73 Cressida Cowell

What We Do In The Winter

This episode is a chat with Cressida Cowell, author of the How To Train Your Dragon books, the Wizards of Once series and Which Way to Anywhere. Cressida grew up in London where her Dad, Michael Hare, had significant roles in several well known organisations. In the 1970’s Michael bought the island of Little Colonsay, which lies between Ulva and Staffa, which was to become the family’s summer home. The island, it’s history, topography and setting had a profound affect on young Cressida’s imagination and her summers would be spent in a reverie of story making, listening to the tales her Dad would tell her of the people of these islands’ past. These experiences lead to Cressida becoming an author, and not just any author. Her works have been translated into 38 languages and sold tens of millions of copies around the world. There are film and tv adaptations of her work. In our time together we talked about her childhood memories of Little Colonsay and the people who helped her family to build their home there. We talk about her father and his love of nature. We explore the impact that the island had on her imagination, and how that lead to her career. Cressida goes on to talk about her maternal Grandfather, Alan Hare, and his experiences in the 2nd World War in Albania and how that generation of people influenced her writing. We then talk about the importance of the natural world and the nature of climate change. I owe a big thank you to my dear friend Colin Morrison for putting me in contact with Cressida. Colin and his family run Turus Mara, which, departing from Ulva Ferry, to my mind, is the best way to see Staffa, Fingal’s Cave and to meet the puffins on Lunga for some puffin therapy. See the links in the episode notes for more details. Most importantly of all though at the end of this episode Cressida kindly took the time to answer three questions from Lachlan, one of her young readers who lives in Dervaig, who sent me some questions to ask. Thanks for listening! Episode links and more on whatwedointhewinter.com