1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you. I play a blues harp (badly).
2. What is your nickname?
I don’t really have a proper nickname but I do get ‘Gussy’ a lot (mostly from my daughter).
3. What is your greatest fear?
Geez, I can’t really pick one but something bad happening to my kids would be high on the list. Being abandoned at sea would be scary followed closely by being mauled by a goose. These things freak me out – always have.
4. Describe your writing style in ten words.
Melodic, whimsical, quirky, soulful, warm, conversational, restrained (have to be).
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Passionate, dogged, inquisitive, hopeful, green.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
Huckleberry Finn. He has miles of good time to explore, use his imagination and have brilliant adventures. Plus he never has to grow up.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
- The 1920s. I would tell the inventor of television John Logie Baird to invent something worthwhile before the collective masses’ imagination is devoured by a cathode ray tube.
- The Dinosaur age (any one of them). As long as I could get out of there quickly, it would surely be the ultimate visual destination ever.
- The music scene in New York in the 1960s was such a fertile, energetic period. I would love to attend an early Bob Dylan gig in Greenwich Village. Maybe I’d just stay there.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
1. Wait, someone actually pays me to draw?
2. What happened to my jet-black hair?
3. Why am I wearing blue jeans? Since when did pastel go out of fashion?
9. Who is your greatest influence?
My mother. She always allowed me the freedom to use my imagination and explore all its creative avenues in any way and every way, even when the possibility of failure was high.
10. What/who made you start writing?
- MAD magazine comics.
- My early English teachers Stuart Macdonald, Mark Harrison and Susan Hoddinott.
- Writer and Comedian Spike Milligan.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
It changes all the time but at the moment it’s ‘succulent’. That is one sensual word.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Just one is REALLY hard but if I were forced to choose I’d say The Lord of The Rings. It’s big, fat and full of so many ripping tales.
Learn more about Gus at www.gusgordon.com or www.facebook.com/GusGordonbooks and stay tuned for our review of Herman and Rosie later today!
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: susan@kids-bookreview.com