Hi! Our WAYR guest today is Ki agent Anne Perry (not to be confused with Ki client Anne Perry, interviewed back in January.) Welcome!
After spending too long in academia, Anne started off in publishing by founding a small press. She was an editor at Hodder & Stoughton and then Simon & Schuster before joining Ki. You can follow her on Twitter here.
What are you reading?
To be honest, the vast majority of the non-submission books I read these days are children’s books. My two-year-old loves to read and we spend a lot of time curled up on the couch (or the floor, or at the dinner table) reading together. We’ve read some of his books so often that he has them memorised, and will recite them along with me as I read! Which is really cool. His most recent favourite is Bloom, by Doreen Cronin and David Small. The art is wonderful and the message is a lovely, gentle, empowering one.
What’s the last great book you read?
Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation of Beowulf. Like many people, I took a crack at translating Beowulf when I was in college, and as a consequence have many firmly held opinions about its various translations. Dahvana Headley’s is readable, eminently quotable, and fabulously energetic. It’s also, at times, very funny.
What’s your best advice for aspiring writers?
Read everything. Write all the time. Read what you’ve written. Write some more. Keep writing. Keep reading.
What’s the most interesting fact you’ve learned recently?
The movie The Italian Job (1969) was filmed without an ending, edited together, and then an ending was written and filmed later. And that famous cliffhanger ending exists because the censors wouldn’t approve the film if it showed the robbers getting away with it. Also, all the traffic scenes were shot in real, not staged, traffic. The filmmakers couldn’t get the permits they needed to film in Turin, so the mafia stepped in and shut the roads down for them. (I may have watched The Italian Job last week.)
What’s your go-to salad dressing?
A tablespoon or two of sesame oil, a tablespoon or so of black bean and garlic sauce, and a dash of rice vinegar. Stir vigorously with a fork, and dress your salad. This is also great on steamed vegetables.
Thanks, Anne - and thanks everyone for reading. Have a great weekend!