Greg Gormley joins Ian Eagleton in The Reading Realm today to talk about his new book, JUST A LITTLE HUG, which is illustrated by Stef Murphy!
Before we settle down in The Reading Realm for a chat, what’s your drink and snack of choice?
I’ll have a cup of steaming tea with a slice of apricot jam covered toast, please.
Tell us about your book in three sentences and then three words!
Sensitive Wolfie is in need of a hug, just a little hug. He tries to get a hug from all his friends but fails to get the one he wants. In the end he gets just the right one from a completely unexpected place.
Silly comedy cuddles.
If one of your characters could come to dinner, who would you invite and what would you cook them? What do you think you’d talk about?
I’d invite Orangutan and cook him a nice curry made with coconut because he looks like an orange coconut. We’d talk about swinging through the trees, football, and how difficult it is to get a good cappuccino in the jungle.
What’s the funniest word you know that always makes you laugh?
Discombobulate because I can’t decide whether it sounds painful or ticklish.
What’s the silliest or strangest thing you’ve ever researched for a story?
Before the internet was available, I spent a lovely afternoon in the Natural History Museum library researching shamrocks.
Do your characters ever surprise you?
Yes, what they will do exactly is always a mystery until you start writing.
If your writing desk could speak, what would it say about you?
That I need to focus!
Did you like reading when you were a child? If so, what?
I did like reading but didn’t come from a very bookish family. I loved Roald Dahl but also read lots of comics, which really helped me to gain an interest in reading.
What’s your favourite book that isn’t yours?
The Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business.
What book do you wish you could read for the first time again?
Wind in the Willows.
What’s the funniest thing a child has said to you?
“Are you famous?”
If you weren’t an author, what would you be?
I’d travel around with a clipboard checking nice views. It’s a job that doesn’t exist, but I wish it did.
What BAD advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer?
Definitely stick at it and you’ll become rich!
SPEED ROUND:
Cake or biscuits? Biscuits, dunked of course.
Dinosaurs or unicorns? Dinosaurs.
Pirates or astronauts? Astronauts but ones from the future.
Museums or theme parks? Museums, which kind of are theme parks, I think.
Cats or dogs? Both.
Summer or winter? Winter.
Aliens or robots? Robots.
THANK YOU Greg for joining us in The Reading Realm today!
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