STYLE | Interview
Kieran Larwood
Woods and beaches across the Island provided endless inspiration for fantasy fiction writer, Kieran Larwood, whose book series ‘The Five Realms’ has been delighting audiences across the world. Style of Wight (and one young Five Realms fan) caught up with Kieran, shortly after the launch of his latest book
By Amy Shephard and Dylan Shephard Pictures Megan Clarke
S 24
tarting simply with the intention of writing the perfect bedtime story for his seven year old daughter, Kieran’s rabbits and
‘peculiar’ characters have since grown to be loved by all ages.
“My first book, The Peculiars, just popped into my head,” says Kieran. “But it took five years to complete. Most of that time was spent trying to get an agent and get published. Now I’m writing one book a year.”
Set around a gothic sideshow called Plumpscuttle’s Peculiars in Victorian London, ‘The Peculiars’ follows a group of lovable misfits, including a wolf-girl, an ex-assassin and ‘Monkey Boy’. It won The Times/Chicken House Children’s fiction competition in 2011 and became Kieran’s first published novel.
“After The Peculiars, my publishers
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asked for new characters and the ideas just weren’t coming. So I went back to my sketch books and noticed that every now and then, I’d drawn pictures of rabbits with swords and shields. I thought there must be an idea somewhere in my mind that was trying to escape. So I drew a map (of the Five Realms) and started from there.”
Growing up in beautiful spots like Whitecliff Bay and The Duver helped Kieran set the scene for many of his books. “Grimheart Forest in the Podkin One-Ear trilogy is inspired by Parkhurst Forest and the next book, set in the marshland, is a bit like St Helens Duver and Newtown,” he says. “I always draw a lot when I visit these places and I take a lot of pictures for my research.”
Kieran previously worked as a Reception school teacher, and with
three young children of his own, found only half an hour each evening to write. “It was physically tiring and I had to be very disciplined. So when I was able to work on just my books, it was great.”
As a youngster, Kieran discovered The Hobbit on his parents’ bookshelf and fell in love. Other fantasy books, such as The Box of Delights, The Dark is Rising and books by Ursula K. Le Guin, really captured his imagination. His characters are often a combination of people he knows: “I was one of three children, so I put a lot of my myself and my siblings into Podkin, Pook and Paz.”
“There’s going to be two more books about the characters in Uki and the Outcasts and I’m hoping to do more about Podkin too. I’m also writing another children’s fantasy book, which my publishers have asked for. There
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