1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you. Some days I have an overwhelming desire to start walking and never stop. I want to walk around Australia and then around the world. I never act upon the desire (except to go for my usual afternoon stroll). I’ve had this feeling since I was little. There would be some psychological explanation no doubt. I think if there were such things as past lives I would have been a swagman. Just walking.
2. What is your nickname?
My oldest and dearest friends call me Buck.
3. What is your greatest fear?
Like phobia? I don’t like the dark. I’m also frightened of drain pipes – I can’t look into them. (I’m sounding really weird with these questions!)
4. Describe your writing style in ten words.
Simple. Bold. Poetic. Strong. Imaginative. Different. Strange. Funny and sad.
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Brave. Sensitive. Smart. Funny. Different.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
I would be Gerda from the Snow Queen. She is very brave and loyal and just goes off on a crazy adventure without thinking of the consequences, purely because she loves her friend. It doesn’t get much better than that.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
I would go to 1867 in London because I would be able to see and smell and hear the streets I’m writing about in my latest children’s novel.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
“What! Our story about Gemma-5, a girl from a planet made out of emeralds, who saves the galaxy, hasn’t been published yet???”
9. Who is your greatest influence?
My mum, who died one month ago, from Leukemia. She gave me stories, told them, read them, taught me I could do anything, and nurtured my creativity. She cheered me on in the hard years. She celebrated my successes. She made me who I am and I miss her dearly.
10. What/who made you start writing?
I had an idea for a story about a girl and horse and a flooded river. I was seven. I wrote it on a big piece of butchers’ paper lying on the laundry floor. Mum said I was incredibly clever. I was hooked for life.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
Believe.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales. There are so many stories, some of them desperately sad, some funny, containing all the elements of great stories; characters you can love and holler for, great adventures, tragedy and triumph. It would keep me happy I believe.
Karen Foxlee is the author of two adult fiction novels. Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy (KBR review), published by Hot Key Books, is her first middle fiction book. Visit Karen's Facebook page to find out more about her books and other writing projects.
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