Which other EAFOL 2016 participant are you most excited about? I'm hoping to meet some local authors. It's always fascinating to hear about people's experiences in different parts of the world. Q. Which book(s) are you reading now? I’ve just finished Sydney Padua's utterly marvellous book about Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and I'm thoroughly enjoying Simon Garfield's edited diaries of Jean Lucy Pratt. Q. Which literary character would you invite to dinner? And why? I am very fond of Thursday Next, the literary detective who lives in books. Q. There have been some interesting additions to the dictionary over the years. Which word would you remove? I really hate the word 'inappropriate'. Something is either right or it is wrong. 'Inappropriate' is used by weasels to bully other people according to their own prejudices. Q. Who would write/ illustrate the story of your life? Sometimes when I write a book I think it's a story about someone else, then it turns out to have been about me all along, but I never realise until much later I was very sorry, actually, to find out that Pauline Baynes, who illustrated the Narnia books, lived a long and busy life, not dying until 2008. I would have loved to have found the money from somewhere and got her to draw the children. She was a beautiful artist.