Bath-based Anthony has written books, scripts and articles for Nickelodeon, Disney, Harpercollins, Macmillan, Dreamworks, The BBC, The Guardian, The Wrap, Haymarket Publishing, Parragon, Paramount and CiTV, and has been a professional writing competition judge for the prestigious Bath Novel Award.
What are your top 5 writing essentials?
- Digestive biscuits dunked in tea
- Movie soundtrack music
- Watson my cat sleeping near my desk
- A long morning walk in nature (before writing)
- Chocolate mini-rolls
What do you think are the most important aspects in writing children’s books?
Being able to reach your inner child to such a degree you can let your imagination go wild. Children live in the now, have huge imaginations – not stunted by real-life – and you have to be able to go back to when you saw the world that way to write for children. That and you need to be a bit silly and have a good sense of humour!
What do you find most enjoyable about writing?
Completely losing myself in a new world I’m creating and escaping from the real one!
Can you tell us about your new book The Wish Fish?
The Wish Fish is a colourful picture book for small children (illustrated by Becca May Bracey), about two children – best friends, Jim and Jemima – who want to mend their granddad’s broken boat for him. But they don’t know how to. That is, until a magical fish shows them they have the skills to do it. It’s an upbeat, fun story with a “can do” message about enjoying practical skills, and it’s based on the real-life story of a broken down ship (the SS Freshspring in North Devon) that’s been restored to its former glory.
It’s a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) book encouraging children to enjoy engineering as much as they do stories!
This interview was conducted in 2021.