Q&A with Simon Stephenson

 

 

 

Simon Stephenson is the author of the new middle grade novel The Snowman Code. His other books include Sometimes People Die. He is also a screenwriter, and he lives in Los Angeles.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Snowman Code, and how did you create your characters Blessing and Albert?

 

A: Before I was a writer I was a children's doctor and I worked with kids in the care system. I always wanted to write something they might see themselves in.  Blessing is a kid like the ones I knew, and embodies much of the strength and resilience I saw in those kids.

 

At the opposite end of the scale, I always find it very funny when somebody is certain they are correct while clearly being wrong and Albert embodies that. There is another part of him, though – a kind of polite formality – that I think comes from my beloved late grandparents.

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between them?

A: They are quite opposite in many ways. Blessing is the more responsible and worldly of the two, and has to do a lot of humoring Albert. They can certainly bicker but do also care deeply for one another. In that way, I suppose it is kind of a sibling relationship.

Q: This is your first book for young readers—why did you decide to write for kids?

A: It was something I'd wanted to do since I worked in the children's hospital. I also work as a screenwriter and I'd worked on a couple of big children's movies - Paddington 2 and Pixar's Luca - and so it seemed liked the obvious next step.

 

Q: What do you think Reggie Brown's illustrations add to the book?

 

A: So much! I fell in love with Reggie's work from his Instagram and when he started delivering images they were beyond anything I could have dreamed of.

 

They elevated the work in ways I had not possible, but I think overall the biggest thing about Reggie's illustrations is their heart. I think it's one thing to be able to write with heart when you have 200 pages to do so, but to bring such emotion to a single image is such a rare skill. He’s brilliant. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Right now I am working on a TV adaptation of my most recent novel, Sometimes People Die. It is a couple of years since the book came out and it has been fun to revisit it.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: There's a snowman festival in Japan in February every year and it looks amazing. I'm hoping to go sometime, but if you get there first please take some pictures for me.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb