	Select a link below:

	biography

	interview

Val Rutt

Val Rutt lives in North London with her family. Val was the first writer-in-residence at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.

NAME:
Val Rutt

FAVOURITE BOOK:
My favourite children’s book is Small Pig by Arnold Lobel. This is a perfect story. When my son was two years old I read it every night for several months... and I still love it.

FAVOURITE SONG:
‘Young at Heart’ sung by Frank Sinatra

FAVOURITE FILM:
Young Frankenstein

MOST TREASURED POSSESSION:
The gifts my children have made for me.

When did you start writing?
Probably around 1964 when I was five.

Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?
I've always been a daydreamer and sometimes a daydream will grab my attention because it seems like a good idea for a story. Once I have an idea I play with it; what if this happened, what if that happened?

Can you give your top 3 tips to becoming a successful author
1. Aim to enjoy it. When my writing is going well for me I find it entertaining and pleasurable to do.

2. I am a teacher and I am sure it helps my writing to be spending so much time with my potential audience.

3. Keep a notebook and pen by the bed for when you wake at night with a brilliant idea.

Favourite memory
Listening to my father make up stories when I was small and the summer holidays I had between the ages of seven and twelve which blur together into one long, happy sunny day on the beach.

Favourite place in the world and why?
A beach in Scotland because it is perfect in every way.

What are your hobbies?
I walk my dog and I read.

If you hadn’t been a writer what do you think you would have been?
Well, I have been a bank clerk, a nurse and I am a primary school teacher. I’ve always fancied owning a little bookshop but I don’t think I would be very good at it; in my fantasy I’m to be found sitting among the shelves reading, not doing any selling or the accounts.