspiring writers attending the Festival. What one piece of advice would you give them? Don’t be scared to find your own voice as a writer. Tell the story you want to tell, not the story you think others want to hear.
I’m looking forward to meeting new readers and writers, and having time to share ideas and stories. I’m really excited to be exploring Dubai for the first time too. When did you realise you wanted to be a writer? I loved telling stories as a child. Sometimes I told such tall stories that I became lost in the blurred margins of imagination and reality. However, I never thought I would be allowed to be a writer because I thought writers had to have neat handwriting and needed to be good at spelling. Some forty years later, I discovered that wasn’t true. What book do you find yourself re-reading most often? The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico, illustrated by Sir Peter Scott. I loved this story even when I struggled with reading as a child. It is a story of kindness, compassion and bravery. The illustrations and words portray a vivid sense of place on the wild marshes. If you weren’t a writer, what would you be? A wildlife vet or a forensic anatomist. Failing the former two options, I would like to run a little café on a small beach in Cornwall, selling tea and cakes. And finally, we have a number of aspiring writers attending the Festival. What one piece of advice would you give them? Don’t be scared to find your own voice as a writer. Tell the story you want to tell, not the story you think others want to hear.