Lissa Evans wrote Small change for Stuart, one of 8 books shortlisted for the Carnegie medal this year. The Carnegie medal is awarded to a writer who has written an outstanding book for children. Lissa used to be a producer of comedy shows on the BBC so it's not surprising that her book is quite funny. Perhaps more surprising is that there is a blind character in her book.
What's your book about?
It's about a boy who moves house to a new town at the beginning of the summer holidays and thinks his life is going to be dull and dismal. Then he stumbles upon a magical family secret.
You've got a blind character in your book called Leonora who has a guide dog, Pluto. What inspired that?
She is quite a major character and the sister of somebody who disappeared 50 years ago so I knew she needed to be an old lady and I wanted someone funny and interesting and resourceful who maybe had a reason for not having followed visual clues in the last 50 years. I enjoyed writing her. I based her dog a bit on one of David Blunkett's dogs, one of those really hairy Labradors you've only got the vaguest idea which way he is pointing.
Is it your first children's book?
Yes. I had three adult books published and this is my first children's book. I have written a sequel now.
Was it difficult to write?
I really love writing and I whizzed through it. I wrote it in about six months which is very short for me and I gave it to my agent and she got back to me and said "yeah well you know it's OK but I mean there's this wrong with it and this and this". I was really cross and I read it again and thought "oh, she's right". So it took me a really painful six months to re-write. But once I got it I was really pleased with it and that gave me all the characters for the sequel in a fairly short time.
Did you make a conscious decision to make this a light-hearted book?
Comedy is what I do. I worked in comedy radio, comedy television so I like to feel all my books are quite funny.
Do you think you found your children's author voice now?
I hope so. I wrote a sequel called Big change for Stuart and it's been published in the States and you can see reviews and comments on the net saying it's the start of a series and I think well it's not it's just a sequel. So I'm going to have to write something else now.
Have you got any tips for aspiring young writers?
Read lots and write what you enjoy reading. Write what you would enjoy reading - that's the only tip that matters in the end.
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Small change for Stuart is available in braille, giant print and TB 404683.