Susan Hill – writer, blogger and publisher – is interviewed in The Independent. Her new book is for seven to 13-year-olds and it is called The Battle for Gullywith.

Hill and her husband live in a remote Gloucestershire farmhouse with 50 acres. There she writes daily, and answers email queries from pupils who are studying her books. She is happy with her essentials: books, something to write on, coffee and tea, a wood fire, a dog (a Border terrier), candles, and Radio 4. And she looks out on sheep, and wild countryside. She says she could never bear to leave.