About me

Q: We don't get many humans in our tree. What are you doing up here too?
A: I like to write up here. Apart from squirrels, I don't usually get distracted.

Q: Ooh! You're a writer then. Is that what you always wanted to be?
A: Not at first. When I was young I knew I wanted to do something with animals. I liked the idea of being an explorer journeying into leech-infested jungles or crossing the high Arctic in a dog sledge in search of polar bears. If I couldn't be an explorer, I wanted to be a vet or a zookeeper. At school I was disappointed that teachers only tried to teach really bizarre stuff such as Pythagoras' theorem; something to do with the lengths of the sides of a triangle and a hypotenuse. Teachers never taught the really important things, like 'how to avoid a herd of charging elephants' or, 'what to do if your canoe hits a rock in rapids, splits in two and sinks into the Zambezi.' (These things really happened to me and I always felt I could have been better prepared. I never saw a hypotenuse, but I did see a hippopotamus. It was very big and scary and I didn't stick around to see if Pythagoras was right about his theory.)

Q: What did your teachers think of you at school?
A: Hmm! That's a good question. I recently dug out some of my old school reports. These are some of the better ones, so I'll let you decide.

Age 9 'Gillian writes super stories, although when doing more mundane things, like sums, she drifts into her own world of ghosts etc.'
Age 10 'Gillian seems in a daydream most of the time – she doesn't often listen to instructions and as a consequence her work suffers.'
Age 10 'Although her work book is a disaster area, I feel she has the ability to do well.'
Age 11 'Gillian must literally pull herself together if she wishes to do well. At times she is extremely scatter-brained.'

Q: Oh dear, so you were a bit of a daydreamer then?
A: Yes, and I suppose I still am. But daydreaming is hugely underrated. I think whole lessons should be set aside for it. New ideas are born from daydreams; authors dreaming up new stories, scientists dreaming up new inventions, environmentalists dreaming up new ways of saving our planet. We all need time to daydream.

Q: Did you become an explorer or a zookeeper?
A: Neither, although when I was a child I spent hours exploring my own garden. It was long and steep and grew wild at the far end. I dug for fossils in a huge pile of rubble left by builders. I found lots of devil's toenails; a type of fossil oyster that lived millions of years ago when Britain was submerged beneath warm tropical seas. I watched spiders spin webs, and blackbirds nest in the thick undergrowth. One summer I watched wasps build their papery nest in the eaves of a shed roof. I kept a small zoo in that shed too. Mainly, I kept slugs and snails and woodlice, although once I was really lucky and found a slow worm, a type of legless lizard. My cages were always open and nothing ever stayed long. The shed also became a temporary veterinary hospital for mice and birds that had been caught and injured by my cat. I always tried to save them and cried buckets if they died. So, I suppose it was because of my cat that I decided to become a vet.

Q: You're a vet too? Have you ever treated any squirrels?
A: Only once. I had to go to someone's house and release a squirrel trapped inside the living room. I think it had fallen down the chimney. The squirrel was furious and was tearing around the walls and swinging from the light bulb. The room looked as if ten burglars had partied in there… vases smashed, pictures off the walls, books scattered across the floor… you can imagine the scene. We were lucky to escape without having our fingers bitten off.

Q: Ah… that might have been my cousin Cyril! He was probably after peanuts. He's mad about them. So was that your scariest moment as a vet?
A: I was once charged by a crazy cow. The farmers managed to jump the gate, but I was wearing a floor length calving gown at the time, so I couldn't make it. The cow chased me round and round and round my car for about ten minutes before she gave up. Once the farmers had stopped rolling about the floor from laughing so much, they told me I'd made a qualifying time for the Olympics!

Q: What the weirdest animal you've ever treated?
A: Probably an ostrich with a corn cob stuck in its throat.

Q: Apart from squirrels, have you treated any other wildlife?
A: Yes, I've seen many injured and diseased wild animals although I often referred them to specialist wildlife rehabilitation centres to make sure they had the best chance of survival when released back into the wild. Much of the wildlife brought in had suffered at the expense of human activity; road traffic accidents, entanglement in rubbish, the effects of pollution… the list goes on. It made me realise how important it is, that we must all take responsibility for our environment.

Q: Wow! So you really care about us squirrels?
A: Not just squirrels… we are seeing the results of many years of over-exploitation of the land and oceans; pollution, soil erosion, desertification, depletion of fish stocks. It feels as if time is running out. Yet, I think there is a window of hope. Where wildlife has been given a chance to return, we are seeing great changes. In the UK, many of our rivers are now cleaner, supporting native fish and increasing otter populations. Research in Lyme Bay has shown that given time, the sea-bed can recover from the effects of commercial dredging. We have ospreys returning to nest not only in Scotland but also in England and in Wales. In Sky Hawk, I wanted to show how the actions of an individual can have far reaching effects.

Q: But what can kids do to help?
A: There are lots of ways. Making small changes can make a big difference. Ask parents and carers to leave part of a garden wild. Persuade local authorities to develop wildlife areas within city parks. Instead of planting exotic trees and shrubs, grow native ones to provide food and shelter for wildlife. Build a den or tree house to watch the birds and animals that come to the garden. Join a local wildlife group, such as one of the Wildlife Trusts. They often have free days out and activities at local nature reserves. You get to find out about lots of wildlife too.

Q: So where's your favourite place to watch wildlife?
A: I don't really have a favourite place. Wildlife is everywhere. I have the same sense of excitement watching flocks of starlings wheeling over cityscapes as I do watching bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Cornwall, or the whirring flight of humming birds in Costa Rican rainforests, or squirrels from my tree house.

Q: How come you started writing books for children?
A: It took me by surprise really. It was reading to my own children, that I rediscovered children's books. I loved picture books, the way words and pictures interact to tell a story. I loved novels for older children, entering new worlds created by authors and following the adventures of their characters. I couldn't help dreaming up my own stories too.

Q: Do you make all your own books and stick in the pages?
A: I made books like that when I was young and really enjoyed it, but my publisher does that for me now.

Q: Was it easy to find a publisher?
A: No, it took AGES. I wrote several stories before writing Sky Hawk but I couldn't find a publisher for them. Some of those stories were truly terrible. I've since burned them and deleted them from my computer and my memory. I did write one story that my children loved, about a boy who was accidentally abducted by aliens and ended up saving the world. It had something to do with an intergalactic knitting festival and a subterranean zoo. Unfortunately I couldn't find a publisher to love it too.
I then decided I needed to find out more about writing. I wanted to know how to get the ideas onto paper. So I went back to university to study for an MA in Writing for Young People. There, I met other writers and learned how to craft my writing. Not long after finishing Sky Hawk, I was fortunate enough to find an agent and then a publisher.

Q: What's your next book about? Are there any squirrels in it?
A: Um… no squirrels, I'm afraid. It's about the on-going destruction of marine habitats around our coasts. The story has dolphins in it too, because I love dolphins.

Q: Where do you get your ideas from?
A: From anywhere and everywhere; from places I've been, conversations I've heard, newspaper articles I've read… one idea leads to another and another… an unstoppable stream of ideas, until gradually a story rises to the surface and I just have to start writing it down.

Q: What about a book about squirrels? We could help you with that.
A: It would help if you stopped raiding my biscuit tin and ripping up my notebooks for bedding. Maybe you'd like to help out instead?... you could tidy up a bit, bring me a coffee (white, no sugar, please) and some cake. And while you're at it, a cheese and pickle sandwich for lunch with a side salad and a few fries would be good too. Also...
[Squirrel looking at reader of screen] I'm gone!