Writing children's books gives a writer a very strong sense of narrative drive.

Those who try to obliterate the past are injuring the present.

I was always influenced by language.

I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves - and then, maybe, read them again and find new things there.

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed by what we are told by our parents, our teachers, our intimates.

Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.

I can remember being in my pram: children stayed in their prams much longer then than they do now. A big bouncy pram with black covers and a hood with metal clips that could trap your fingers. I was looking up at my sister who was sitting on the pram seat, with her back to me.