1. What's your hidden talent?
I can fire breathe! Part of my university course included circus skills, so I can walk on stilts, do some acrobatics and trapeze, and breathe fire. I never quite mastered juggling though.
2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
It would have to be the Trunchbull. She is so outrageously bad, crazy and dangerous, and it’s so satisfying when Matilda defeats her.
3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
Roald Dahl, Robin Klein, Jonathan Stroud, JK Rowling and Stephen Fry
4. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
4. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
Teleporters – I would LOVE to be able to travel all around the world in the blink of an eye, and have dinner with friends on the other side of the world and then go home to bed.
5. What are five words that describe your writing process?
5. What are five words that describe your writing process?
Walking, showers, notepads, swimming, rewrites.
6. Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?
6. Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?
Award-winning, bestselling, beloved, imaginative, timeless (getting somewhat ambitious here).
7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
Hot tea, sharp pencils, notepads, books, buttered toast.
8. Grab the nearest book, open it to page 22 and look for the second word in the first sentence. Now, write a line that starts with that word. (Please include the name of the book!)
8. Grab the nearest book, open it to page 22 and look for the second word in the first sentence. Now, write a line that starts with that word. (Please include the name of the book!)
Boy ran, winding between the silent trees, the only moving thing in a sea of dead leaves and butterflies. (Sparrow, by Scot Gardner)
9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask?
9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask?
I would ask Jonathan Stroud if Kitty ever summoned Bartimaeus again. Every time I re-read that series the ending kills me, and I need to know if she ever found out that Bartimaeus survived.
10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'?
10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'?
Never read another book, although the idea kills me, but in my head I’m sneakily getting around it by thinking, ‘I’ll just download the audiobook’.
Kylie Westaway has spent most of her life travelling and living in different countries. Her background is in theatre, where she worked on the Australian production of The Lion King and for the Bell Shakespeare Company. Kylie spent a year teaching 2-6 year olds in South Korea and started working in publishing when she returned to Australia. Her first picture book,Whale in the Bath, was published in the US, Germany and South Korea, and was a 2015 CBCA Notable Book. Her latest picture book is Why Can't I Be a Dinosaur? For more information, see www.kyliewestaway.com.
