Davidson, Leon
IN BRIEF
Leon Davidson is a writer of non-fiction for young adults. He has also worked as a furniture-maker, a chicken-plucker, a telephone sales operator for a bank, and now juggles writing with teaching. His first book, Scarecrow Army, about the experience of the Anzacs at Gallipoli, was the non-fiction winner of the NZ Post Children and Young Adult Book Awards in 2006. It was also an Eve Powell non-fiction winner for the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
ProfilePlace of residence: Wellington, New Zealand |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Davidson, Leon is a writer of non-fiction for young adults.
He has worked as a furniture-maker, a chicken-plucker, a telephone sales operator for a bank, and now juggles writing while being a primary school teacher.
His first book, Scarecrow Army (Black Dog Books, 2005), is about the experience of the Anzacs at Gallipoli, and was described in the Australian Book Review (August 2005) as ‘…heartbreaking and evocative… This fine book is a worthy offering about a complex and sensitive subject.’ Scarecrow Army was the non-fiction winner at the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2006. It was also an Eve Powell Non-Fiction winner for the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
Red Haze (Black Dog Books, 2006) is about the experience of New Zealanders and Australians in the Vietnam War, and received the LIANZA Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award at the LIANZA Children's Book Awards. The work was also shortlisted in the non-fiction category for the 2007 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, was listed as a 2007 Storylines Notable Non-Fiction Book, and was an honour book in the Eve Pownall Award category for Information Books at the Children's Book of the Year Award. A reviewer in the Australian Book Review calls it: '...a book for a young audience that corrects much of the starry-eyed jingoism but that will nevertheless leave its readers with pride and a warm glow on Anzac Day.’
Leon Davidson's third novel for young readers is Zero Hour: The Anzacs on the Western Front (Text Publishing, 2010), which tells the story of the plight of the Anzacs when they joined the fighting on the Western Front in 1916. Described by the publisher as 'a story many never lived to tell, and all of us should know.'
Author photo is copyrighted to Robert Cross.
writers in schools information
KAPAI: Kids' Authors' Pictures and Information
Where do you live?
I live in Hataitai, Wellington, up on top of a hill but I still can’t see the sea.
What books do you read?
When I was younger I loved reading the Barry Crump books, as well as Asterix and Tintin. I still read a lot of Young Adult books. I especially like the John Marsden Tomorrow when the war began series. I also like anything with a fantasy element to it. I suppose I like reading about war too – I loved Iliad (about the Trojan War) when I studied Classics. I recently read Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks about WWI, and one of my all time favourites is Catch 22.
Who is your favourite writer?
It depends a bit on what I’m interested in at the moment. I think John Marsden’s a great storyteller. I also like the fantasy writer David Gemmell, and Joseph Heller (who wrote Catch 22.)
How do you think up your ideas?
My first two books were based on real life events, however at the moment I’m working on a story about a teenage boy and time-travel. I am trying to work out if someone today would behave in the same way in the past if the same things were to happen. From an initial idea like this I start to think about the main character, and what’s happening to him or her, and what elements could be added to make it more dramatic. I also try to put myself in my character’s shoes so I become more connected to the story.
What is the best thing about being a writer?
The best thing about being a writer is being able to make something out of nothing, to take a sliver of an idea and create a character or story out of it. And it’s great when people read your stories and like them!
Primary School Students
What sort of pets do you have?
I have a cat called ‘Kitty’ who never got a real name because she turned up at my house as a stray kitten and I was never sure if she was going to stick around – but now I’ve had her for years. She’s grey and white and scared of her own shadow but unlike most cats, she’s been on a plane – I brought her with me when I moved from Australia to beautiful Aotearoa.
What is your favourite colour?
Blue. I love blue. I like all colours, but there’s nothing better than being at the beach on a sunny, clear day.
What is your favourite food?
I was a vegetarian for a long time but now I love rabbit and eel. I also really like crisp apples and steamed veges with loads of lemon juice and tahini.
What is your favourite movie?
One of my favourites is Black Cat, White Cat – a crazy movie with gypsy music, grenades, opera singing and pigs eating cars.
What is your favourite game?
I enjoy watching rugby, but love playing soccer. Some friends and I have also invented our own game called socball, which is a combination of netball and soccer.
What is the most fun thing about being an author?
Creating a story that you are excited by, and then re-reading parts of it and liking it.
How do you make books?
After I’ve written the first draft ten times over, I send the manuscript off to the editor at a publishing house, who suggests changes. This to and fro between me and the editor can happen several times, before the final text is finished. The publisher then designs the cover, lays out the text and then sends it to a printer, where the book is finally printed.
Where do you go for your holidays?
In New Zealand I love going to Kaikoura, or to Christchurch to see family. I’m hoping to get to Turkey these summer holidays.
What was the naughtiest thing you ever did at school?
On school camp, two friends and I ignored the rules and took canoes out into the sea in the middle of a storm. One of us got overturned by the wind and we were in a lot of trouble. Finally, after a lot of yelling for help, the teachers pulled us to safety. We were never allowed in the canoes again.
Secondary School Students
How did you get started?
I have always enjoyed making up stories, and when I travelled overseas I kept journals and tried to make my letters home as interesting as possible. But I really started writing while I was working in a bank callcentre for a while. It was a pretty boring job and I realised that if I was going to stay sane I needed to do something creative. After a while I threw in the job and went on the dole for a year while I wrote full time. Then I did a two year writing course and then a series of crappy jobs while I kept writing until finally someone noticed! I started out writing film scripts but over time I was drawn to story writing and I’m not sure if I’ll go back.
Who inspired you when you were getting started?
I had a couple of great teachers in my writing course who really encouraged me and then, after the course finished, I formed a workshop group with some of the other students so we could help keep each other motivated.
What advice would you give an aspiring young writer?
For me, at the beginning, a workshop group was really important. Writing courses aren’t for everyone but one thing they do is help you learn to take criticism. The most important thing is to write consistently – every day if you can – but also not to become too obsessive and spend all your time in your room; you need to have things to write about too! Having friends who take what you do seriously is really important because, with anything creative, there are so many people around you who just think you should get a ‘real’ job.
Is it difficult to make a living writing in New Zealand?
For me it is. The market is very small and I think to make a living, you have to be a prolific writer, which I’m not.
What were you like as a teenager?
I was very disengaged as a teenager. I was convinced that no one understood what I was going through. I was angry, frustrated and found school boring, although I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and generally being a dickhead. I should have made a decision at the age of 15 to either stay at school and do the work, or leave and get a job rather than wasting my own time and the teachers.
Something different
As well as writing obsessively and doing every job from plucking chickens to making furniture, I spent four years in Melbourne making street theatre with a group called creative future collective. We had a workshop where we built giant puppets and props and took them out to perform at protest rallies or just for fun in the city. It was a great way to draw attention to things like the war in Iraq and we also stopped traffic and got on TV quite a lot. We even drove a truckload of puppets 2000k to the desert near Alice Springs for a protest outside an American base. That was heaps of fun even if the truck broke down all the way and I’m still finding red dust in my ears.
