UK appreciation month: Catherine fisher - Interview

Please tell us a little bit about yourself?

-I like woods and walking and reading and drawing and that's about it really.

At what age did you write your first book?

-At about 19 0r 20, I was still in college. But that was never published- it was a pretty poor effort.

What was your inspiration for writing your book(s)?

-Other writers I admired such as Alan Garner, Tolkien, Stevenson etc. I wanted to produce work like theirs.

Are there any parts of the story you feel particularly close to?

-Which story? I feel both close and distant to stories. Close when I am writing them but then they become rather like someone else's work when they are finished.

How can our followers connect with you?

-By using the q and a page on my website if they want to ask questions.

UK related Questions:

Where’s your favourite place?

-Wales, particularly Gwent where I live. It has coast and mountains and valleys and forests all very close to each other.

What’s your favourite thing about living here?

-The sea is very close to everywhere in Britain. And I love the sea.

Is there one place you would like to visit, that you haven’t yet?

-In the UK, probably Cambridge. In Europe, certainly Venice.

Do you have a favourite British band?

-Of all time, Led Zeppelin.

Do you have a favourite British movie?

-I'm not that good on films, sorry.

Do you have a favourite British actor/actress?

-Lots but top would be Ian McKellan who I have seen many times in the theatre and who is always excellent.

When you think of Britain, what’s the first thing you think of?

-I don't think of it, really. Again, probably the sea.

Which place in Britain would you most like to live other than where they do live?

-On the Marlborough Downs, somewhere near Avebury.

What's your favourite British saying? 

-In Wales when it's really wet we say Mae hi'n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn.....it's raining old women with sticks... I like that image.

Obsidian mirror

Jake's father disappears while working on mysterious experiments with the obsessive, reclusive Oberon Venn. Jake is convinced Venn has murdered him. But the truth he finds at the snow-bound Wintercombe Abbey is far stranger ... The experiments concerned a black mirror, which is a portal to both the past and the future. Venn is not alone in wanting to use its powers. Strangers begin gathering in and around Venn's estate: Sarah - a runaway, who appears out of nowhere and is clearly not what she says, Maskelyne - who claims the mirror was stolen from him in some past century. There are others, a product of the mirror's power to twist time. And a tribe of elemental beings surround this isolated estate, fey, cold, untrustworthy, and filled with hate for humans. But of them all, Jake is hell-bent on using the mirror to get to the truth. Whatever the cost, he must learn what really happened to his father.

Author bio

Catherine Fisher was born in Newport, Wales. She graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in English and a fascination for myth and history. She has worked in education and archaeology and as a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Glamorgan. She is a Fellow of the Welsh Academy.

Catherine is an acclaimed poet and novelist, regularly lecturing and giving readings to groups of all ages. She leads sessions for teachers and librarians and is an experienced broadcaster and adjudicator. She lives in Newport, Gwent.