Hello! Thanks for coming to the Old Jam Factory to see me.

I hope you are enjoying your visit to The Middle of Nowhere, home of Tiger Lily, my adventurous book-loving heroine and her trusty companion, Sammy.  There are word searches, a book report form you can print out, information and downloadable extracts from the witch in training series as well as a full story about Dame Walpurga of the Blessed Warts – and much more.

First a short biographical note:  I was born in Derry (Northern Ireland) in 1950 and studied sociology in University College Dublin. I have moved house countless times since then. I have lived all over the place in England, Italy and Spain and worked as a teacher, as an EFL administrator and a tour guide before taking up full time writing in the mid nineties. Since then I have written 18 books for children and loads of short stories which appear in many anthologies…

I live in Dublin and also have a home in a small village in Spain. I am married to Paul Kennedy who is a consultant in international education and we have two grown-up children.
My latest book is Tiger Lily – A heroine in the Making and Tiger Lily – A heroine with a Mission will be in the bookshops in April 2008.

What were your favourite books as a child?
I loved the myths and legends of classical Rome and Greece and Ireland and the exotic tales from 1001 Arabian Nights; (in fact, some of these myths and legends tend to find their way into my own books, like Ulysses' Bag of Winds in Charming-or-What, the Phoenix in Flying Lessons or the Romulus and Remus inspired opening of The Deerstone. Hercules’ quest for the golden apples gave me the plot for Witch-in-Training: The Last Task in which Jessica must track down the lost shoes of Dame Walpurga.
I was a voracious reader (still am!). Many of my favourites were the books that Tiger Lily is now reading too: Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn, Little Women and Pippi Longstocking.

Were you read to much as a child?
Yes, particularly by my mother. She loved poetry and was always reading us nursery rhymes and poetry. I remember especially ones like The Owl and the Pussycat, (Edward Lear), Macavity’s a Mystery Cat, (T.S.Eliot), Innisfree, (W.B.Yeats), everything from A Child’s Garden of Verses, (R.L.Stevenson)) and The Pied Piper( Robert Browning).  I used to know hundreds of poems by heart.  

How did your writing career begin?
I first started to write short stories for adults, several of which were broadcast by BBC Radio 4. Then I wrote a story, "Irrational Developments", inspired by the protests about water shortages in a Spanish village which was published in the Sunday Tribune and went on to win the 1990 Hennessy Literary Award. Soon after that, I had a dream about the boy, Paud, the hero of The Deerstone, and found myself embarking on my first children's novel, a fantasy adventure set in Glendalough. It was published in 1992 by Poolbeg Press and I’ve been writing for children since!

How did Jessica, the star of the Witch in Training series, come into being?
About ten years ago, I was living in Ludlow, a very pretty town in Shropshire in England. It had a famous old-fashioned hardware shop where you could buy anything from a watering-can to a wood-burning stove. One autumn, someone put a bunch of spiky broomsticks at the door with a cardboard sign “Birch Besoms £4.99. Flying Lessons Extra.” That was the inspiration for the first witch-in-training book where Jessica is given a broom by the owner of the hardware shop, Miss Strega, who turns out to be a witch-trainer.
And what about Tiger Lily?
Tiger Lily is a contemporary young Don Quixote, someone whose head is so full of stories she wants to roam the world in search of adventure and become a heroine herself. Her best friend, Sammy, is her Sancho Panza. He is down to earth and full of common sense where she is crazy and full of Big Ideas.  She loves to read: he never reads if he can help it. She is long and skinny; he is small and barrel-shaped. Even their dogs are opposites: hers, a three-legged greyhound called Rosie; Sammy’s a round fat spaniel. Together, they make a good team and have a good laugh, despite many setbacks. I was delighted by a review in Inis, the Children’s Books Ireland journal, which says: “This book is truly a celebration of reading and the influence of the imagination on everyday life.” That’s exactly what I set out to do.
What do you like best/least about being a writer?
The best thing is being my own boss, working at home, deciding my own hours. The worst is spending so much time on my own.

Describe your typical writing day if you have such a thing.
I must confess that, some days, I will do anything but start to write – I feel I must  finish the crossword, go for a walk or even make soup (ideal exercise when you need to think) before I actually turn on the computer – and then, there are emails to send and receive. But eventually, I get going. I tinker and rewrite and edit all the time. Sometimes, a story will require a lot of research, which will involve visiting places, going to libraries or museums, reading old newspapers, studying old maps. I once visited the Natural History Museum, Dublin to see if I could come up with some interesting brewing ingredients for my witch-in-training books – and on one glass case, read “Biting lice, sucking lice, true bugs and beetles”. It was like a ready-made spell! So that went straight into Brewing Up when Jessica is casting an Out-of-Reach-Itch Spell. On the same occasion, I saw the marvellous glass models of sea anemones by the 19th century Bohemian artist Blaschka – sea anemones come in an extraordinary variety of colours and shapes - and this in turn gave me the idea of having a sea anemone oracle in the Charming or What book. 
Recently, for the second Tiger Lily book, I spent a morning at a dog training school because Tiger Lily attends one with her three-legged greyhound, Rosie. The one I went to was held in an almond orchard in the Jalón Valley in Spain but I substituted that for an apple orchard in the book.
Then there are lovely days when I do school visits, particularly around World Book Day or during Children’s Book Festival. If you would like me to visit, teachers or librarians should get in touch with me at maeve@maevefriel.com. 

How do you work with your illustrators?
I do the words and send them off to my publisher and the illustrator, book designer and editor take it from there. Different editors work in different ways – sometimes I have more input than others. I have worked with four different illustrators – Beccy Blake, Joelle Dreidemy, Sarah Horne and Nathan Reed - there are links to them if you click on the Salvage Barn on the map. 

Have any of your books been translated into other languages?
Yes, the witch-in-training series has been translated so far into German, Dutch, Greek, Chinese, Catalan, Bulgarian, French, Polish and Hebrew and is also available as a BBC audio-book (read by Phillida Nash).  Felix on the Move is in Spanish as Felix y el susto.

What are you working on at the moment?
I am at the exciting stage of starting a novel for older readers but if I tell you any more about it, I will probably never get around to writing it. In the meantime, look out for Tiger Lily: A heroine with a Mission in April in which Tiger Lily must save Rosie from being sent to an “Institution”. One of her literary inspirations this time around is Fattipuffs and Thinifers – see her Book Report about it by visiting her house on the map. For younger readers, there is a new Felix adventure story, Felix and the Kitten, in July.
Finally, please do write and tell me what you think about my books, my website or if you have any questions. I will update this interview regularly. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Maeve