Name: Alan Bagnall
Date of birth: 28 December 1940
Place of birth: Lower Hutt hospital
Now living in: Mahina Bay
- What is your favourite food?
- Bacon, liver and tomatoes fried together in a slush. Fresh apples. Egg sandwiches.
- Do you have a nickname and if so what is it?
- Baggy.
- What was your most embarrassing moment?
- This will remain a secret.
- How do you relax?
- Bushwalking and gardening and riding in trains.
- Who inspired you when you were little?
- My grandfather.
- What were you like at school?
- Shy.
- What was your favourite/most hated subject at school?
- Art and craft things were fun, and dancing was embarrassing.
- What was the book you most loved as a child?
- Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Which person from the past would you most like to meet?
- One of those anonymous parents who made up nursery rhymes about 1000 years ago!
- Who is your favourite author/children's author?
- This changes all the time!
Children's author/illustrator - I most admire Ezra Jack Keats. - Barbara Kingsolver is my current adult favourite - she could also be enjoyed by young adults.
- Why did you want to be a writer?
- To entertain classes I was teaching.
- Do you have a special place where you write your books?
- Usually at school when all the children are writing too.
- What's the best thing and worst thing about being a writer?
- When it comes to sharing writing, the best thing is when others like it and the worst when they think it's rubbish!
- If you weren't a writer, what would you like to be?
- Plumber (I do help plumbers sometimes on drainage jobs).
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What advice would you give to aspiring writers? - Write for fun and to share with your friends - the best writing isn't always appreciated by publishers because publishers are looking for stuff to sell. The best things in life don't have a market value.