NEWS New Faces

Editor Gulfem Wormald welcomes our latest new recruit to the Words & Pictures editorial team, Lynn Huggins-Cooper, Writing KnowHow Editor.

Lynn Huggins-Cooper

Hi Lynn, welcome to the team. Where do you live?

I live in the far north of England, next to 900 acres of forest. I go to sleep to the sounds of owls hooting and foxes shrieking – so it’s no wonder that the wild woods suffuse everything I do! Whether I am writing or working with textiles, I am always inspired by the natural world. Sometimes my work bleeds across boundaries and I illustrate my books and poetry with textiles – or even make books from textiles.  

 

What do you write?

I have written a ridiculous number of things, and looking back over my long career it makes me feel like I started writing when God was a child… I am widely published, and often described as ‘prolific'. I find that writing for a living – to pay the bills – has always quickly banished ‘writer’s block’ for me. I've written series fiction, (including under the pen name B. Strange for the Too Ghoul for School series that Nintendo DS made into an interactive book-game), picture books, (including One Boy’s War for Frances Lincoln), many educational books, YA and adult fiction and non-fiction.

I have also been a weekly features writer at the Times Educational Supplement and have written for many other newspapers and magazines including The Independent, Prima, BBC Learning, National Geographic Kids and more. I am delighted to say that I have just signed a contract with Crystal Lake Publishing to help to develop a children’s imprint. 

I am also writing a magical realism YA novel which includes death rituals from around the world – (forgive me; I am a trained bereavement counsellor and as a lovely agent once said to me ‘Hmmm…do we need to talk about why all your stories are about loss…?'). I am currently writing a folk horror novel for adults and chapters for a variety of academic publishers including Bloomsbury and Palgrave about zombies. 

What can I say? In my defence, I was born just after the stroke of midnight at Halloween…

Do you have a ‘day job’ as well as volunteering and writing?

I teach on the BA (Hons) in Creative Writing at Falmouth University. I love teaching people about writing – I truly think that if we lift and support each other, we all rise – hence my interest in becoming the ‘How-To’ Editor of Words and Pictures. I also teach my own writing courses and act as a writing mentor and editor via my woefully outdated website. I am a Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo and was one of the judges of The Rubery Award in 2022.

 

What is your favourite children’s book?

The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury. Spooky, warm, lyrical, poetic and suffused with gothic splendour – what’s not to like?

 

* Header Illustration: Tita Berredo

 

 

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Tita Berredo is the Illustrator Coordinator of SCBWI British Isles and the Art Director of Words & Pictures. 

Follow her on Instagram and Twitter or www.titaberredo.com 

Contact her at illuscoordinator@britishscbwi.org