I've always felt a bit hard done by in England - you know, I've won the Bisto three times in Ireland, but it has felt like nobody has even heard of me in my home country.
From Kate Thompson
My mum wouldn't have had any time for fantasy stuff; she's more practical.
I always had an awful lot going on in my head, always telling myself stories, very vivid imagination.
I am political. But not politically active. I'm not my dad. I'll never write polemic, as he did.
There's only one set of books I've written that I knew was going to be more than one book at the beginning, and those are the 'Missing Link' books.
I came to writing because I joined the North Clare Writers' Workshop, which met every week at Ennistymon Library.
What I tend to get from America is very enthusiastic letters and e-mail from librarians and schoolteachers, the gatekeepers, though I hesitate to use that word. I've never been a huge seller.
What I do find enormously gratifying is the reviews my books get from the American press. They are so on the ball compared to anywhere else. It's so satisfying to get a review that conveys the reader understood precisely what I was trying to get at.
Irish mythology is gorgeous, and so are the fairies, but they are very misrepresented in the U.K. They are not little creatures with wings.
If there's a common thread to my books, it is that each involves an individual's journey. The individual must stay true to themselves.
2 perspectives
1 perspectives