This episode – which you can listen to by clicking
Owing partly to the power of Twitter, we were incredibly lucky to get the opportunity to interview children’s author Jonathan Stroud, whose bestselling books include the Bartimaeus series, famous for the highly original character of the arrogant and vulnerable eponymous djinni, and Heroes of the Valley, an action-packed epic inspired from Icelandic sagas.
Click each cover to access the book’s own dedicated website…
…or click here to access Jonathan’s official website!
(I know, it’s like magic.)
In this exclusive interview of Jonathan Stroud, we’ve stuck to our Kid You Not focus: looking at children’s literature from the publishing side and from the academic side. Luckily, Jonathan knows a lot about both, since he has a degree in English literature and used to work as an editor at Walker Books.
In this special episode, you’ll hear Jonathan talk about:
- Why children’s literature is important!
- Children’s editors who are aspiring authors in hiding
- Why publishers are more likely to take on authors who are slightly schizophrenic
- The voice in his head which became Bartimaeus
- The truth behind stories, the reality behind fiction, and the adult liar
- Bartimaeus’s life beyond the books
- Masculine female characters
- Legends and myths in Heroes of the Valley
- Stephen Hawking summoning a demon
… and much more!
Listen to the episode and post all your comments and questions here. As usual, we’d love to hear from you and to follow you on Twitter if you follow us @kidyounotpod!
Thank you so much to Jonathan for giving up some of his Saturday morning for us, and special thanks to Georgia Lawe.
Clementine & Lauren
