Tiny Treasury

It’s the Friday Fifteen! Today’s guest is author Deborah Ellis.

Deborah’s first novel for young adults, Looking for X, was published in Fall 1999 and won the 2000 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Text in Canada. Her novel, The Breadwinner, is also widely acclaimed.

And now, onto the Fifteen!

1. Where are you now?
I’m in the Simcoe Public Library, in Simcoe, Ontario

2. What were your favorite books as a kid?
I grew up in small town Ontario, so most of my favourite books took place in New York City - A Teddy Bear Habit by James Lincoln Collier, Harriet the Spy, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Valley of the Dolls

3. What are you reading now?
I’m reading a lot of stuff about the Renaissance, as I’m about to start another historical novel.

4. Do you have kids?
I don’t have kids. I like kids, but don’t have any.

5. What projects are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a book of interviews with kids who are part of military families, to find out what it’s like for them to have a parent serving overseas in harm’s way. If any kids would like to share their stories, their parents could contact me at dellis@can.rogers.com

6. What is your biggest writing or illustrating luxury?
I live near the north shore of Lake Erie, and my biggest writing luxury is to take a lawn chair and a towel to the beach and write and swim and write and swim all day long.

7. Coffee or tea?
Coffee. Cheap instant.

8. Name five artists on your iPod (or mp3 player).
I have no IPod or anything like that. I like silence, The Beatles and slow jazz, but am always open to hearing something new.

9. What would I be surprised to know about you?
I like to walk around my town in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is asleep.

10. What college did you attend (in what subject)?
Never went to college. Graduated from Paris District High School in Paris, Ontario.

11. If you weren’t working with kids’ books, what would your dream job be?
My dream job is to be the Gorilla Girl with a traveling carnival - the woman who turns into a gorilla. Maybe one day.

12. What’s the best thing on TV right now?
Reruns of The West Wing. Also, there are sometimes British shows about people trying to live as though they lived in Tudor times, and so on. Those are great, too.

13. How did you get your “big break” into the field?
I entered a competition Groundwood Books was having for folks who had never published a novel for kids. I didn’t win, but they published the book - Looking for X - and it went on to win a Governor-General’s award.

14. Which celeb would you want most to meet?
Vanessa Redgrave. After her, Studs Terkel

15. Who is the best book character EVER?
Just about any character Dickens ever wrote.

Thanks, Deborah! Deborah’s new book, Jakeman, is in stores now (I just received a copy so look for my review in an upcoming post).