Andy Stanton on yellow snow and prehistoric sharks
Looking for belly laughs from your Barnes Kids Lit Fest experience? Andy Stanton's your man. The massively successful author, who wrote his first book in several hours one Christmas Eve as a festive present for his family, will be talking about his wickedly funny Mr Gum series. He will also be talking about his latest one-off book of hysterical/historical stories, Natboff! One Million Years of Stupidity, which lives up to the fantastically surreal promise of its title. We can't wait for this one – see you there!
Barnes Children’s Literature Festival: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Andy Stanton: ‘Watch out where the huskies go and don’t you eat the yellow snow’ – Frank Zappa
BCLF: And the worst?
AS: I don’t remember bad advice. Once I’ve turned it over in my squishy little brains and decided it’s not for me, I invariably forget all about it.
BCLF: My favourite word is…
AS: Cromulent.
BCLF: My greatest fear is…
AS: That an absolutely enormous prehistoric shark, probably a Megalodon, is zooming up towards me from a vast underground ocean beneath wherever I happen to be situated at any given moment and that it will burst through the floor and the last thing I’ll see is this huge open mouth lined with six-inch-long serrated triangular teeth.
BCLF: My hidden talent is…
AS: I can waggle the tendon in my left ankle just by thinking about it. It’s horrible.
BCLF: Favourite book as a child?
AS: ‘The Eighteenth Emergency’ by Betsy Byars
BCLF: Who is your favourite literary villain?
AS: Randall Flagg or Pennywise – both Steven King creations so not recommended for my general readership just yet.
BCLF: Tell us a joke…
AS: A man walks into a pub. Ouch! It was an iron pub.
