Anna Hoghton

There was no specific moment for me. It was just always the subject I was good at; that I found easily. At school, I had a few fairly brilliant teachers (including Mrs. Williams) who challenged me to use my imagination and encouraged a love of reading.

My parents were also crucial to this. They both love books and read to me a lot as a child, which I think is hugely important. I reckon Dad could have been a sci-fi writer if he wasn’t so sensible. I was always the child inventing stories, and putting on plays on holidays with family and friends in France and Southwest Wales. And then using the profits to buy sweets!

This specific story has been with me since I was sixteen – so a long time! It’s always been there bubbling in the background of my mind while I got on with other things in life: A-levels, university, falling in love, moving to another country, getting married… It’s wonderfully and totally surreal that this idea is finally tied up neatly in a book.

There are so many daunting moments when you’re writing. It’s weekly, sometimes daily. It’s blind faith that the thing you’re putting however-many hours into will pay off. This thought used to freak me out so much, until I stopped worrying about it. Instead, I tried to focus only on each stage of the process, and to enjoy it all. Breaking things down like this helped me. As did the knowledge that all the best things in life come with blind faith. Whether that’s writing, falling in love, or going on an adventure; sometimes you’ve just got to trust in yourself and the wider thing you are part of, and know that, however it goes, things will work out how they are meant to. All you need to do is keeping being a good person and putting one word after the other.

My book hasn’t been read by that many children yet so I’m really excited to see what they think. There are only two young people in the world who’ve read ‘Aribella’ and their names are Theo and Lola. I used to nanny for their family and they are the best kids and the most helpful critics. Honestly, their feedback chimed so uncannily with the editor’s, they really knew their stuff.

Before they both read the full book, I read sections of it to Lola while I was doing my MA. Months after, I thought she must have forgotten, but she asked me about the characters and remembered so much detail. That was so lovely to know that it had made an impact on her and that she was so keen to know more of the story. She even used the name Aribella in her own creative writing at school so I think it must have made a good impression!

I adore His Dark Materials and Harry Potter and absolutely yes, they are still my favourite books. My mum and I joke that her sobbing through the last chapters of The Amber Spyglass was the reason I learnt to read for myself – I wanted to know what was happening and most of it was lost in her sniffs!
I also love newer children’s writers like Katherine Rundell, Abi Elphinstone, Catherine Doyle and Jessica Townsend. All these ladies build such magical worlds in their books that are a treat to get lost in. I still read TONS of children’s books and believe everyone should.

Ooh, tough one! I don’t know that many young actors but maybe Maisie Williams? She’s awesome, though perhaps a little old for the role… Timothee Chalamet would also make a great Aribella… though again he’s a bit old. I think I’d like an unknown to play her, I always enjoy watching new actors getting a chance to show what they can do. And I would persuade them with the fact they’d be shooting in Venice of course. Who doesn’t want to spend time in such a magical city?