'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Saturday 24 May 2014

12 Curly Questions with illustrator Liz Pichon

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I went to the same school as Sir Bradley Wiggins (Olympic champion cyclist and Tour De France winner) St Augustines Secondary school. I only found that out last year myself.

2. What is your nickname? 

I used to get called PEA – shooter at school. But I wasn’t keen on that name.

3. What is your greatest fear?
Anything bad happening to my family.

4. Describe your writing style in ten words. 

I try to be conversational and write about funny stuff.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Lucky
Positive
Visual
Funny
Quirky
 
6. What book character would you be, and why?
I quite fancy being Mary Poppins. Imagine tidying up with a click of your fingers, jumping through pictures and owning that BAG! Who doesn’t want a bag that can hold everything like magic.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
I go the FUTURE. Maybe 100 years in the future. Such a lot has changed in a short time I would love to see what else we would be doing.

8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
Well done! (hopefully).

9. Who is your greatest influence?
A visit by Quentin Blake to my art college was very inspiring.  He was so funny and charming and it was the first time I thought that illustrating children’s books might be something I could do.

10. What/who made you start writing?
I wanted to illustrate funny stories and no one was giving them to me. So I thought I’d have a go at writing a picture book myself  and then illustrate it as well. My agent got a couple of publishers interested straight away. So I kept on going!

11. What is your favourite word and why?
PESKY. It’s nice to say – and it reminds me of cartoons.

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 
BLIMEY I have no idea? Can I have a book with PLAIN pages inside? Then I could write
and draw a story myself and keep going.


Liz Pichon is a best-selling author and illustrator from the UK. Trained as a graphic designer, she has written and illustrated numerous picture books and is also the author of the popular Tom Gates series of junior fiction novels. The latest Tom Gates book, A Tiny Bit Lucky, was published by Scholastic in April 2014. You can find out more about Liz and her work at her website and blog and you can keep up with the latest Tom Gates news at the Tom Gates Brilliant World blog.

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