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Berlie Doherty
Berlie Doherty is one of the UK’s favourite children’s authors. She has been writing for over twenty years and is published in more than twenty languages. She is a prolific writer of novels, storybooks, picture books, and plays. Berlie lives in Derbyshire
Photo © Hamish Hamilton
Q and A with Berlie Doherty
Q Which is your favourite book, of the ones you’ve written?
A
It’s really hard to say. It’s like asking me which of my children I
like the best! I have different memories of writing each one. I think
Requiem is the one that pleased me the most, and of the children's
books, Spellhorn gave the most pleasure to write because I got to know
four children from the school for the blind while I was writing it
(it's about a blind girl and a unicorn). Street Child led me to a lot
of research, which I really enjoyed doing. But Daughter of the Sea is
the one I always wanted to write.
Q Where do you get your ideas from?
A
Everywhere. Where do you get your dreams from? I think I can remember
the starting-point for every single book, and they’re all different.
Q Which is your most popular book?
A Dear Nobody round the world, but in England it’s Street Child, with Fairy Tales second!
Q How long have you been writing books for?
A My first book, How Green You Are!, was published in January 1982. I’ve been a full-time writer since 1983.
Q How many languages have your books been translated into?
A Twenty-one. Dear Nobody has the most translations.
Q Do you do other jobs as well?
A No! I don't have time! As well as writing books I write plays for stage, radio and television, so I'm pretty busy!
Q Do you enjoy writing books?
A Yes, I love it. But I hate the time when I can't think of anything to write about.
Q Do you have a special place where you write your books?
A
Yes. I live next to a farm and my special place is a little barn which
looks out across fields of sheep to the Pennines. I call this my
'writing room', but sometimes I just work sitting in a comfortable
chair by a big log fire, or perched on a stone by the river. It depends
on my mood. I write longhand first, and then I put it on to a computer.
Q Where were you born?
A Knotty Ash, in Liverpool.
Q Why do you write?
A
As a child I was always writing, and knew that I wanted to be a writer.
I was encouraged by my father, who used to type up my poems and stories
and send them to the local paper, the Liverpool Echo. Before long he
taught me to type for myself! I think writing was a compulsion and
still is—whatever new experience I have I feel a need to write it down,
and my writing will include the physical description of the place where
it happened, the emotions I felt, the people I met, even the
conversations I had. Other people take photographs or paint pictures,
but I need to write everything down.
Q Where do you start?
A
Sometimes I start with an image, like a curled up stone that looks like
a snake (The Snake-Stone) and that picture won't go out of my head for
months until I've found a way of releasing it. Sometimes it will be a
situation—a young couple forced to think about their futures, together
or apart (Dear Nobody) or a character, a destitute child coping on his
own (Street Child). With all of them the story is the last thing to
come, but the germ of the idea floats around until I know it won't go
away and I have to write about it. Sometimes I despair halfway through
and think there's no way of bringing the story out, but even so I can't
leave it alone and it won't leave me alone until the book is written.
Q Do you have any children? Pets?
A
Janna, Tim and Sally. They're all grown up now. I have a black cat
called Midnight. He talks all the time, and sometimes he sits on my
knee when I’m trying to write.
Q How do you pick the names for the people in your books?
A Sometimes the characters are called after friends and relations, but often I change the name as the character develops.
Q How did you feel when you won the Carnegie medal for the first time?
A Fantastic. It was the greatest surprise of my life! It gave me the confidence I needed to carry on writing.
Q Could you give me some tips as my SATS are coming up. What advice would you give to people who want to become writers?
A
Try lots of different things—poetry, stories and plays. Try to write
something every day, even if it's a diary. Try to describe a place, or
a person, or an event every week. And never imagine for a moment that
it's going to be easy!
Q When did you start writing poetry? And how do you feel when you write your poems? (Emily Smithson)
A
When I was about 8. They were published on the children’s page of the
Hoylake News and Advertiser and the Liverpool Echo. Unfortunately, when
I was 14 I was told I was too old to be on the children’s page, so I
retired from writing for a few years! And when I write poems I feel a
bit sad and a bit excited.
Q Would you recommend any of your books for a ten to twelve year old boy, because I love reading. (David Walker)
A Street Child, Children of Winter, Tough Luck, The Sailing-Ship Tree and, for the older boys, The Snake-stone.
Q Why did you decide to become an author? (Jade)
A
I always knew I wanted to be a writer. I wrote a lot when I was a
child, and some of it was published (see Emily’s question above). And
then, one day when I was grown up I wrote a story (my first for many
years) and was told I should try to sell it. I did, and have been an
author ever since. But why do I do it? Because I love writing more than
anything else, I suppose!
Q Do you like using similes? (Evie)
A
Well, yes I do, Evie. When I can visualise something in my head I want
the reader to be able to see it too, so I try to think of ways of
bringing my mind-picture to life.
Q How long do you spend writing your book? (Jonathan Stapleton)
A
Requiem took me ten years to write! I also wrote six books for children
and several plays at the same time. Children of Winter took me about
two weeks—the story just fell out of my head on to the paper! But
usually, a children’s novel takes about twelve months, a picture book
about a day. But that doesn’t take account of the years spent thinking.
Featured Books, with extracts by Berlie Doherty
Berlie Doherty
Lyrically told this is a wonderful collection of the best-loved stories from the Old Testament including the fight between brothers Cain and Abel, how Noah saved the animals by building an Ark when the floods came and the epic fight...
Featured in: 7+ readers | 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 03/09/2009
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Berlie Doherty
An eye-opening book, Abela is the touching and profound story of two girls who apparently have nothing in common. The two girls tell their own stories. Abela, growing up in Tanzania, is surrounded by suffering. Her father has already died...
Featured in: 9+ readers | Book Awards
Format: Paperback - Released: 05/06/2008
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Berlie Doherty
The lives of three generations of a Sheffield family are cleverly interwoven in this Carnegie Prize winning novel. Eighteen year old Jess is about to leave home for the first time and, with the family gathered, she hears the lives...
Featured in: 9+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/04/2007
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Berlie Doherty
This book will capture your imagination right from the beginning as you go back in time – you’re sure to feel right there with them throughout all their time-travel experiences. By a double Carnegie Medal winning author (I think only...
Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/04/2007
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Berlie Doherty
Shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. What the judges said: It employs sumptuous colour, and layers of exquisite decorative detail to really draw you into the story. You can feel the presence of the ghost; there is a...
Featured in: 5+ readers | 7+ readers | Book Awards
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/10/2006
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Berlie Doherty
Berlie Doherty with her unique style manages to bring classic Fairy Tales such as Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty to life once more in this truly gorgeous picture book. Inside are some surreal, elegant and always exquisite illustrations from...
Featured in: 5+ readers | 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/09/2002
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