Felicity's blog!

About Felicity Pulman

I grew up (a long time ago!) in a small bush town in Africa. No TV, iPods, computer games and surfing the internet – you could say I had a very deprived childhood! Not so. Instead, for entertainment I learned to read. Books became my windows to the world: they told me about dragons and fairies and magic. They told me about other countries and other cultures. They told me about myself. And I have never stopped reading, because I love stories.

I guess I always did things back to front – the hard way! In Africa, when I ran out of books to read, I wrote my own. I love writing stories, but I never thought about it as a grownup occupation. As a grownup, I had to go back to school to find out that I really was a writer. After doing the HSC at the age of 40, I went on to do a BA (Communications) degree at UTS. My major was creative writing, and suddenly I found myself experimenting with all sorts of genres and, in particular, writing the sorts of stories that I love to read – crime and timeslip fantasy back into the past.

I then went on to do an MA in Children's Literature at Macquarie University, during which time two novels for children were published: Three's a Crowd (written under the pseudonym Anne Holmes) published by Pan Macmillan, and Ghost Boy, now published by Random House Australia. Wally the Water Dragon (Blake Education) and Surfing the Future (Wendy Pye NZ) came next.

Then my beloved dog, Bonnie, died, and out of that sad and dreadful time came the Shalott trilogy (published by Random House Australia). In these three novels, five teenagers zap back in time to the court of King Arthur with the intention of rewriting the legend in order to save Camelot and also save the life of 'The Lady of Shalott'. Everything goes wrong and, instead, they find they're actually creating part of the legend while also rewriting their lives and their future. Read the poem 'The Lady of Shalott' by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

After the Shalott trilogy, I cast about for another fascinating piece of Australian history to write about (as I had for Ghost Boy) but I discovered that my heart, and my dreaming, were still in medieval England. And so The Janna Mysteries were born, combining my love of crime and medieval time in an exciting romance set in the 1140's: a time of civil war and great danger in England's history.

One thing I really enjoy about writing is researching the places where my books are set. I spent a lot of time at the Quarantine Station in Sydney when writing Ghost Boy, which has a flashback to the grim and grisly conditions there during a smallpox outbreak in 1881.

To research the Shalott trilogy, I followed 'the Arthurian trail' in the UK, looking at many of the sites associated with King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Click on the images below to see 'the sacred Isle of Avalon' and 'Arthur's grave' at Glastonbury.

See Felicity's Wikipedia page.

These two photos show the site of King Arthur's grave among the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

I have visited England twice to research my new medieval crime series for teenagers, The Janna Mysteries. Book 1 - Rosemary for Remembrance, Book 2 – Rue for Repentance and Book 3 – Lilies for Love, are out now, with Book 4 – Willows for Weeping to be published by Random House in 2008.

I am a member of Show and Tell Promotions, with many years' experience talking about my work to students, teachers and librarians, as well as at writers' festivals and other functions. I am also available to conduct writing workshops in various genres for both children and adults. I have been a creative writing tutor at several writing schools and evening colleges, and have conducted writing workshops for many different organisations, including branches of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, the Society of Women Writers and Petrea King's Quest for Life.

For bookings in NSW, contact me directly. For bookings in all other states, please contact Bronwen Bennett at Show and Tell Promotions, telephone (03) 9818 6518, or email: bronwen@showtell.com.au or visit their website: www.showtell.com.au.