5 minutes with…. Ross Montgomery
Ross Montgomery, author of Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door, The Tornado Chasers and Perijee & Me, is coming to Barnes to talk about his latest book, Max and The Millions. This fascinating book, in the vein of childhood favourite The Borrowers, is all about a deaf boy who discovers a microscopic fantasy world of tiny people living on his bedroom floor no bigger than ants. Ross, who came to writing via the interesting route of pig farming, post delivery, and primary school teaching, will feature loads of fascinating facts about the tiny invisible creatures living around us in his interactive workshop. There will also be activities where the kids can try to imagine what it would be like being ant-sized in a human sized room! The event will feature British Sign Language interpretation. Want to know more about the man behind the books? Read on....
Barnes Children’s Literature Festival: What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Ross Montgomery: A writer! Or a puffin.
BCLF: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
RM: “Stop writing for the day when it’s good, because if you don’t you’ll keep writing until it’s bad, and then you’ll just be in a bad mood all evening.”
BCLF: And the worst?
RM: “Don’t read while you’re writing, because you’ll end up writing like the book you’re reading.”
BCLF: My favourite word is...
RM: Gastarbeiter! The German word for “guest worker”. I could say it all day, and I probably have once or twice.
RM: …having weird thumbs.
BCLF: Favourite book as a child?
RM: It would be a no-holds barred fight between Horrible Histories, The Twits by Roald Dahl, and Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson!
BCLF: Who is your favourite literary villain?
RM: I’m not sure that Mrs Coulter (from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy) can be improved upon.
BCLF: Tell us a joke.
RM: A sandwich, a pork pie and a sausage roll walk into a bar. The barman says, “Sorry, we don’t serve food.”
