Stacy Gregg
About Author
Stacy Gregg is the author of the successful pony adventure series Pony Club Secrets and Pony Club Rivals and standalone novel The Princess and the Foal, winner of the Children's Choice Junior Fiction award at the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
A former high-profile fashion editor (she was a judge on the New Zealand version of TV's Next Top Model and editor-at-large of Fashion Quarterly Magazine), she lives in Auckland with her partner Michael, their daughter and assorted animals.
Author link
Interview
THE GIRL WHO RODE THE WIND
&
PONY CLUB SECRETS
HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN'S BOOKS
SEPTEMBER 2015
Stacy Gregg talks to us about her Pony Club series - which has a committed international fan base - and her thrilling new stand-alone adventure, The Girl Who Rode the Wind.
Stacy will be visiting the UK in October and will be signing books on the Equestrian Book Fair stand at the Horse of the Year Show at the NEC Birmingham on Sunday 11 October
Her latest book, The Girl Who Rode the Wind, is an epic and warm adventure story about a 12 year-old American girl's journey of discovery as she travels back to her family's roots in Siena, Italy, uncovers family secrets and finds herself drawn into one of the most dangerous horse races in the world, the Palio.
Stacy Gregg's bestselling Pony Club Secrets, meanwhile, takes us into the world of the pony club, where there are mysteries to solve, competitions to win and ponies to save.
Stacy Gregg answered the following questions for ReadingZone:
Q: When did your passion for horses and horseriding begin? '
A: I was pony-mad from a very early age and begged my parents for such a long time to have my own pony but our suburb Auckland was hardly pony country! I remember on my eighth birthday being led outside with a blindfold on and thinking this was it - I was finally getting a pony! But it turned out to be a bicycle! It wasn't until I was 10 that we moved to the country and I finally got Bonnie, my first pony.
Q: Did you ever plan to make horses your career?
A: I never think about my life in terms of a 'career' anymore as what I do for a living is too silly and too much fun! I am very lucky that I get to spend time with horses and travel and also tour with my books as well as writing - it's far from a typical day at the office!
Q: Can you tell us how you began in journalism and then writing for children?
A: I began my writing career as a magazine feature writer and then moved into fashion writing - which was such a brilliant gig. I travelled to all the collections - London, Paris, that sort of thing, and I started my own fashion website which I sold when the opportunity to do my first series, Pony Club Secrets, came along.
I'd written a manuscript about five years beforehand and it got plucked out of the slush pile, dusted off and turned into a book and suddenly I had another two books to write, and then another two - until finally there were 13 in the series and another four in the Pony Club Rivals series. I'm working on my 21st book now so it all seems like a very long time ago...
Q: Do you draw on incidents from your own life and childhood for your stories?
A: I think emotionally I will always be a twelve year-old horsemad girl - and that's why the books work. Because I am writing them for me, and they come from the heart.
Many of the stories in the books are taken from my real life and people and horses that I know. In the new book, The Girl Who Rode the Wind, I have a scene where a jockey with a badly broken finger is desperate to ride a horse race but his broken finger hurts too much to grip the reins and so his solution is to go out into the back yard with a splitter axe and self-amputate it. It's a true story - based on a friend of mine whose dad was so determined to be selected as an All-Black in a test match that he had his own broken finger amputated. I think all writers are constantly filing things like that away in their minds, bringing them out when they need them.
Q: Has writing about horses also helped to hone your expertise in different areas of caring for and riding horses?
A: That's the great thing about horses - you never stop learning. I spend so much time with them at home, but also when I travel for research it's vital that I find horses in the places I am writing about and spend time with them and ride them.
When I was working on The Princess and the Foal I went to Jordan and spent time at the royal palace, where Princess Haya grew up, and at the royal stables too. I rode Arabian horses through the desert and hung out with the grooms on the yard. My books now are always based on real-life stories so I think those experiences are vital to the process.
Q: You have written the two Pony Club series (Secrets and Rivals) and several stand-alone books; do you ever struggle to find new horse characters and situations for your stories?
A: Creating horse characters for me is very much like writing a human character. Horses can be stand-offish or aloof, they can be arrogant or boorish - or they can be affectionate and honest and charming.
In The Island of Lost Horses I was writing about a breed, The Abaco Barb, who are descended from the royal horses of Queen Isabella of Spain, so it made sense to me that the main horse in the story, The Duchess, would have a few airs and graces about her, as if she knew she was from posh stock.
Q: What do you think children gain from joining pony clubs, like those you write about?
A: I think horses are an amazing influence on young girls - they teach them to be strong, independent and give them a sense of responsibility. There's also the unwavering love of your pony that is a great comfort in those years when your peer group can be quite volatile. Plus, horses make girls physically capable and brave.
I like the fact that the young girl characters in my books solve their own problems and don't wait for men to sort things out for them - for me that's a feminist thing. And Pony Club is a brilliant support, particularly for those girls from non-horsey families as these are big, potentially dangerous creatures we are talking about here and some solid advice is vital for young riders who are just starting out.
Q: Your Pony Club Secrets series takes an investigative slant - did you enjoy reading mysteries as a child and how much harder are these to plan than a straight adventure story?
A: I am a big fan of a satisfying, challenging plot and for me the fun of writing the series was to mash up several genres at once - the classic pony story, with elements of naturalistic supernaturalism, and also a mystery and adventure with twists and turns.
Q: What do you think of the new Pony Club covers? Do you have a favourite book or character in the Pony Club Secrets series?
A: I am loving the new covers! Although just to be contrary I now really feel nostalgic for the old ones and love it when I am doing a book signing and someone brings an old tattered copy for me to sign!
My favourite two books in the series are Comet and the Champion's Cup and Nightstorm and the Grand Slam - they were probably the easiest ones in the whole series for me to write because I just knew in my gut how they should be and I loved the horses in them so much. I am always fascinated to ask kids which book is their favourite as you get really varied answers!
Q: Your stories often include real incidents and places, and you also draw on the past for your stories. The Girl Who Rode the Wind reflects on WWII for Italians for example. How are you drawn to the specific periods you write about?
A: I think that's the journalist in me! I love doing in-depth research, and I always travel to the places I am writing about. I'm about to head off to Russia in the next couple of weeks to work on the new book.
As for writing about the past, I think there are always pivotal periods in time that are deeply moving and often these coincide with the stories I'm writing. In the Girl Who Rode The Wind, it made sense to focus on World War II as this was the only time in modern history that the Palio was cancelled.
The wonderful thing about the Palio is that the modern-day race is every bit as crazy as it was hundreds of years ago and I loved the idea of exploring the similarities between life in 1945, when Loretta rode the race, and the ongoing power of the Palio today - it is still a matter of life and death to the contradas of Siena.
Q: What inspired you to use the Palio as the background for the story? Where did you come across it?
A: I had already written about the Palio in a fictional way in book six of the Pony Club Secrets series - Storm and the Silver Bridle. It was just a natural thing to write about. I mean, a horse race through the city streets of an ancient town, how cool is that? When I came to write The Girl Who Rode The Wind though I very much kept to the true facts of the real race and the 17 contradas - all of which is much stranger than fiction!
Q: How much research did you need to do into the event and region's rivalries? Did you visit Siena to research it?
A: I always seem to get lucky when I travel for research and Siena was a total gift. I managed to talk my way into the catacombs and church of the secretive Contrada of the Lupa, and I also spent time with the Palio jockeys - the factions - watching how they handled their horses and trained them. These men had such a rapport with their horses and the anglo-arabs they train for the race are amazing.
I also stayed at the house of Rosanna Bonelli, who is in her eighties now and is one of just two women in history who have actually ridden in the palio. Her house in the hills is amazing, the interiors are covered in wild murals and it was the template for Loretta's family villa in the book.
Q: Do those regional rivalries, the contrada, still exist today?
A: The rivalries are still very real - your friends, your family and who you marry is very much ordained by the contrada. It's an archaic thing for sure, and yet the people of Siena are very serious about it. There's a wonderful Palio documentary that has just been made about the race - I'm dying to see it!
Q: What inspired the character of the grandmother, Nonna, and why did you want to focus on a grandmother / granddaughter relationship in this book?
A: I loved writing Nonna Loretta's character because she reminded me of my own grandmother - the way she just says exactly what she thinks without regard to who she offends or what the consequences are. That's the wonderful thing about writing a character like that - the gloves are totally off. I also think that grandparents can be just as influential in many ways as parents in a child's life and I wanted to explore that.
What I loved most though was taking Loretta's character back in time to when she was young - I think hopefully when you read those chapters you forget that she is an old woman now and you only think of her as the girl she once was.
Q: When do you write and where is your favourite place to write?
A: I write in the mornings mostly - but when I am on deadline that's a luxury and sometimes it becomes an all-day event! I do have an office which I really like but I have the ability from years in the newsroom of being able to write anywhere with noise and people and not be bothered. I often work in cafes and write in my hotel room when I am touring. Whatever it takes to get the books done on time!
Q: What are you writing now?
A: The new one - the Russian story. I won't say much more about it yet as it isn't due out until next year but it will have horses of course and it is partly set in the time of Catherine the Great.
Q: What is your favourite escape? And what is your favourite way to spend a day?
A: My favourite escape and my favourite way to spend the day are the same thing - being with the horses. My daughter is in serious competition mode these days so I spend a lot of time driving the horse box with her and the pony around the country and serving as her groom - plaiting manes and walking cross country courses and giving pre-showjumping pep talks. It's brilliant!
The Girl Who Rode the Wind
Fortune and the Golden Trophy (Pony Club Secrets, Book 7)
