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I didn't start writing my own books until I was 40.

When I started writing and illustrating, I knew little of classic children's literature. My stories came from real life, from my concerns about what was happening in the world.

My early life had a lot to do with my origins as a writer, but I didn't get into doing any writing at all until I was about 35 years old.

As a child, I loved story books and wanted to be in them so desperately and live the stories.

I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didn't publish my first book until I was 41.

I come from a family of great readers and storytellers.

Fiction came quite a while later. I began with short stories and fiction for children.

My parents were avid readers. Both had ambitions to write that had been abandoned early in life in order to get on with life.

I wrote my first book when I was in my late thirties.

As a child, I was fortunate enough to be close to family members who were - and still are - great storytellers. I was a gullible country boy from Rocky Mount, Virginia, and I believed every folktale they told me, no matter how fantastic.