12 Curly Questions with author Meg McKinlay

At KBR we like to think we bring you closer to all of the authors/illustrators we love, but ... we thought we could do better. So we all put our heads together and came up with a set of questions that only the bravest would DARE answer! 

And now for 12 Curly Questions ...with Meg McKinlay.

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you. 
Why on earth would I do that? You tell me yours first, and then we'll talk. :-)

2. What is your nickname?
Megsy. The Moo.


3. What is your greatest fear?
I'm not sure I have a hierarchy of fears. When I was a child, I was frightened that wolves would come in my window at night, but that seems to have passed. As I've gotten older, I've grown less fond of heights.

4. Describe your writing style in ten words. 
Varies from book to book. Perhaps: humorous, thought-provoking, quirky, convoluted.

5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer. 
Hard-working, resilient, versatile, curious, poetic.

6. What book character would you be, and why?
Scout, from To Kill a Mockingbird. Because her father is Atticus Finch and her neighbour is Boo Radley.

7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why? 
1976. I had a simple, perfect moment: Spring day. School oval. Freshly mown grass. Bare feet. And the realisation that this was a single perfect moment that would never come again. I still carry it with me.

8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now? 
What happened to our face?

9. Who is your greatest influence? 
The child reader I used to be.

10. What/who made you start writing?
The ideas that started bouncing around in my head when I was reading children's books to my (then) young daughter. There was no plan to become a writer, only story ideas that wouldn't leave me alone.

11. What is your favourite word and why? 
Lugubrious. For the way it sounds.

12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 
I can't name a title, but it would be a poetry anthology - a very fat one! 

Meg's latest book Ten Tiny Things is out in August 2012.

If you are an author or illustrator who thinks they are BRAVE enough to answer our questions, OR if there is an author or illustrator you would like to hear from, LET US KNOW! We will see if they are up to the task. Just email: kellyATkids-bookreviewDOTcom