Andrew Fusek Peters: Tree Talk

We spoke to Andrew Fusek Peters about his new novel Ravenwood – a gripping action story with an environmental theme set in a future world of giant trees and his latest collection of poems Leaves Are Like Traffic Lights.

Both Ravenwood and Leaves Are Like Traffic Lights share a theme of trees – is this a particular passion for you?

Yes, trees have always been very important to me and I live near an amazing arboretum where the idea for Ravenwood came to me. I wanted to create a fantasy world set in a world of giant trees.

Was Avatar an influence?

No, I’d had this idea for a story a long time before I saw the film.

Ravenwood has a strong environmental message – did you set out to write about this?

Yes – I wanted to write an entertaining book full of action and humour but with a strong ecological theme at its heart. I really wanted to talk about the environment and speak to the next generation who will have to pick up the pieces of what we have left behind.

Ravenwood is the first of a trilogy and epic in scope. What were the challenges of writing it?

Ravenwood isn’t my first novel – I’ve published quite a few shorter novels already but it is my first long novel and certainly my first trilogy so the main challenges were one of endurance - just to keep going.

The idea had been around for a while – and it has gone through several drafts – it has been my greatest challenge yet. The main challenges were to sustain character and plot development and keep up the pace.

It's a great read for children around 10-years-old – you must have a good idea of what appeals to that age group through your experience of visiting schools.

Yes that has been very useful – I know some people weren’t so keen on the puns and disgusting jokes but I know that children really enjoy that kind of humour.

Is it a coincidence that your poetry collection celebrating trees Leaves Are Like Traffic Lights was published in the same month?

No – I approached Salt with the idea as Ravenwood was publishing and I thought it would be good to have a poetry collection to tie in with the same theme. I realised I had a lot of poems about trees from previous collections so it was straight forward to bring them together. I’m really pleased with it – my 10-year-old son illustrated it and Salt are really pleased with it – we all are.

Do you feel there is less poetry being published for children today?

Yes – there doesn’t seem to be as much poetry being published today by the big publishers because publishers aren’t making any money out of it. Poetry is still on the national curriculum so there should still be just as much demand for it but because teachers are downloading poems from the internet sales have gone down drastically.

It's good to see that smaller publishers are still publishing poetry for children. Frances Lincoln has just launched a new poetry list and Salt and A&C Black are building their poetry lists but there is definitely less from the bigger publishers.

I’ve seen that you publish and write a lot with your wife – what is it like working together?

She is a great editor – it’s wonderful to have someone in the house to be able to bounce ideas off. We also write together – we’re a good team.

How about your children – have they been inspired to be writers?

My daughter is an aspiring writer – she writes a regular fashion blog called Clothes, Cameras and Coffee and she’s published a book which is doing well. My son likes art and illustrated Leaves Are Like Traffic Lights which the publisher was really pleased with – I think his drawings work really well with the poems. So we’re a pretty creative family.

The next book in the Ravenwood trilogy, The Glass Forest, is publishing in May 2012.