2. What is your nickname?
I don’t really have a nickname. Everyone uses my actual name!
3. What is your greatest fear?
When a mouse sneaks into the house!
4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Stories with layered meanings that explore emotions and human connections.
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Whimsical, hopeful, empathetic, joyful, questioning.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
Anne of Green Gables. She had a passion for writing and daydreaming. She was also free spirited, strong willed and resilient no matter what life threw at her.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
I would go back to 2011 when my three children were small, so I could read my own picture books to them at bedtime. Teenagers don’t really want bedtime stories anymore!
8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
I’m glad that you are still doing the things you always loved: writing, reading, adventuring, dreaming.
9. Who is your greatest influence?
My husband and kids who continuously take me on adventures down many roads less travelled. My mum who has shared her love of nature, art and community with everyone around her. And finally, the many storytellers I have met in real life and in the pages of books.
10. What/who made you start writing?
I have always written stories. I wrote and illustrated a handmade picture book in primary school. I wrote poems as gifts for friends in high school. I write stories in my head constantly. When I saw a picture book course advertised in 2021, I thought 'this looks like fun'! That course changed my writing journey from writer to published author, and opened a whole new wonderful world to me.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
Petrichor, which is the amazing smell of the earth and rain. I love the sound of the word, as well as its meaning.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
The Magic Faraway Tree, by Enid Blyton. The perfect book to take me on different magical adventures.
Larissa Ferenchuk is a writer and preschool SSO educator from Adelaide. Her debut picture book, Two Rabbits (EK books, 2024), was shortlisted in the 2024 Speech Pathology Australia - Book of the Year Awards. Her new picture book, Hidden (EK books, 2025), shares her love of trees, figs and community. For more information, see www.larissaferenchuk.com