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Mick Manning
http://www.mickandbrita.commick@mickandbrita.com
To download this profile page, click HERE
Q: What were you like at school?
I went to a village school in West Yorkshire – a place called Haworth. The fields nearby were full of lapwings in Spring and the sound of rooks in the famous churchyard carried across the whole valley. I liked English, Nature study and Art best. Once, when I was 7 or 8 my class teacher kneed me round the class for painting a blue cloud "clouds" (knee) "aren't" (knee) "BLUE!"(knee) . . . Ouch ! But I knew clouds could be blue – I'd seen them floating over the moor. That's when I knew I'd be an artist.
Q: What did you want to be when you were a child?
An artist...
Q: What is your favourite word?
Love
Q: What makes you cringe?
War
Q: When did you last have a really good laugh?
2 minutes ago, when I was writing about the teacher kneeing me round the room when I'd painted a blue cloud...
Q: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done?
Poaching rabbits with my ferrets perhaps?
Q: Do you feel younger or older than your current age?
Younger
Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
One of my ancestors would be interesting. One of my great, great, great, great grandfathers was a Regency artist called Charles Muss, He lived in Newcastle and then London and he was the son of an Italian artist called Bonifacio Musso. They would be interesting people to talk to.
Q: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Apply to the Royal College of Art.
Q: How long have you been a writer?
Over 20 years.
Q: Was there a specific moment in your life when you decide to become a writer?
When I wasn't getting enough work as an illustrator in the mid 1980s after leaving art school. I started writing freelance articles for magazines and papers (and later books) and would commission myself to be the illustrator...
Q: Where do you do your writing?
I write and illustrate in 2 studios shared with my partner Brita Granström
Q: Where do you get your greatest ideas from?
From personal experience, personal interests and fascinations: Nature, History, Science and Art. For example Art School (Frances Lincoln) is based on the course I created when I ran the Illustration Dept at Glasgow School of Art. The projects are re-written for 8 -12's but it is still the same basic course. Tail-End Charlie is based on true stories my dad told me about his time as an air gunner in the Second World War. How Did I Begin and Our Baby Inside are based on experience of my own family...
Q: Which of your own characters do you most identify with?
The boy in Stone Age Bone Age is cool – but most of all I identify with my father Charlie in Tail-End Charlie. The terrible things his generation had to experience to defeat fascism is astounding. We have just written a follow up about my mum's war experiences called Taff in the WAAF. That will be published in 2010.
Q: What do you do to combat “writers’ block”?
Go and do something else... feed the hens, play with the ferrets, get the boys from school... or think about the images or turn my attention to a different book.
Q: What was your favourite book as a child?
As a little boy of 3 ? Noddy . . . As a boy of 6? Sammy Sticklepin and Rupert Bear. Around 7 I discovered Charles Tunnicliffe's Ladybird Books What to Look for in Autumn/ Winter /Summer and Spring. At 9 I read Lion comic and Stig of the Dump (as illustrated by Edward Ardizzone) was my best read.
Q: What book do you wish you had written?
I think PEEPO! by the Ahlbergs is the ultimate children's picture book. But TADPOLE'S PROMISE by Jeanne Willis and OUR VILLAGE by John Yeomen and Quentin Blake are favourites too.
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TAIL-END CHARLIE
Published By
FRANCES LINCOLN
Status
In Print -
ROMAN FORT
Published By
FRANCES LINCOLN
Status
In Print -
DINO DINNERS
Published By
FRANCES LINCOLN
Status
In Print -
HOW DID I BEGIN
Published By
WATTS
Status
In Print -
VIKING LONGSHIP
Published By
FRANCES LINCOLN
Status
In Print -
WHAT MR DARWIN SAW
Published By
FRANCES LINCOLN
Status
In Print -
MY BODY BOOK
Published By
WATTS
Status
In Print -
OUR BABY INSIDE
Published By
WATTS
Status
In Print -
WHATS UNDER THE BED
Published By
WATTS
Status
In Print -
STONE AGE BONE AGE
Published By
WATTS
Status
In Print -
ART SCHOOL
Published By
FRANCES LINCOLN
Status
In Print
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