Liz Kessler
Children's author

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Section: About Me

1. When were you born?
I was born in 1966, which means I'm now 41. (Unless I've let my website get really out of date, in which case I'm even older!)

2. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Southport, which is in the north west of England. It's a seaside town, a little tiny bit like Brightport only bigger. I went to Farnborough Road Junior School, and then went to a school called Merchant Taylors, and then Abbotsholme School in Staffordshire.

3. Have you got any brothers or sisters?
I've got one of each. My brother, Peter, is two years older than me, and my sister, Caroline, is four years older than me. So I'm the baby!

4. Have you got any children?
I don't have any children of my own. My brother has two children and my sister has four children. My sister's youngest, Barney, really likes my stories. My brother's two children, Hannah and Katie, really like them too. I think the others, Frankie, Lucy and Emily have grown out of them now - but they still sometimes read them to be nice to me - and they like telling their teachers that their auntie is an author!

5. Where did you go to college?
I studied English at Loughborough University, then I did a teaching qualification at Keele University. More recently, I did a Masters degree in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.

6. Did you always want to be a writer?
When I was quite young (about eight) I wanted to be a poet. I grew up and did lots of other things, but then in 1999 I suddenly realised I wanted to write a book. It was as though I'd remembered what I'd always wanted to do, and I've never looked back.

7. Have you done any other jobs as well as writing?
I've worked as a teacher and a journalist. I taught English and Media Studies, and I've run Creative Writing courses as a teacher. As a journalist, I worked on a few local and regional newspapers in Manchester and York.

8. What was your favourite book as a child?
One of my favourite books was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. I also loved a book called The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair by Enid Blyton, about a chair that sprouted wings and flew up into the air to take its owners off on adventures. I always wished that would happen to one of my chairs at home. (It never did.)

9. Who are your favourite authors?
I get asked this a lot and I can never think of an answer! I think Jacqueline Wilson is fab, because she writes so many books and on such important subjects and yet her books are always loads of fun. Another book I love is Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. Other favourites are The Dark Horse by Marcus Sedgwick, Pirates by Celia Rees, Skellig by David Almond and - oh I could go on all day! When it comes to reading books for adults, my faves are Nick Hornby, Ben Elton, Marian Keyes, Jackie Kay, Anita Shreve, amongst others. And The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is the best book I've read this year!

10. Where do you live now?
After school and university, I lived on a narrowboat on the canal for about ten years. I moved from the boat to a gorgeous little house in Manchester, where I've lived for two years. But I'm now renting out my house for a year and travelling round Europe in a campervan!

11. Have you got any pets?
Yes. A gorgeous silly dalmatian called Poppy.

12. Do you believe in mermaids?
I am fascinated by the sea and all the mysteries of the ocean. It's so huge and there is so much of it that we haven't discovered and know nothing about. To me, mermaids represent the possibilities of what might just exist, on the edges of our imaginations and our world. In real life, the only mermaids I know are the ones in my books, but I like to believe that they might, just might, exist out there somewhere. Maybe they write books about us!

13. What do you like doing when you're not writing?
I love sailing, although I haven't done it much this year. I really enjoy playing the guitar. I'm not very good as I've only just started learning, but it's really good for keeping me calm and happy. I'm about to take up surfing (read about this on my blog to see how I get on!) and one of my favourite hobbies is poi.

14. Will you be my pen friend?
You can email me or you can post comments on my blog. I'll always reply to emails, but I'm afriad I can't get into ongoing penpal contact with readers. If I did this, I'd never have time to write my next books! (And you wouldn't want that, would you?!)

14. What's poi?
This is basically where you spin special things (like fire or lights or twirly things) round your body. It's very hard but when you can do it well it looks swishy!! And seeing as you asked, you can watch a videoof me doing it here.