Story by Daniel Everett
Photo by Ryan Low
Daniel Everett: Mark, starting off with a question about your inspiration, is there anything that inspired you?
Mark Greenwood: Well as a kid I’ve always loved reading and history, which is why lots of my books have that history element. Most importantly, I loved sharing stories with young people, mainly because they have different perspectives and views to adults like me. I’ve always hoped to be an author of the future, inspiring the younger generations. If I can have an impact on kids and teenagers, I’ve done well.
DE: You spoke earlier about history, how does that influence your writing?
MG: Look, the past is something I’m fascinated by and the thought of implementing the past into our own writing blows me away. There are sometimes those stories I don’t want to leave because of how good they were, these are the stories I love researching. I want to be the one on the other end of these stories, the enjoyment my readers can have researching the history of these stories.
DE: What is your favourite book from the collection you’ve written?
MG: I’m going to be honest with you; I don’t have a favourite book as they’re like my children. You’re not really allowed a favourite child, parent, brother, sister and so forth. There are many different sides and aspects to each story, unique from the others.
DE: Did you have words of advice for the younger generation?
MG: We are at a literature festival, so it is all about reading. Reading is what fuels writing, the more you read the better your writing becomes. My message is to read as much as possible and enjoy reading. Finally, find subjects you care about and hopefully we will have young people come up through the ranks and they could have the great pleasure of seeing their own books in bookshops and libraries. Publishing is about sharing creativity and creativity takes courage.