YA Author Rhian Ivory joins our festive countdown.
Rhian Ivory studie
d English Literature at Aberystwyth and trained as a Drama & English teacher. She wrote her first novel during her first few years in teaching, securing a publishing deal with Bloomsbury who published her first four books. Rhian’s fifth book, The Boy who Drew the Future has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2017. She is a National Trust writer in residence at Sudbury Hall and the Museum of Childhood. She currently lives in Rutland, the smallest county in the country, with her family and their two very lively spaniels.
Name three things on your Christmas list this year! When I was little I’d ask my Dad that same question and he’d always answer with “Two good children” and my brother and I would groan.
So I’m going to say “Three good children” just to annoy my three little angels. I’d also like snow, lots of it. Deep enough to build a snowman and have a decent snowball fight. And maybe build an igloo. And then…let’s not pretend I haven’t got a book wish list but if I had to pick just one title it would probably be To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. I adored her first novel, The Snow Child and I’m guessing this next one will be equally wonderful.
Christmas is a time of family traditions – what are your best (or worst!) family traditions? Best one is all of us sit and read the most stunning pop-up book version of The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore published by Simon and Schuster. It is a thing of beauty and we all love it. My mum bought it for me years ago and it has been well loved. Worst one is watching the Christmas movies with the kids, there’s a lot of (loud) discussion about who gets to choose the film this year. It can (and often does) end in disaster on Christmas Eve.
What is your favourite story to read at Christmas? A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan
Thomas with those gorgeous illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. I hear those opening lines and feel like Christmas is about to properly start. “…I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.” Magic.
If you could have Christmas dinner with anyone (alive today or person from history) who would it be and why? That’s easy! Louisa May Alcott. I’d have to ask her about the Laurie/Professor Bhaer decision and get her version of events, then I’d report back so that we can all be put out of our misery. Why, Louisa? Why?
In The Boy who Drew the Future you brilliantly connect two characters that live hundreds of years apart. How do you think a child from the 1800s would react to the way we celebrate Christmas in 2016? Why thank you. Honestly? I think they’d be horrified as I am when I force myself to go a shopping centre from October onwards. *shivers as the prospect of Christmas shopping*. The best part of Christmas last year for me was all the village gathered on the green to sing carols by candlelight and lanterns. My 5 year old was bored senseless but I was transported, probably back to the 1800s.
Your Year 9 class persuaded you to send off your first novel (brilliant!). How would you persuade a class of Year 9 reluctant readers to pick up a book for the festive season?Thank you. They were a brilliant class. I think I’d go for the simple option and just read to them. I think the words from any good story would do all the talking for me. I’d do all the voices and accents and really bring the story to life for them rather than try to persuade them with reasons or statistics. Of course there are statistics aplenty about how reading improves your health, your ability to empathise and gives you knowledge which in turn gives you power. But even more important than that reading gives you choice and that’s something we should all have and not just at Christmas.
(Absolutely agree!)
Reader’s question from children at the Inkpots Writers’ Hut; how long does it take you to write a book? Each book is different, which is really annoying because it makes it hard to plan. On the whole I’d say most of my books have taken 8 months apart from The Boy who Drew the Future which took 7 years. Yes, 7 years! But there was a lot of moving house and having babies and living in a caravan in the snow with frozen water pipes (don’t ask) and generally life getting in the way so don’t picture me sat in front of a computer for seven years solid. That would just be silly!
Turkey or goose? Turkey so my 5 year old could talk to the Turkey. He does such an ace Turkey impression. What? I’m not eating it!
Real or fake tree? Real. Every single time.
Mince pies or Christmas pudding? Both, obviously.
Stockings – end of the bed or over the fireplace? Fireplace. I’d just kick them off the end of the bed and so would the children. Also, I like to make Santa’s life as easy as possible for him.
Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve? Christmas Eve. New Year’s Eve has always been a massive let down. I love the anticipation of Christmas Eve, it is special and everything is about to happen but hasn’t happened just yet so you can savour it and really appreciate what’s to come.
Thank you for participating in our author advent. Happy Christmas!
To find out more visit www.fireflypress.com and follow Rhian on Twitter @Rhian_Ivory.
illustrated series for 6+ year olds in 2017. Joanne is also working on a YA novel inspired by Caribbean folklore and history, and has written a football-themed short story for the NLT’s Premier League Reading Stars scheme.
Reader’s question from students in Year 10 at Warden Park Secondary Academy; why do you write children’s books instead of for adults? I think younger readers are generally much more curious and open-minded than most grown-ups, and have a greater sense of wonder about the world, all of which means that writing for children is incredibly exhilarating, satisfying and full of freedom. I love writing – and reading – about inquisitive young characters who are on exciting paths of discovery, unearthing and experiencing things for the first time as they travel their story trails. I also think that the books you love as a child stay with you forever; they become part of who you are and how you see the world, which makes writing for children a very special thing indeed.
teacher, Huw came to realise that there was a lack of what he called ‘daft books for boys’, and started work on Scrambled. He lives in Carmarthen with his wife and three children.
In Scrambled, Davidde is unfairly labelled a troublemaker. Were you a good boy at school and did Father Christmas always visit you? I was quite shy and reserved at school – I didn’t have a nick-name, which was usually a good indicator of extroversion/naughtiness. Father Christmas always came to visit me, but I’m not so sure if he visited Pickle, Fungus or Teabag.
Reader’s question from children at the 
Day 17: Sarah Baker has stopped by for a festive Q & A!
of having new Christmas themed PJs.
eeves. Unfortunately a lot of other people would like that as well, so they’re very expensive and I don’t think I’ve been good enough this year for Santa to give me one! (Frankly in order to get one I’d have to be the nicest person in the world all year and I’m not sure that it’s worth the effort. And I know it sounds silly, but for a third thing I’d just like to get to spend a bit of time with my friends and family over Christmas!
ry. For years people felt that it was a perfect story and couldn’t be improved.…and then the Muppets made a version of it – and they made it a little bit better. (I love Charles Dickens, but I have to say he didn’t have enough song and dance numbers in his books.) So it isn’t a reading-story – but I’m answering ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’. (The Muppets improve everything, and the sooner they do the definitive version of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, the better. Just think about it, Hamlet’s very sad in the play, but a few dance numbers and a ventriloquist act with Yorick the skull would cheer him right up.)
Reader’s question from children at the 
thebookactivist 