Introducing Virginia Macgregor

This week we’ll be running a series of Q&As featuring our talented list of authors, to help you get to know them a little better. First up is Virginia Macgregor, a wonderful new voice in the world of edgy and thought-provoking YA fiction.

Who or what is your writing inspiration?

People.  Fabulous, quirky, everyday people.  I’m incredibly nosy and writing gives me a legitimate reason to eavesdrop, ask inappropriate questions, find out more about the world and climb into different skins.  It’s the best job in the world!

Where is your favourite place to write?

To keep my imagination whirring, I move around.  My husband jokes that there are so many desks in the house, we’ll soon be installing one in the loo! I surround myself with pictures and objects from my stories. I considered keeping a beetle in a jam jar to honour Madge, one of my favourite characters from When I Hold My Breath, but I worried it might die – or that my cats, Vi and Seb, might eat it.  Madge would never have forgiven me!

What was the last book you read?

Can I have two? I’m a bit of book glutton.  Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales for Young and Old, which reminded me of the wonderful fairytales my German mother read to me as a child, and Jon Mcgregor’s This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You: I can’t get enough of his writing, it’s breathtaking.

When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer?

Probably in utero!  I grew up as the youngest in an eccentric, cacophonous family that never stopped telling stories. These were usually wild exaggerations and imaginative interpretations of what actually happened!  Coming up with my own stories, and writing them down, felt like the natural next step.

What is your favourite ice cream flavour and/or favourite biscuit, and why?

Anything rich, very dark (80% cocoa) and very gooey hits the spot!