I have a potter’s thumb. The middle joint can bendbackwards towards the palm of my hand. It looks weird and is a handy trick.
2. Do you have a nickname and if so, what is it?
Right now I’m being called Betta, which I enjoy. It’s Italian for Elizabeth.
3. What is your greatest fear?
An engulfing war
4. Can you describe your writing style for us in ten words?
I try to be original, story-based, Australian, funny and poetic.
5. Can you give us five positive words that describe you as a writer?
Curious, determined, inventive, haphazard, lucky
6. What book character would you be, and why?
Pipi Longstocking because she is in control of her own life and has a monkey and a horse.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
2065
Fifty years in the future I could, hopefully, still relate to where I find myself, and would see how the lives of those I know unfolded and how the world has changed. I hope it would be a happy experience.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
“Hello Old Me. I didn’t grow very tall, did I! I like that I’ve turned out a writer because I tell stories to my little sister. Also I’m a good drawer, and you are still drawing. That’s good isn’t it, Old Me?”
9. Who is your greatest influence?
I think we are a conglomeration of influences, so I’ll say: my parents, AA Milne, my husband and his mob, Enid Blyton, May Gibbs, the Beatles, my siblings, Astrid Lindgren, my first publisher, Rosalind Price, Walt Disney, my current publisher Sue Flockhart, Ronald Searle, our kids, the thousands of films I’ve seen, Bill McKibbin, Charles Dickens, my friends, Carson McCullers, to name a few.
10. What or who made you start writing?
I started writing when I learned you could make marks and from them other people could know your thoughts, and you could know other people’s thoughts. It was intriguing.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
My current favourite is ‘door’ in Dutch, which means ‘through’ so ‘through the door’ is ‘door de deur’, and Hip hip hooray! is Hipidihip! Funny eh?
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life what would it be?
Poems for the Millennium. The University of California Book of Modern and Post Modern Poetry. It’s thick and has poems for every person, every mood, every season, and it’s the most dip-into-able anthology that fires my imagination every time.
Elizabeth Honey is an award-winning Australian author of poetry, picture books and novels. Elizabeth has written and illustrated her latest picture book, Hop Up! Wriggle Over!, which is published by Allen & Unwin. Visit Elizabeth's website and Facebook page for more information.
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