Novelist / Author
Professional
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Anne Fine, OBE FRSL, is a writer and novelist - although she is best known for her imaginative and compelling children's books, she also writes for adults.
We did a lot creative writing at school. We were sat down to write a story, in quiet, at least twice a week. They don’t do creative writing in school now. It is an absolute tragedy.
She was born in Leicester and has four sisters, the eldest of which, Elizabeth Arnold is also a children's author. It wasn't until she was 24, that she wrote her first book.
In 1971 my first daughter was born. Unable to get to the library in a snowstorm to change my library books, in desperation I sat down and started to write a novel. Clearly this was the right job for me, for I have never stopped writing for more than a few weeks since.
Her books for older children include Madame Doubtfire (1987), which was produced by Twentieth Century Fox as Mrs. Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams.
Fine, has written more than seventy children's books, including two winners of the annual Carnegie Medal and three highly commended runners-up. She has also won the Guardian Prize, one Smarties Prize, two Whitbread Awards and has twice been the Children's Author of the Year. She has enjoyed wide reaching, global success and her work has been translated into over 45 languages.
It’s almost impossible to have a routine because children’s authors are seen as an educational resource, so there is quite a lot we have to do. And there is my family, so I cannot be precious and say I must sit down at my desk at nine but I do work as often as I can, which is almost every day. I don’t distinguish between the week and weekends and I work much better in the morning.
She was the second Children's Laureate, from 2001 to 2003 and received an OBE for services to literature in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
I love the sheer addictiveness of the job. Out of nowhere, you feel a sort of nudge inside your brain, and it's 'Oh, right, So that's what I'm going to write about next.
The germ of the book comes and then I don’t have any choice – I am not satisfied until it is finished! Sometimes it comes in floods and then I go back and tinker with it for six weeks. It is satisfying and absorbing, but not easy.
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