Jenni Fagan, author of The Panopticon
Tell us about your latest creation:
The Sunlight Pilgrims. It is my second fiction novel, based on the lives of four characters who live in a caravan park. Around them there is a huge mountain, a city dump, an industrial park and a nearby motorway. There are rumours of an insipid sea. It is set about ten years in the future and begins with a mass eviction of the area around the river Thames in London, when it floods (they know it will at some point) it could affect a huge area of land. Anyway, the four characters are all quite different and they meet at the beginning of a freak severe winter, the aurora borealis is about to pass by and it really is just the story of their lives. I haven’t been talking about it much yet so excuse the vagueness, I’ll get to the synopsis stage once it is finished.
Where are you from / where do you call home?:
I am from Edinburgh really, I call that home as it is the longest I ever stayed in one place. I haven’t lived there for quite a while but I am thinking of moving back.
When you were a kid, what did you want to become? An author?:
I wanted to be an author from a very early age. When I was about seven the teacher asked everyone in class what they wanted to be and I said I’d like to be a witch. She said that wasn’t possible so I said I’d be a coal miner instead. I lived next to a coal mine then, I only said it to annoy her as girls were not meant to go down the pit.
What do you consider to be your best work? Why?:
I don’t think about that really. My work is always evolving and I try not to grade it, either it’s good or it’s not.
Describe your writing environment to us – your writing room, desk, etc.; is it ordered or chaotic?:
I finally have a tiny room that I am to make into a study and I don’t quite know what to do with it. I have been writing in bed, on the sofa, or out in libraries or bars for so long that I’ve just continued to write that way. I would like a big room in the garden as an office, I’d probably live there.
When you’re not writing, who/what do you like to read?:
I read everything and anything, I go through a lot of new authors each year and I’m always catching up on older ones too. At the moment I am reading The Bridge by Iain Banks, The Deadman’s Pedal by Alan Warner, Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyemi, Short Stories and Essays by Mina Loy, Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, Save Yourself by Kelly Braffet and about to begin the new one by David Vann. I’m also reading a book on brain psychology and another on shamanism.
What was the defining book(s) of your childhood/schooling?:
I think when I read The Hobbit at around age eight, I really thought it was something special. I read constantly as a child but I remember reading that and thinking — this isn’t the usual patronising crap. I had a particular fondness for The Faraway Tree and the Magic Wishing Chair. Also, anything by Maurice Sendak or Roald Dahl.
If you were a literary character, who would you be?:
Anais Hendricks. Go figure.
Apart from books, what do you do in your spare time (surprise us!)?:
I grow potatoes. That’s a recent endeavour. I hang out with my toddler. I like to make things, I do a lot of photography, I’d like to do old houses up if I had more time. I try to walk by the sea and I love going to the movies although there isn’t a cinema near here right now. I want a big bass guitar. That would do nicely.
What is your favourite food and favourite drink?:
Favourite food is probably anything with goats cheese and organic tomatoes. Or chicken. Or seafood. I’ll settle for cheese on toast actually. Favourite drink is gin.
Who is your hero? Why?:
I don’t have a hero, is that sad?
Crystal ball time – what is the biggest challenge for the future of books and reading?:
The biggest challenge is to provide work that current generations will actually engage in — there’s a lot of competition out there.
Website URL: http://thedeadqueenofbohemia.w
Twitter URL: @Jenni_Fagan