Cliff McNish - Interview (June 2025)
Q: What was the best venue for one of your author talks, and why?
I'm always happy to do an event in front of an entire school if necessary, or just a few students, and really there is no ideal set up. It does help if the children have been introduced to my books and my bio via my website. In the hurly-burly of school life, that's not always an easy thing for teachers to find the time to do before I visit, but it makes a big difference to how students receive an author. Also, a tiny point: a pin-on mic for school halls really helps. Most schools don't have them, for some reason.
Q: What is the most unusual question you have ever had about your books?
Is your witch Dragwena [four sets of teeth, spiders that live inside her] based on anyone you know? (Of course, I answered yes, my wife.)
Q: Have you ever wanted to change a story due to something a child said during a school visit?
A child once said to me that they hate books that don't have a proper ending - by which they meant a closed ending where the reader understands clearly what has happened to all the characters. I prefer ambiguous endings, but that comment came at a timely moment when I was writing my novel Angel.
Q: I believe AI has been hyped recently. What impact, if anything, do you think AI is going to have on your job?
Honestly, I think in a few year’s time children may simply be writing their own books. AI will soon enable them to punch in some character names, and prompt them to supply a basic plot. It will then throw out a story, and to a young child they will see no difference between that and a story they wrote themselves. They will then send each other stories rather than read ours. I should add that I don't think this is necessarily a bad idea. Anything that encourages children to story tell themselves is great. But it might end our profession quite swiftly. And school visits will subtly become shifted from not This is how you write a story to This is how you get the best out of the AI to write your story.
Q: What’s a widely loved book, or author, that you just don't like and why?
I recall a group of picture book writers moaning that the Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler books take up almost 50% of store picture book space. That's far too much for any author/illustrator, but my data may be wrong. Dare I say that The Tiger who Came to Tea is overrated?
Q: Has there been a news story this year that has influenced you to write something?
I'm constantly astonished by the cruelty humans aim at once another. The horror of Gaza has reminded me that the theme of genocide is never far away from the human story. I've written a teen thriller on this theme. I doubt it will ever be published unless I self-publish it.
Q: There's been a trend of updating some of the classics this year, what’s your view on modernizing classic books?
I disagree entirely with it, unless the language is so difficult that a NO FEAR version is needed, as with Shakespeare, for instance. A far better way to open the subject of prejudice (which is the normal reason for rewriting, occasionally editors just want to take out the violence) is to show what was written as it was written, then ask children what that tells us about that age and time? That seems to me a much better way to address the subject than to change the stories.
Q: We know you've worked in IT - what was the most useful skill you learnt in that life?
I hated my time in IT, so think what I learned is never, ever again to spend most of my life doing something I didn't want to do.
Q: What is the scariest book you've ever read?
I've read plenty of adult horror, but nothing compares to The Diary of Anne Frank. The expunging of so much beauty is unbearable.
Q: Arthur C. Clarke vs Isaac Asimov - who is your favourite?
Clarke for the sense of wonder he generated.
Q: Have you been to Sunderland this year (Cliff was born there)?
No, not for many years in fact, as none of my relatives live there any longer. I did visit a school in Pennywell district several years back, where I was born. I left when I was a baby, so never acquired the local "Mackem" accent. The school kids refused to believe I was originally from Sunderland. It was hilarious.
Q: By your own admission your primary school reports were average, what impact - if any - did that have on you as a young person? (in terms of the pressure on children to do well at school)
I always mention that I didn't do well at school, and that my English grades were average. I want them to understand that you don't have to be the best in the class at English to excel at story writing. You just have to really want to tell your story. The rest, including acquiring the craft, follows.