Ziporah Hildebrandt

The first book I recall is Appley Dappley's Nursery Rhymes by Beatrix Potter, which I had before I had teeth (fortunately, or there wouldn't have been much left of it!). I made up my own stories for it, it had all these blank pages, what an invitation!

The next book I recall is my dad reading King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to my brother and me, still well before I was able to read myself.

Stories about animals, myths and legends remained strong right through school. The first American edition of the Lord of the Rings sealed a lifelong love of other worlds that were so real I felt like I was walking in them. Somewhere before the end of high school I caught on that books are written by real people, they don't just show up by magic on the library shelves (though some do!) It still took a few years to have the courage and then the confidence to call myself a writer; first a poet, then an aspiring novelist and writer for children.

That was many years ago, and now one of my greatest joys is dropping what I am doing to grab a pen and paper or the nearest device with a keyboard to jot down an idea before it flies away.