'Switching on the writing light'
“Myearliest, most impactful encounter with a book was when I was seven and awokeearly on Christmas morning to find Roald Dahl's Charlie and the ChocolateFactory in my stocking. I had never been so excited by the sight of a book -and have possibly never been since!” – Sophie Kinsella Born in England onthis date in 1969, Madeleine "Sophie" Wickham writes under the loosely termed style “Chick Lit” through her 10-book Shopaholic series,translated into more than 30 languages. Her newest in the series is 2019's The Christmas Shopaholic.
“When I had the idea for Shopaholic, it was as though a lightswitched on,” she said. “I realized Iactually wanted to write comedy. No apologies, no trying to be serious, justfull-on entertainment. The minute I went with that and threw myself into it, itfelt just like writing my first book again - it was really liberating.”
Kinsella's roots are in financial journalism but she branched into creative writing at age 24 with the best-seller The Tennis Party (re-released in 2012 as40 Love). Since then, she has written nearly three dozen novels, the latest being this year's The Burnout. Glad she started as ajournalist, she said journalism
is a good foundation. “Being a journalist is good if you want towrite books: it teaches you to get beyond the blank screen. My books have beendescribed as froth, but there's scope to be witty and ironic about everythingin life.”
Published on December 12, 2023 07:03
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