Alan Gibbons
About Author
Author Alan Gibbons shot to stardom when he won the Blue Peter Book Award for 'The Book I Couldn't Put Down' in 2000 with Shadow of the Minotaur, the first title in his Legendeer trilogy.
Shadow of the Minotaur was also shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Although it narrowly missed the final award, it was voted the children's winner by the thousands of school children who shadow the award. Alan was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Award 2003 for The Edge.
As an ex-primary school teacher (for 18 years) in inner city Liverpool and father of four children, Alan is flying the flag for boys' fiction. He is often told that boys just don't read and he doesn't believe it.
'All too often boy-friendly themes such as horror, adventure, science fiction and sport are viewed with condescending distaste Everybody recognises that boys gravitate towards non-fiction but they will read fiction. On one condition it has to be fiction which connects.'
Alan's books connect. From fantasy and computer games to the realism of life in school and on the football pitch, he knows what boys want to read and understands all the nuances of their lives.
Alan is a regular contributor to the press and often on radio talking about children and books. He also founded and leads the Campaign for the Book, which fights against library closures.
Interview
ACT OF LOVE
JUNE 2011
Orion Children's Books
Act of Love explores the childhood friendship between two boys, one a British Asian, the other from a white family, which is gradually torn apart by the 'War on Terror' following 9/11.
Here, Alan Gibbons talks about his latest novel:
The first book I wrote as a result of 9/11 was Caught in the Cross Fire in 2003, which looked at divisions by exploring a love story across the barricades. While I wrote it as the result of 9/11, it focused on the Islamophobia that ensued from that day. In Act of Love, I wanted to return to that issue and deal specifically with terrorism and the ramifications of 9/11.
It's easier to do that now than it was then because you need some distance to explore the impact such an event can have; it was hard to see then how the 'War on Terror' was going to pan out. Now we have that distance, I wanted to look at how different communities were impacted by 9/11.
What you have in Act of Love is the idea of 'political' soldiers, so the Muslim and Far Right soldiers, contrasted with a boy who simply drifts into the army without having a strong belief system behind his decision.
I am exploring the interrelations between the broad social events happening in the world and two young people finding their way in life within that maelstrom.
I also wanted to explore issues of manhood and masculinity in this book and I do that through father and son relationships, and by looking at how boys operate within their communities. A lot of young men have more energies than their local communities will let them express.
To me it also seems that there is the generational divide which I experienced in the '60s between me and my dad when old certainties were breaking down and there was a similar sense of incomprehension between fathers and sons.
I loved writing the parts between one of the Muslim young adults, Rafique, and his dad. His dad is well-meaning but doesn't understand; here is a father who cannot make concessions to his children. There are large elements of me in that dad; I'm not strict but I don't make concessions to youth culture. I have my values and if they want to set themselves against it, that's fine, but they'll get a hard ride from me.
The setting for the story is a combination of Bradford and Leicester but I rooted it in the North rather than the East Midlands - the riots it describes took place in North Yorkshire.
I am passionate about the nature of England, each region is distinctive, passionate and political. Yorkshire accents are very different from where I live in Liverpool but there's a musicality about it. I love distinctive languages, I'm very proud of my greater Manchester accent. I live with a scouser and four scouser children so there's a lot of friendly rivalry in our household!
I'm anti-war, not technically a pacifist but I hate violence. If you want, every fibre of my being is pacifist in attitude. Most young people I talk to don't think that Afghanistan is the right place for us to be fighting in, but even if I am anti-war, I wanted to honour those communities that provide the 'foot soldiers' for the war.
The military is very strong in Northern communities but also among Cockney, Welsh and Glasgwegian groups - these are the big working-class communities that tend to provide those foot soldiers.
I wanted to make the sections that take part in Afghanistan exciting and to give it a strong thriller element, like the television show 24, although it's a serious exploration of terrorism and there are some quite serious arguments about this within the story.
Someone described the reality of life on the ground in Afghanistan for soldiers as '80% boredom and 20% terror'. I couldn't get to Afghanistan myself to do the research so I did it to the best of my capabilities from home.
I wanted to give a very vivid picture of Afghanistan. I talked to a few lads in the Marines about it and I read many accounts by soldiers who have fought there, particularly those by Doug Beatie, who is compassionate in his writing and provides some fantastic background. He comes from the background I talked about, Protestant Belfast working class, and is among the best writers to come out of the war.
What you find is that the squadies aren't making the decisions about war. Most empathised with the local population and then got frustrated with them; they are working in a complicated context.
There are also a number of messages in Act of Love from fanatics, including the Far Right and Islamist extremists, and these kinds of messages will talk to disaffected youth.
I wanted to put the views mainly from their minds and mouths: what is appeal of being in an extremist group? In any small elite, they see themselves as the elected good; no one understands them, they are better than anyone else and the more isolated they are the more justified they feel.
Their messages have to be attractive to readers or they won't understand its appeal, but I also show the consequences of that extremism it may feel exciting and you may feel like the top cat but ultimately it will consume you. I will talk to kids about it but they will make their own decisions.
I was talking to a Muslim audience in Leicester about Act of Love and the young people asked straight away, when is the book out? They didn't think a white guy shouldn't have written it, they just want someone to be honest and openly explore the issues through some real characters.
In one way, when you're writing this kind of book, you walk on eggshells but any novelist worth their salt has to take gambles. There always have to be gambles in literature; the worst thing is if you dont step outside your own safety zone.
I have never been satisfied with a book yet, I want it to be the very best and the possibilities are infinite. I'm not finished with this subject and I want to write about the Arab Spring, what I'm thinking about is the revolutionary's daughter, in exile perhaps from the Middle East...
My next book, however, is focused on young people in a council estate engaged in turf warfare, with the guns being used by the white kids. I'm very concerned about our disaffected youth, there are so many kids who give teachers grief every day and who are totally switched off from education. There are so many reasons why it's happening today, and my next book will explore some of them.
Alan Gibbons says:
'I was born in Warrington and brought up as a farm labourer's son in the Cheshire countryside. When I was eight my Dad had an accident which meant he couldn't work outside and we had to move to Crewe where he got a factory job. Moving from a small village to a busy industrial town was a big shock. I got bullied a lot and had to learn to defend myself. I lived in many places when I grew up, finally settling in Liverpool, where I've spent most of my adult life. I've had many jobs including working in a tea factory, a furniture factory and even a toilet factory. Eventually, when I was in my thirties I found myself on the dole and decided it was time to find a career. Seeing my own kids growing up, I decided on teaching which I did for 18 years before I gave up to pursue writing full time.
It was a natural next step to start writing. Maybe because I was an outsider when we first moved from the countryside, and because I got bullied, I often write about people fighting back. Against bullying, against racism, against being put down because you're different. I was an only child and loved quiet, so I do wonder how I came to have four noisy children and live in a complete madhouse!
My passions are reading, writing, football and music from opera to The Beatles and Blues. I love the richness, the history and the poetry that comes out of a great city like Liverpool, but I do sometimes dream of my sleepy village back in Cheshire. Maybe one day I'll live somewhere like that again where I can read and write in peace.'
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Reliable, loyal, stubborn.
What are the best things about being an author?
Creating your own dream worlds in your own image.
What are the worst things?
Hours sitting in front of the PC redrafting.
What advise would you give to aspiring writers?
Read like a maniac and write like one. Learn from your mistakes and don't let anyone put you off.
What makes you laugh?
My kids, Friends, The Simpsons, Members of Parliament.
