Author Gavin Bishop faces hard questions

NAOMI ARNOLD - Nelson Mail, August 13 2015  

Marion van Dijk

Will Roddick, 11, will be interviewing author Gavin Bishop at the Nelson Arts Festival Readers and Writers Festival.

Nelson Intermediate School pupil Will Roddick will be putting the hard questions to award-winning author Gavin Bishop at the Page & Blackmore Readers and Writers Festival in October. 
Will, 11, got the gig after Readers and Writers organiser Jacquetta Bell heard he was a huge fan of the author's work, including Bishop's most recent release, Teddy One-Eye: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear. "I felt quite excited because he's someone I've looked up to for a long time," Will said. He intended to grill the author on his life, family, and work.

He had first read Bishop's Piano Rock at 7. "I absolutely loved it," he said. "It was my favourite book. It seemed so poetic and a really beautiful memoir. The writing and illustrations were really exquisite."
He recommended the author's books to other children as well as to parents who wanted something good to read aloud to their kids. "Anyone from any age can enjoy them," he said. 

Bishop, a Christchurch-based children's writer and illustrator of nearly 60 books, said he couldn't be happier about his upcoming interrogation.
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