Interviews, videos...
For print and video interviews, use the links below.
2015 - interview on Tiff's Book Lair
Evie’s War recently made the NZ Listener’s ’50 Best Books for Kids’ list!
Favorite book(s) read in the last year?
‘Noonday’ by Pat Barker is my favourite read of the year. Barker is such an accomplished storyteller I knew I’d love it before I began, but her evocation of life in London during the Blitz was viscerally powerful. I couldn’t put it down. Another book I enjoyed that explores the residual impact of WWII on survivors and their families is ‘A God in Ruins’ by Kate
Atkinson. Both are stand-alone reads that also complete an earlier story. Also linked to WWII and the post-war years is the pared back, hard-hitting YA title ‘Maggot Moon’ by Sally Gardner. Fantastic writing.
Read the full interview here.
2011 – interview for North & South
Young-adult writer Anna Mackenzie isn’t scared of the dark, conjuring up everything from apocalypse and war to toxic smog and decontamination in her sci-fi novels.
“I’m interested in what makes us who we are. Every generation goes through similar stuff, but everything’s so new to them.”
So what is she hoping teens will take from this book?
“I want them to think, ‘That was a great read.’ And perhaps to think about the complexities of the world, the moral choices we have to make and how the future is influenced by our decisions now.”
Read full interview here.
2010 – Interview for Island Stories
Extract:
Q: The island itself is very real. What is your inspiration for this setting?
A: Dunnett is an amalgam of a number of places I’ve lived or visited, with a hearty dose of imagination thrown in. I wanted to create a setting that could be anywhere – I think YA fiction works well when the reader can transpose their own familiar reference points into the setting, so I've tried to keep it non-specific. That said, the cave at one end of Skellap Bay is a real place, and various aspects of the island’s topography and isolation are also taken from a real location.
Read full interview here
Podcast of 2016 NZ Festival Writers Week session with Anna Mackenzie
titled 'WWI voices'
Anna Mackenzie as Writer in Residence with Passa Porta, Belgium, 2013
Anna Mackenzie at Auckland Readers and Writers Festival 2010
2008 – Interview for Christchuch City Library
Extract:
Q: Who inspired you when you were little?
A: My Dad, who was a poet, and constantly read to us and made up stories that my sisters and brother and I starred in. I was also inspired by reading: I was forever ‘lost’ inside a book...
Read full interview here
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