SCBWI FACES Lynn Huggins-Cooper

SCBWI Faces goes behind the scenes to meet our volunteers. This month Anne Boyere chats to Lynn Huggins-Cooper, Know How Editor for Words & Pictures.

Lynn Huggins-Cooper has written everything from picture books and MG series to YA novels. She has also written for children’s TV series, comics, websites, and as a feature writer for the Times Educational Supplement. Lynn lectures on the BA (Hons) Creative Writing at Falmouth University. She co-organises SCBWI North-East with Lucy Farfort and lives in a tiny house next to 900 acres of forest in the far north of England. She once had a job at a lighthouse in the North Sea, which she loved. She has also worked with young offenders and in a bail hostel, and loved those jobs too (even when it got hard and sometimes scary). She has also worked as a barmaid (sometimes scarier than working in a bail hostel...) and as a primary school teacher (never scary but sometimes exhausting).

 

The North Sea

What do you write?

I write LOTS OF THINGS! Picture books, educational books, craft books, children's non-fiction, novels...and lots of things for adults, too. A great deal of them are spooky or supernatural these days. Perhaps it's because I was born just after midnight on Halloween...it was inevitable, perhaps! I have a chapter in an academic book coming out with Bloomsbury in November - Fear and Loathing: Mental Illness and the Othering of the Zombie. I am a trained counsellor and mental health is also a passion of mine.

 

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

I lecture in Creative Writing at Falmouth University and love it with my whole heart - I get to talk about writing, encourage new writers, workshop writing, talk about books, and get excited about books with people who love books....so what's not to like?!
 

Describe your writing space.

Sometimes I write in my study. I also like to take a notebook and write in the forest just behind our little house in the far north of England. Sometimes I see deer, squirrels, badgers and birds as I write. I love writing outdoors, and often write looking out at the North Sea. Sometimes I write in the university library at Northumbria (they have a great selection of horror studies books). My study is packed with books (of course) and old classic horror film posters. I also have shelves of materials for eco-dyeing in there, and sit in front of them when I speak to my online students on webinars - so my students think I brew potions...

Lynn's study under the Northern Lights

Describe the main tasks of your role as a SCBWI volunteer.

I volunteer as one of two North-East SCBWI group facilitators, along with the wonderfully talented writer and illustrator, Lucy Farfort. I also write for Words and Pictures as KnowHow editor.

 

Do you do any other volunteering?

I volunteer for a charity called MHA who work to combat loneliness and isolation among elders. I visit a wonderful 92 year old man weekly, who has become a friend. He has so many stories...and now I record them for him and am producing an e-book and recordings for him to share with his family.

 

What are the advantages of being a volunteer?

Volunteering for SCBWI has increased my involvement in the children's writing community, which is dear to my heart. I love networking with other writers, being part of critique groups and challenges, and organising get-togethers and retreats.

 

How many hours per week do you spend volunteering?

Around 5-10 hours.

 

Do the boundaries between volunteering get blurred or do you have clearly demarcated writing/volunteering times/space?

I have to be regimented! I do a LOT of things and write a LOT of books. It's too easy to let creativity slide off the table when you are busy with work and family commitments - and volunteering can easily expand to fit any time it is given - so you have to be aware of boundaries and setting time aside to do all of the things you want to do in life...but I do love volunteering. It's all about time: every time we give freely of our own time we are putting love out into the world, because time is so precious.

 

Favourite children’s book?

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. It's so rich and the words flow like delicious poetry. It demands to be read aloud!

*Header illustration: Tita Berredo and Ell Rose

*Other images courtesy of Lynn Huggins-Cooper

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Anne Boyere is one of Words & Pictures' Feature Editors and runs the #SCBWIchat on X (formerly Twitter) to chat about books for all ages @SCBWI_BI.
You can find her on X.

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Ell Rose is a non-binary illustrator & animator based in Edinburgh and Illustration Features Editor for Words & Pictures. Their cats sometimes feature in their work in either comics or illustrations/animation. They are available for editorial, non-fiction and fiction books and commercial work as well as 2D motion graphics.
Find their work at www.fourfooteleven.com. Contact illustrators@britishscbwi.org

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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, X and www.titaberredo.com or contact her at illuscoordinator@britishscbwi.org