Getting through a block of chocolate without the family noticing.
2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
Boy Swallows Universe was one of my favourite reads this year, so I have to say drug baron and businessman Tytus Broz aka Lord of the Limbs (he makes artificial limbs for amputees). His penchant for cutting off his adversary’s body parts ratchets up the tension and his presence adds another menacing player to the book’s brilliant cast of eccentric characters.
3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
Yotam Ottolenghi — for help with the menu (plus he put my crème caramel in his last cookbook, Sweet, so I owe him a dessert). Maya Angelou — fierce, funny, brilliant. I’d just shut up and listen. Esther Perel — She could get anyone to talk. Lisa Taddeo — for the stories. My dad. I know practically everything about him, after writing his memoir, but I still have so many questions.
4. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
Roal Dahl’s Lickable Wallpaper.
5. What are five words that describe your writing process?
Intense, quiet, passionate, curious, dedicated.
6. Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?
Inspiring, thoughtful, powerful, sensitive, stirring.
7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
My dog sprawled on his bed, a large window looking onto a garden, chocolate, flowers and a candle.
8. Grab the nearest book, open it to page 22 and look for the second word in the first sentence. Now, write a line that starts with that word. (Please include the name of the book!)
Extra maple syrup on the pancakes, please. Girl in Pieces, by Kathleen Glasgow
9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask?
Enid Blyton. She’s written 762 books, so the obvious question is ‘When do you sleep’?
10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'?
Pass… both would be torture. As soon as I finish writing a book, I get antsy to start on another and before I’ve even finished reading a book I’ve bought the next one.
Suzy Zail has worked as a litigation lawyer, specialising in Family Law, but now writes full time. Among other titles, she has written her father’s story, The Tattooed Flower, about his life as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Her first novel for young adults, The Wrong Boy, was short-listed for the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards, the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, the WAYRBA, USBBY and YABBA awards. Her second novel with Black Dog Books, Alexander Altmann A10567, was a Notable Book at the CBCA Awards. She lives in Melbourne and has three children. For more information, see www.suzyzail.com.au.
