1. Is there something that many people don't know about you?
Yes, I was once bitten by a coyote at the Melbourne Zoo, whilst trying to pat it through the wire, which was rather dumb, looking back.
2. Do you have a nick-name?
2. Do you have a nick-name?
Not that I know of, but if I did, it would have to be something like Occasionally Quite Vague or Saam (Stubborn as a Mule).
3. What is your greatest fear?
3. What is your greatest fear?
To wake up and discover that coffee, cinnamon donuts, and liquorice bullets hadn't been invented.
4. What is your writing style?
4. What is your writing style?
I think.... think... think... type slowly...have coffee...revise... hope!
5. Five words about your writing.
5. Five words about your writing.
Thoughtful... hopeful...careful...slow...committed!
6. If you could be someone else, who would it be?
6. If you could be someone else, who would it be?
I'd like to be Robinson Crusoe for a week or so, living on a deserted island... then off home I'd go!
7. If you could time-travel, what year would you return to?
7. If you could time-travel, what year would you return to?
I'd go back to 1977, when I was eighteen, as a smarter person, and not do so many silly things.
8. What would you ten year-old self say to you now?
8. What would you ten year-old self say to you now?
Something like, 'let's climb a tree, go fishing, light a fire, build a water-proof cubby house, and hey, why not kidnap a horse.'
9. Who or what is your greatest influence on your writing?
I really value the space for thinking and ideas that exist in the living world that is around me, because without that space, those people and those things, I would have nothing!
9. Who or what is your greatest influence on your writing?
I really value the space for thinking and ideas that exist in the living world that is around me, because without that space, those people and those things, I would have nothing!
10. Who encouraged you to write?
I encouraged myself to write, with the help of a hundred optimistic, generous, smart, helpful people who lit the dark road ahead, and sometimes chased me up it with a stick!
11. What is your favourite word?
My favourite word is 'wilderness,' because it is probably the most important and beautiful thing on this planet, and without it we have nothing.
12. If you only had one book to read for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I would like to read the book I haven't written yet, as I always imagine it might be so perfect it would mean all things to people, and bring happiness to the world - well, you know, you have to be positive about these things!
11. What is your favourite word?
My favourite word is 'wilderness,' because it is probably the most important and beautiful thing on this planet, and without it we have nothing.
12. If you only had one book to read for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I would like to read the book I haven't written yet, as I always imagine it might be so perfect it would mean all things to people, and bring happiness to the world - well, you know, you have to be positive about these things!
David Metzenthen is an award-winning Australian children's author. His latest picture book, One Minute's Silence, illustrated by Michael Camilleri and published by Allen & Unwin in July 2014, is a powerful reflection on the meaning of Remembrance Day, focusing on the ANZAC and Turkish battle at Gallipoli.
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