1. Can you tell us something
hardly anyone knows about you?
I love Vegemite toast. I prefer eating chips to lollies. My preference
is for dark chocolate. There’s a reason hardly anyone knows this info. It’s
because it’s not that important. Still, you can send any spare chip packets or dark
chocolate to my postal address. Please don’t send Vegemite toast (it turns
soggy in the post).
2. Do you have a nickname?
I did when I was at school. Everyone called me Sking.
I liked it. My published name, STEPHEN MICHAEL KING, always feels too long and
formal. I can’t shake it now. Any ideas?
3. What is your greatest
fear?
I don’t worry about snakes, dying … the pimple on my nose or any of that
kind of thing. I try not to worry. Oh yes! I worry about being trapped in a
cinema and having to watch a horror movie. I don’t like feeling trapped and I
don’t like horror movies.
4. Can you describe your
writing style for us in ten words?
Free, without expectation, un-edited, scribble, arrows, sketchy,
gibberish with lyricism.
5. Can you give us five
positive words that describe you as a writer and an artist?
Introspective, celebration, dancing, words, intuitive.
6. What book character would
you most like to be, and why?
I’m Leaf and I’m Mutt Dog! I’m Jack and I’m Milli … Henry and Amy.
I think I’d like to be my own characters. I’m not! That’s why I write. The real
me is a quiet observer (who sometimes dances like a wild thing). My characters
are the colourful me escaping onto the page. My characters can do anything.
7. If you could time travel,
what year would you go to and why?
So many years, I can’t pick one. I don’t think I’d choose historical
moments unless it was a Rolling Stones Concert or sharing a drink with Van
Gogh. I’d be more interested in a sentimental journey. My mother was told that
her first child might be stillborn. I would love to see my parents holding my
older brother David for the first time — healthy and happy. Gosh, I wouldn’t
mind seeing my young sister and myself at birth. I’d love to watch my wedding
day and the day I first met my wife, and my children being born. That would be
cool to see them again, and hold them, protecting. I loved that day I became a
dad.
8. What would your
ten-year-old self say to you now?
Hearing loss will knock you around but don’t worry, you’ll be in a new
school soon and school will end altogether one day. You’ll leave school with
low worth and low self-esteem, but it won’t last forever. You’ll meet people
who think similar to you. They’ll understand you on a deeper level. You’ll grow
your hair long. You’ll fall in love and have beautiful children. Your pet dogs
won’t have to live outside, they’ll be allowed on the couch and will sleep on
your bed. You’ll move to the country and discover it’s full of creative people:
farmers who can make anything from a piece of wire; painters living near
waterfalls; sculptors living in sheds; and people who make beautiful jams and
cakes.
You’ll live on an island, on a pretty hill not far from the sea. You’ll
write dozens of books, illustrate a hundred more, be published in around 20
countries, win awards and travel the world, but you’ll never forget or give up the
simple things. Money and status won’t seduce you as much as sharing a cup of
tea on the back step, your father telling you he was proud, eating a cumquat
straight off the tree, walking barefoot everywhere, listening to your wife sing
and watching your children being children.
9. Who is your greatest
influence?
I remember wishing I had Walt Disney for a dad. My real dad was a bit
like the inventor Caractacus Potts from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but
he never made a car. I’d love to say Picasso or Da Vinci, but the artistic
truth is more like Charles M. Schulz — the guy who wrote and drew Peanuts. I have to say my wife Trish. I would be
blundering around without her wisdom. Her love helped me to believe in myself.
There wouldn’t be one finished book on the shelf without her. She’s positively
perfect in every way. Creatively, there’s a club of illustrators, painters,
sculptors and writers who draw, paint, write or build in a way that isn’t
wrapped in perfectionism. A squiggly line says a lot about someone. I admire all those people and their sense
of freedom lives in my work.
10. What or who made you
start writing and drawing?
The obvious influence is from my mum — a teacher. She always promoted
my writing and told me not to worry about spelling or punctuation. 'It’s the
ideas that matter!' was her war cry. Other influences are many. I loved stories.
I was read to as a child. My dad used to make up stories with my brother David
and myself as the main characters. I always loved looking at book illustration.
I couldn’t escape books. Even when I was in my early twenties I worked in
libraries. I’ve always met nice librarians. All of them helped me in some way
or another. After I left the Walt Disney Studios I was offered a book
illustration job. I knew straight away I would have to write if I wanted to
work on beautiful books. I worked on a book idea for over a year without
success, then my first book, The Man Who
Loved Boxes, came to me in a dream. I committed to trusting my intuition
after that.
11. What is your favourite
word and why?
NO. It’s a word I should use more often. I want to paint a series of
giant paintings dedicated to the word NO. My other favourite word is ZOO. I
love how it looks: the sharp Z next to two beautiful round Os. I enjoyed
using the word 'gibberish' earlier. I’m
all over the place with words.
12. If you could only read
one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A Great Day for Up by Dr Seuss
should be OK for at least the next fifty years. Someone might need to read it
to me for the last few.
Stephen Michael King's new book, Bella's Bad Hair Day (reviewed by KBR here), is available now in all good bookshops and online;
Allen & Unwin, $24.99 RRP.
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: anouskaATkids-bookreviewDOTcom
