YA Author Rhian Ivory joins our festive countdown.

Rhian Ivory studied 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.

Day 19 features fantastic author Joanne Owen.

Joanne was born in Pembrokeshire and studied at St John’s College, Cambridge. Following a career buying and marketing children’s books, Joanne now combines writing with working on Scoop magazine as Marketing Director and a content creator. Joanne has written fantastical, historical, folklore-infused adventures and she has a new iillustrated 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.

Name three things on your Christmas list this year! I LOVE surprises so I don’t actually have a list. Having said that, I’d be delighted if I were gifted the surprise of a new pair of scarlet shoes to add to my collection. Oh, and Arsenal winning the league this season would also be a pretty great present (and I wouldn’t mind waiting until May to receive it!).

Christmas is a time of family traditions – what are your best (or worst!) family traditions? My husband and I have a tradition of creating a kind of indoor forest in our flat! We collect fallen branches to put up in our hall and living room, and decorate them with twinkling lights and dozens of feathery birds. I especially love our toucan, which adds a tropical touch to our winter wonderland.

(This sounds amazing!)

What is your favourite story to read at Christmas? Having spent all my childhood Christmases in Wales, Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales is always a fine gem to return to. “Years and years ago, when I was a boy, when there were wolves in Wales, and birds the color of red-flannel petticoats whisked past the harp-shaped hills”; such intense, evocative writing.

If you could have Christmas dinner with anyone (alive today or person from history) who would it be and why? Nothing beats tucking into Christmas dinner with my family, but I reckon the actor and adventurer Brian Blessed would make a great wildcard dinner companion! He’d have plenty of exuberant after dinner tales to tell in his big, booming voice, plus he bears more than a passing resemblance to Father Christmas himself!

Your books often have wonderful historical settings. If you could travel back in time to celebrate Christmas in any time period when would you choose and why? I imagine that Christmas in Prague in the late nineteenth century (which is when my first novel, Puppet Master, is set) would have had a marvellous atmosphere – snow softly tumbling onto the city’s spires, people bustling around Old Town Square, the Vltava River sparkling with ice beneath the stately Charles Bridge. As it happens, the carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’ is based on the real-life Bohemian duke, Wenceslaus I, who lived way back in the 900’s and became known (and sainted) for his generosity to the poor. But actually, I think I’d most like to travel back to Pembrokeshire in the 1980’s, when I enjoyed the most amazing family Christmases.

In your author workshops, you talk about every object being able to tell a story. If you could write a story about one Christmas object what would it be and why? How about a Christmas cracker that opens a gateway to another world when it bangs? Or a sprig of mistletoe that enchants (or curses…) those who kiss beneath it? Or an advent calendar whose doors contain riddles that have to be solved in order to avert some kind of Christmas calamity…?  Sorry – couldn’t stop at one!

(Brilliant ideas – you’ll have to write one!)

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.

Turkey or goose? Turkey

Real or fake tree? Real

Mince pies or Christmas pudding? Mince pies, if I must choose only one!

Stockings –  end of the bed or over the fireplace? Fireplace

Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve? Christmas Eve

Thank you for taking part in our festive Q & A and have a Happy Christmas!

Find out more about Joanne on Facebook JoanneOwenBooks and Twitter @JoanneOwen

Huw Davies joins our festive Q & A.

Huw Davies grew up in Nantyffyllon, near Maesteg and teaches English. He has an MA in Script-writing from the University of Glamorgan. As an English 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.

Name three things on your Christmas list this year! When I was young I used to be disappointed to open a present to find it was pants or socks, but now I’m absolutely delighted when I get them – I think this is one of the defining things about being old. So pants, socks and an EpiPen (more about that later).

Christmas is a time of family traditions – what are your best (or worst!) family traditions? I’ve got a nut allergy, so Christmas is a bit of a risky time. It doesn’t seem to matter how careful I am, but pretty much every Boxing Day for the last ten years I have gone into minor anaphylactic shock, when my face turns beetroot red and my head swells to the size of a melon. My wife is starting to think that I’m not allergic to nuts but I’m actually allergic to Boxing Day itself!

What is your favourite story to read at Christmas? It’s not a Christmas story as such, but I love the part in Louis Sachar’s Holes where Stanley thinks he is going to die, so he thinks back to a happy memory, and he thinks about falling down a hill in the snow with his mother. When I’m reading it in class I have to get the kids to read it because I’m in bits.

If you could have Christmas dinner with anyone (alive today or person from history) who would it be and why? I’m lucky because I’ll be having dinner with Mrs Davies and our children who are the people I’d most want to be with. Our children are quite young so there will be a bit of food flying about. So I’d like to have Barack Obama, obviously because of what he achieved in becoming the first African American President, but also he seems quite tall on TV so he could help me when I’m scraping mashed potato off the ceiling.

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.

Scrambled features amazing motorcycling. If you could choose a method of transport for Father Christmas other than the sleigh what would it be and why? Definitely a Fiat Doblo – it’s like the van from Postman Pat.

Reader’s question from children at the Inkpots Writer’s Hut; where do you get your ideas from? I’ve worked at a number of schools, but there was one in particular where crazy things seemed to happen all the time. For example, one Monday morning I drove into the car park and there was a car that was perfectly parked, except that it was upside down, on its roof. You just accepted it as normal. When I use these ideas I have to tone them down a bit.

Turkey or goose? Might be doing fish this year – controversial.

Real or fake tree? Both – how posh is that?

Mince pies or Christmas pudding? I’ll refer you back to question 2 for an answer to that.

Stockings –  end of the bed or over the fireplace? Rugby sock (washed) on bed.

Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve? Wedding anniversary on the 29th – can’t forget that!

Thank you for joining our festive author Q & A! Have a Happy Christmas!

Find out more about Huw at www.fireflypress.co.uk and follow him on Twitter @huw7777