Lydia Syson, is the acclaimed author of novels The World Between Us and That Burning Summer.
Both these incredibly powerful novels have attracted much attention, gaining coveted places on an impressive range of shortlists.
It is a great honour to welcome Lydia Syson to My Book Corner …
Tell us about you in 25 words or less.
I laugh a bit too much; I‘ve four children; I’m untidy but pedantic; I’m a worrier and I often find myself in conversation with strangers.
What makes you happy?
Being in wild places with my family. Exploring.
Where have you always wanted to visit, but haven’t made it to … yet?
Timbuktu…I wrote a whole PhD about the pull of this place on the Western imagination.
Where is your favourite place to write?
In bed. My bedroom is right at the top of the house, in the old loft, with windows looking out on both sides so I can always see sky and treetops, and sometimes parakeets. But there are lots of places I’d like to get the chance to write…I was very jealous when someone offered a friend a medieval tower in Italy so he could finish his book. Imagine!
What piece of advice would you give your teenage self?
Life will get better really quite soon.
What’s the best thing about being a published author?
Meeting and hearing from readers who’ve loved your book, and knowing you’ve changed something about the way they think about the world.
What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
When I was teaching in a village school in Botswana, a pupil asked me if God was an abstract noun. I said it depends on your point of view.
What is your worst habit?
Finishing other people’s sentences for them but failing to finish my own.
Your favourite word(s)?
Sesquipedalian. It makes me laugh, it’s lovely to say and it embodies itself so beautifully. (It means someone who uses long words.)
What’s the last book you read?
I don’t really want to say as it will give away the subject of my next book! But the last book I read aloud (to my two youngest children, who are twins, and probably in their last year of being read aloud to – boo hoo – as they’ll be at secondary school next year) was ‘The Exploits of Moominpappa’ by Tove Jannson. I’ve always loved all the Moomin books and was thrilled to see Moominland in Tampere library many years ago when I was making a radio programme in Finland. The boys chose ‘Moominpappa’ as a quick light read after ‘Dracula’ – also their choice, and fantastic, but it did take us quite a while, and Professor Van Helsing’s accent was certainly a challenge…I think reading aloud is the best test of all for a book.
Did we forget anything?
Almost certainly. I’ll remember at about 4.30 in the morning.
Just for fun
Tea or coffee? Tea first thing, then one carefully-made coffee, then tea for the rest of the day, in large quantities.
Paper books or e-books? Paper ideally, but e-books for convenience.
Vegemite or Marmite? Definitely Marmite. Can’t actually live without it. I’m not prepared even to discuss Vegemite.
Write or type? Type. All fingers. Very fast. Handwriting illegible.
Poetry or prose? A bit of both.
Beach or bush? Bush.
Hot or cold? Hot.
You can catch up with Lydia on Twitter here.
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