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

Tuesday 4 August 2020

12 Curly Questions with author/illustrator Jules Faber


1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I’m really quite good at MarioKart

2. What is your nickname?
I don’t have one, but I always wanted a cool one as a kid.

3. What is your greatest fear?
Going bald.

4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Eclectic thoughts, funnelled into a narrative and distilled into paragraphs.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Ambitious, enthusiastic, driven, tangential, reflective

6. What book character would you be, and why?
Last time, I said Max of the Where the Wild Things Are. But today I’d be the Phantom. I’ve read this comic since I was a kid and his world is so fantastic, plus he has an unerring sense of justice. Not to mention his unique trait – he’s a superhero all the time and only dresses like a regular person to blend into the crowd.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
2120. When thinking about how much the world has changed since 1920, I think it’d be incredible to see the world of the future. Hopefully we’ve got ourselves together by then.

8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
Stick to it. It’ll get tough now and then but never lose sight of your dreams.

9. Who is your greatest influence?
There have been many, so hard to choose one. Let’s say Mr Squiggle (Norman Hetherington), Maurice Sendak, Brian Bolland, Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel), Roald Dahl, Frank Miller and Carlos Ezquerra. There are tons more.

10. What/who made you start writing?
My early love of reading certainly helped, but my high school English teacher was a huge influence.

11. What is your favourite word and why?

Unless. The ending of The Lorax proves a single word can have incredible power.

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I’ve been reading Judge Dredd comics since I was eight or nine, and whilst it’s technically not ‘one book’, it’s one story, so I’ll go with that. I definitely will read this for the rest of my life.


Jules Faber is a multi-award-winning cartoonist and illustrator. He has published numerous comic strips, worked for various newspapers, taught cartooning around Australia, been in multiple art exhibitions and has worked as an animator on a Disney show. Jules has served three terms as President of the Australian Cartoonists Association, the world's oldest cartoonists organisation. And on top of all that, he loves illustrating children’s books, including Anh Do’s WeirDo series (Scholastic), Helix and the Arrival by Damean Posner and the new Leo da Vinci series by Michael Pryor. For more information, see www.julesfaber.com.