Amanda Mitchison
As a child
I was born and brought up in Scotland. My father worked as a zoologist so we always had a supply of pet mice and when one mouse died we would get an identical replacement the very next day.
I have two sisters and a brother. One sister was terrifyingly clever at origami and had an amazing singing voice that could shatter wineglasses. The other sister was much older and a very keen communist. On Saturday mornings she used to stand on a box in Edinburgh city centre and lecture the public. My brother was a mathematical genius with wild curly hair. He Knew Everything. And then there was me. I was just ordinary. Except I did have special hair.
Because I was the youngest my mother could never face cutting off my baby curls. So I ended up with two very long, tight, brown pigtails that were blond at the tips and rather ratty. The pigtails were thin as whips and I learnt to flick them to great effect--every girl needs a form of self-defense.
As an adult
I studied English at London University. Then I went traveling and I spent the next few years living abroad, in Italy and in Egypt. I came back eventually and settled in London where I worked as a journalist, writing features and interviews. I was a terribly slow writer—every word took me hours—but I gained a cruel satisfaction from it.
As an artist
I always knew I wanted to create my own world rather than report on the real one. So, after my kids were born and I had a job as a columnist, I wrote my first children’s book. It was all about a family of flying lizard-like people that lived in a cooling tower in Didcot. It was very long and very plotless. Nobody wanted it. I wrote it a second time—slightly less long, slightly more plot. Then a third time—still no good.
That’s how I started…. Over the years I hope I’ve got a bit better at the job. And every day now I lock myself away in a little upstairs study, draw the curtains and I start to write. Every so often I emerge blinking from the gloom and make for the fridge.
Things you didn't know about Amanda Mitchison
- I have two sons called Sam and Ted and they can both run faster than me.
- I can sign my name in Arabic.
- I have stroked a sloth (v.manky!).
- I grow raspberries and redcurrants in my back garden.
- I still don’t understand the offside rule in football.
- I make fantastic marmalade that tastes slightly of toffee.
- I’ve always had a secret longing to be a conjuror, but sadly I don’t have the fingers for it.
- My favourite sweets are Refreshers.
- I used to be a newsreader for Vatican Radio.
- I broke my nose and managed to reset it myself (not very well—it’s still not quite right).