Byatt children's book interview with sam

Sam mcbratney has been writing children s books for more than 30 years. In an interview about this novel, she comments on this period. The childrens book is rich with history and generous with story, detailing the lives of a group of. One of the characters in her new novel, the childrens book, she says, represents my greatest terror which is simple. Partly this is because it is, as sam leith observes in his interview with byatt, a disconcertingly centreless book. Byatt s publisher is keen to present the childrens book, her first novel for seven years, as an equal to possession, the work that secured her reputation and her massmarket appeal nearly 20. Even more than byatts former novels, the childrens book works through a complex of multiple. The childrens book is filled with emotion and into it is woven, discreetly and obliquely, one of the central emotional facts of byatts own life, the loss of her son in a car accident when he was 11. She refers directly to the children s book, stating that when philip comes to. While the central character of olive is a writer of childrens literature, supporting her large family with her writing, the title of the book refers to the children in the book.

Twist in the tale for love life of drabbles man by. Its not just that its populated by a vast array of vividly realized characters, nor that the characters whose threads one initially assumes the narrative will be built around, olive wellwood, prosper cain and the two boys, tom wellwood and phillip warren, quickly become just part of a much larger fabric. Tom, julian, philip, elsie, dorothy, hedda, griselda, florence, charleskarl, phyllis, and others, following each as they approach adulthood and the terrors of war. Get to know your favorite or soon to be favorite authors by reading our exclusive interviews. Dame antonia susan byatt received the seventh pak kyongni prize at award ceremony held at the toji cultural center in wonju on october 28. Byatt has said in interviews that fairy tales and the childrens books of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as e. Byatt has said in interviews that fairy tales and the childrens books of the late nineteenth and. Byatts hostility to the cult of feelings can, though, be easily misunderstood.

Byatt speaks about the capacity of language to depict the surrounding world in inexhaustible ways. Her sisters are the novelist margaret drabble and the art historian helen langdon. Near the beginning of her long career as a novelist and critic, a. Years later, he tried his hand at another byatt novel, the childrens book, but found it. In an interview with sam leith of the guardian, byatt told a story about a. When his kids were growing up, he told whimsical original bedtime stories every night. Nesbits magical stories and the wind in the willows, inspired her to write the novel. Byatt reads from the childrens book, a finalist for the booker prize, which the sunday times of london has. Celebrated novelist margaret drabble has said her lifelong feud with her sister and fellow literary dame a. Byatt is the author of numerous novels, including the quartet the virgin in the. We love shining the spotlight on brilliant authors. His internationally bestselling book guess how much i love you, illustrated by anita jeram, has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide and continues to sell a million copies a year. I started with the idea that writing childrens books isnt good for the writers own children. Byatt was born in sheffield as antonia susan drabble, the eldest child of john drabble, qc, and kathleen bloor, a scholar of browning.