Pratima Mitchell

As a child

I was born in India but when I was five I started talking fluent Russian, because my father took us to Moscow where he was working in the Indian mission to Russia. For many years I spent long periods in England and being trundled around Europe by my adventurous parents. I had a love/hate relationship with my convent school in Delhi, where English was my favourite subject. My brothers and I read all the time and had the run of my parents' library. We also had a very sporty childhood, with lots of swimming, cycling and tennis. I even played cricket. My father was a newspaper editor in Delhi and elsewhere, and our house was always full of interesting literary artistic and political guests, but I still found Delhi claustrophobic and left for the United States to find more adventure as soon as I got my first degree. I loved words from a very young age and wrote my first story, which won an international prize, at 11; my first article (a melancholy and atmospheric piece!) was published when I was 16. I adored Enid Blyton until I was about 11 for her descriptions of English life. I loved Richmal Crompton, Noel Streatfeild, Walter de la Mare, Kenneth Grahame, A.A. Milne, E. Nesbitt as well. Then I started reading the classics- Dickens and Kipling- and anything I could get my hands on. I admired my father's writing. He had a wonderfully succinct way of expressing his thoughts and was a great observer of people. Detail and accuracy were important to him and are to me.

As an adult

I studied at the universities of Delhi, London and did a post-graduate year in a tiny hippie college in Vermont. I have a post graduate certificate of education and taught for several years- primary school and adults. I have lived in Oxford most of my adult life, with long periods in Nigeria (where my only daughter was born), Vienna and the French Pyrenees.

As an artist

I wrote my first book because a friend challenged me! It was Dadijan's Carrot Halvah (Hamish Hamilton) published in 1986, the adventures of a family of Pakistani children. Since then I have had about 30 books published.

Things you didn't know about Pratima Mitchell

1. I love swimming- rivers, sea, pools, ponds; I love floating on my back looking at the blue sky or cloud shapes.
2. I grow all my own vegetables and feel great when I am out on my allotment or garden.
3. Music is an important part of my life. I play the piano and the melodeon and love to sing. My daughter, Priya, is a wonderful violinist.
4. I never tire of cooking and searching out good food- in hedgerows, markets and restaurants.
5. I am never without a book to read. It could be history, fiction, biography, politics- sometimes two on the go at the same time!
6. I cycle everywhere- very easy in a town like Oxford. Cars are sometimes necessary, but I'm anti them.
7. I love to paint and draw and am interested in all kinds of art. I wish I had gone to art school.
8. I go to India at least three times a year. My ambition is to explore my vast country, and travel to Sikkim in the Himalayas, and the North-East.
9. We used to have a cat we loved so much that I can't bear to replace him. His name was Tigger and I think he was a shapeshifter because he was so human!
10. My dream is to understand and respect everyone I meet, and to try and help other people understand and respect each other.