Mari Strachan - author q and a

Mari Strachan on Little Women, Good Wives and troubled detectives...

What was your favourite childhood book?

Llyfr Mawr y Plant in Welsh and Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Good Wives (always one book in my mind) in English..

Which book has made you laugh?

I remember being told off in the school library for laughing out loud at the antics of Richmal Compton's William Brown in one of her Just William books. I don't think any book has made me laugh quite so much since.

Which book has made you cry?

Beth's death in Good Wives made me cry every time I read it.

Which book would you never have on your bookshelf?

Any English rugby player's autobiography! Seriously: as a librarian, I believe in freedom of information and so would never adamantly refuse shelf room to any book unless there was an extremely good case for doing so. Privately - I'm running out of shelf space, so maybe the next book I buy is the answer!

Which book are you reading at the moment?

I always have several books on the go. At the moment I'm researching for my second novel with Ifor ap Glyn's Lleisiau'r Rhyfel Mawr (Voices of the Great War), and on my bedside table I have the graphic novel Watchmen, Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road, Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason (I do like a troubled detective!), and I often dip into the poetry of Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy, Menna Elfyn and Gwyneth Lewis.

Which book would you give as a present to a friend?

It depends on the friend! I tend to give poetry books as presents.

Which other writers do you admire?

They are just too numerous to name. Any writer has to be admired just for writing a book from start to finish!

Which classic have you always meant to read and never got round to it?

James Joyce's Ulysses.

What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?

No particular order:

Cysgod y Cryman by Islwyn Ffowc Elis.

Morality Play by Barry Unsworth.

Un Nos Ola Leuad by Caradog Prichard.

The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

What is the worst book you have ever read?

It's so hard to write a book that I can't bear to say anyone's book was that dreadful!

Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

Probably every book I've ever read in one way or another.

What is your favourite time of day to write?

Early morning.

And favourite place?

At the kitchen table for the creative stuff and in my computer cupboard on the landing for anything on the computer.

Longhand or word processor?

First (awful) draft in longhand, then the word processor, major editing and re-writing in longhand on print-outs, then final tidying and layout etc. on the word processor. A very messy process the whole thing!

Which fictional character would you most like to have met?

I do have a weakness for troubled detectives and there are so many series featuring them that it's difficult to choose - I've just finished reading a Fred Vargas Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg novel so maybe at this moment I would pick him. I suspect he would drive me to distraction, though!

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?

I haven't read every writer so can't offer an opinion on this one!

Which book have you found yourself unable to finish?

I do try to finish every book I begin. When I can't, especially when it's a lauded book, I suspect the fault is mine! I won't name those books.

What is your favourite word?

I have two favourites: "cartref" which is "home" and "hiraeth" which has no English equivalent but is that feeling of loss and longing you have when you are away from your home or anyone or anything you love.

Other than writing, what other jobs have you done?

My main job has always been librarianship - I've worked in academic, public, private, prison and school libraries. I have also done other things to keep body and soul together at various times - waitressing, factory work, doll-making, stall-holding, creative writing teaching, lab assisting.

What was the first piece you ever had in print?

My youngest son has insulin dependent diabetes and when he was a child I wrote a long rhyming piece for children based on the Red Riding Hood tale in which the wolf had diabetes. It was printed in Balance which was the magazine of the then British Diabetes Association. The illustration they provided was lovely! Unfortunately I've lost the copy of the magazine in one of our many house moves.

What are you working on at the moment?

My second novel, set in the aftermath of the Great War, - and panicking because I'm way behind with it!