Quickfire questions with YA writer Keren David


Which 3 writers, living or dead, would you invite to dinner?

Antonia Forest, Noel Streatfeild, Mara Kay - so I can ask them about my favourite childhood books and characters.

What's your favourite writing snack?

A nice cup of tea

Longhand or computer?

Computer.

Win Booker prize or land Hollywood film deal?

Hollywood - I have a family to feed.

Tabloid or broadsheet?

I've worked for both - longest at a broadsheet - and I read both, but if I had to choose then broadsheet.

Independent bookshop or Amazon?

Specialist independents are the best.

Hacker or adder?

Hacker.

Plotter or panter? [ie do you plan out all your work first or write by the seat of your pants?]

Definite panter.

Leave on a cliffhanger or tell all?

Cliffhanger!

You really must read…

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.

I get most excited by…

Thinking up plot twists. And hearing from readers.

If I wasn’t a writer I would be…

Well, I am also a journalist, and my favourite job in journalism is news editing, but maybe that's too similar to being a writer. I'd love to be an art therapist.

An author should always...

Strive for truthfulness.

Keren David began her career in journalism as a teenager, starting out as messenger girl and then becoming a junior reporter at the Jewish Chronicle. She worked as a reporter for the Sunday Times and the Daily Express in Scotland and then as a news editor at the Independent, later becoming a commissioning editor on the Comment pages. She lived and worked in Amsterdam for eight years, returning to London in 2007. Since then Keren has written two books for teenagers, the contemporary thrillers When I Was Joe and Almost True both published in 2010. Drawing on her background in news, they tell the story of a boy taken into police protection after witnessing a murder. When I was Joe has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal and last week won the North East Teenage Book Award 2010. Keren's next book Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery will be published in August 2011.

6 comments:

Helen Black said...

Oh, your list of childhood reads coincides with mine.

Ballet Shoes...swoon.
HB x

Miriam Halahmy said...

Great to see a reminder of your journalist career again, such a great basis for becoming a novelist. Good answers Keren!

Caroline Green said...

Thanks so much Keren.

If I can just say that the 'Joe' books are among some of the very best YA fiction I've read in the last couple of years...brilliant stuff.

Luisa at Chicklish said...

Brilliant answers! I loved the Joe books too.

Debs Riccio said...

Great answers, Keren. 'When I was Joe' is in my TOP 2010 Reads, along with 'Almost True', and to prove how compelling both books are, I've recently caught the Husband on chapter 9 of WIWJ and he *hates* reading! Congratulations again on your recent award!

Keren David said...

You are all lovely..