Synaesthesia. Letters and numbers trigger a visual colour experience and I sometimes use it to remember people’s names, phone numbers and addresses.
2. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
In high school, I took art as an elective. My grades were so bad that after school I would crawl through the classroom window and change my grades in the teacher’s book.
3. Who is your favorite literary villain and why?
The Wicked Witch of the West, from Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. Growing up, she was the one literary figure that could scare the pants off me. She’s manipulative, cruel and intimidating. She gets what she wants through her evil behaviour. I want to know how she became so misguided. More importantly, I want to free the Winkie guards and the flying monkeys!
4. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
Keith Richards, Jack Kerouac, Samuel Clemens, Patti Smith, and Tom Robbins.
5. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
The 'thinker-upper machine' by Dr. Seuss. How handy to have a bit of help with infinite possibilities.
6. What are five words that describe your writing process?
Conceptional. Loony. Procrastinated. Self-taught. Miraculous.
7 Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?
Resourceful. Tenacious. Imaginative. Colourful. Fun.
8. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
Window with a view, Banjo my dog. Heart-shaped stones. Family photos. Books.
9. What book character would you be, and why?
Peter Rabbit: He’s brave, mischievous and overcomes obstacles. A rabbit after my own heart.
10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'?
Never having to make this choice.
Frané Lessac is an author and illustrator of international renown, having nearly 50 children’s books published throughout the world. She was born in the USA and lived on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, as well as in London, before moving to Australia. Frané loves to travel and create books based on her journeys. She has contributed her distinctive paintings to many critically acclaimed children’s picture books, including The Legend of Moondyne Joe, which won the West Australian Premier’s Children’s Book Award, and Simpson and His Donkey, a CBCA Honour Book that was also selected as a USBBY Outstanding International Book. In 2019, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, written by Traci Sorell, was awarded the Robert F Sibert Honor Book Honor medal, the Orbis Pictus Honor Book medal and the Boston Globe Horn Book Honor medal. For more information, see www.franelessac.com.