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John Parker

profile published in BRAT, Winter 2000

I've written over 70 children's books, ranging from emergent readers to novels for early teens. And I've also contributed many plays, poems, stories and articles to Learning Media publications, along with radio writing--plays for BBC children's programmes, stories for Radio NZ and so on. Variety is spice.

I like visiting schools and sharing with the kids the rewards, the tough bits, and the strategies involved in the writing process. They learn that I, too, have to look up the dictionary and the thesaurus, and that I can run out of ideas just like them. So we're all writers, working towards that satisfying moment when the final full stop completes something worth doing well.

I enjoy reading and talking to classes of all ages, and love those moments when the fidgeting stops and the eyes open as they are gripped by a good story. 'Where do you get your ideas from?' they ask. From under my nose, I tell them. Write what you know about--and jot those ideas down before they go away and are never seen again.