Are you wondering what book to buy for your ten-year-old this Christmas?
Christopher Edge was a guest speaker at this year’s ‘Science, Nature and Comedy Festival,’ at the National Botanic Garden of Wales this September 2018. He is an award- winning Children’s Author, whose books have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Apart from being an exceptional story teller, he has an equally huge and delightful personality and a great sense of humour. In other words, he knows how to hold his audience in sheer awe. Of course, science is an awesome subject for most of us, but these very difficult and profound scientific concepts are always relayed to children by Christopher, leaving them completely spellbound, as though by magic all has been revealed. Even I was wishing my Science teacher had taught the subject so clearly and with such imagination. Yet Christopher had not been too fond of Science at school. It was many years later that he began to be interested in Scientific Magazines. But it was never going to be easy to run advanced scientific concepts alongside a children’s narrative, and then cleverly integrate the Science so interestingly into the book/s characters adventures.
Christopher grew up in Manchester, where he spent most of his childhood, he claims, in a local library, dreaming up stories. After studying at University he took a job working at a record shop, mostly listening to Bjork. He then began teaching, but he left his teaching role to move over to a publishing career. In 2007, he freelanced as a Publishing and Education Consultant, working with organisations such as Book Trust and Oxford University Press, on resources to inspire children as readers and writers.
He has written quite a few novels, but the books I need to draw your attention to are the following;
‘The Many Worlds of Albie Bright.’ This book was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal…Wow!
‘The Jamie Drake Equation.’ Selected as one of the best children’s books of 2017 for Independent Bookshop Week.
‘The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day.’ Christopher’s newest release, was recently chosen by ‘The Times’ as their book of the week.
Look out for Christopher at Literary Festivals, he’s even appeared at the Emirates Festival of Literature, and Cheltenham Literature Festival, and he popped up with a key speech at NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English) Conference.
He now resides in Gloucestershire with his wife and two children.
Other books and publications:
Twelve Minutes to Midnight Series.
How to Write Your Best Story Ever!
How to be a Young Writer.
Anyway, meeting Christopher and having him in person at the Botanic Gardens was a great honour. It was a shockingly wet day outside the Great Glasshouse, but cosy inside as we all listened to and enjoyed the company of Christopher Edge. Don’t forget to join us at our next Literature Event and do bring along your family so that the children may discover what stories authors have written.
The Interview with Christopher Edge by Irene Edwards.
Irene… Welcome to our interview, Christopher. I hope you enjoyed your visit to Carmarthenshire and to The National Botanic Garden of Wales.
Irene…Christopher, would you like to begin by telling us about your newest book release, and what inspired you to write it? What age group do you mostly write for?
Christopher…
My newest book is The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, which is about a young girl called Maisie who wakes up on the morning of her tenth birthday to discover that her parents and older sister, Lily, have disappeared from the house and the only thing she can see outside the front door is an infinite blackness that starts to come inside the house. Maisie has to use her knowledge of science to try and solve this mystery and find her family again. It’s a book about families and the nature of reality and the ideal reader is anyone aged nine to ninety-nine.
Irene… As it’s so close to Christmas, many parents or relatives may be at home puzzling about what reading matter they should buy as gifts for the children in the family. Would you like to describe your other novels to the readers?
Christopher…
My other novels include The Many Worlds of Albie Bright which is about a boy called Albie who travels to parallel worlds in search of his mum and was inspired by theories of quantum physics, whilst The Jamie Drake Equation is about a boy whose dad is an astronaut and also explores ideas of alien life. I think science and stories both help us to understand the world around us and I like to explore these ideas in my books.
Irene…Are you writing a novel right now?
Christopher…
I’ve just finished writing a new book which will be published in Spring 2019, but I can’t say too much about it now!
Irene…What cultural value do you see in writing/ reading/ story telling.
Christopher…
Books and stories help us to make sense of the world, provide an escape from it, and I hope, one day, might inspire the next generation to build a better world. I think the value of reading is immense – it’s opened so many doors for me – and that’s why I think we should be protecting our libraries which help to create the next generation of readers.
Irene…Are there vocabulary words or concepts in your books that may be new to your readers? Define some of them.
Christopher…
Although my books sometimes contain rather mind-bending scientific concepts that can tax the largest of brains such as Einstein’s theory of relativity or the principles of quantum physics, I try to explain these in a way that all readers can understand and in a way that adds, and doesn’t get in the way of the story.
Irene…What did you find most useful, least useful and most destructive in learning to write?
Christopher…
Learning to turn off my inner editor and focus on getting the story down when writing the first draft was an invaluable lesson. I’ve moved away from writing my first draft on screen and now write longhand as this frees me from distraction.
Irene…How long does it take you to write a children’s novel, and when complete describe the process you go through to get your book published?
Christopher…
Every novel is different, some stories race onto the page whilst others need careful shepherding. I’m lucky to work with a brilliant editor and ace team at my publishers who involve me in every step of the process.
Irene…What question would you like to be asked, but nobody has? Tell us the question and answer it?
Christopher…
What’s the chance of a banana zapping me with a gamma ray of radiation? To which I’d reply that every second there’s a 10% chance of a banana zapping you with a gamma ray as all bananas in the world are radioactive!
Irene…If you had the opportunity, how would you greet your ‘other-self’ in a parallel universe? Spooky!
Christopher…
It’d be too spooky for me too – I don’t think I’ll follow in Albie Bright footsteps and start hopping to parallel worlds.
Irene…I’m sure our young readers will find your books on the bookshelves of stores and libraries this Christmas. And if mams and dads, families and friends, enjoy a good day of shopping in bookshops, don’t forget, folks and kids to bring home a book written by Christopher Edge. Thank you, Christopher for delighting the crowd with your presentation at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales. Don’t forget to call over again…soon. Thank you also for taking part in this interview today. We all send you our best wishes from West Wales Chronicle.
Christopher Edge has his own website and requests that readers be directed to :
https://www.christopheredge.co.uk
Christopher’s pages are full of news and information where children and adults can catch up on his work. It is a colourful delight and chatty. I know readers will enjoy it. All his books are available for purchase within his web pages.
