Julia Donaldson interview

In The Independent, Nick Duerden talks to children's writer Julia Donaldson about creating The Gruffalo and writing her first novel for teenagers, Running On The Cracks.

"What I do find frustrating," she says, "is that you can work away for a year on a book like [Running On The Cracks] and still..."

The sentence remains unfinished, Donaldson perhaps aware that she should keep these frustrations private. It sounds, I say, as if she has begun to resent the monster that has made her so famous and wealthy.

Another sigh. "No, I don't really resent it because – well, let's face it, I think any author would love to have some iconic character they can pin everything else on. But all the things I keep talking about these days I've heard myself talk about before. So I'm not learning anything new, am I?"