The bestselling author of the Gruffalo is concerned about the limits coronavirus has placed on the lives of her young fans
Julia Donaldson: one of her books sells about every 11 seconds in the UK. Photograph: Antony Sojka/The Guardian
Julia Donaldson: one of her books sells about every 11 seconds in the UK. Photograph: Antony Sojka/The Guardian
Sat 1 May 2021 01.00 EDT
Children are not, says Julia Donaldson with a smile, going to write to her directly about the pandemic. Her assistant has just delivered a fresh pile of post, and the author shuffles through a stack of opened letters to make the point: âChildren arenât going to write, âOh dear I feel so lonely or overcrowdedâ â they are just writing their usual, âThere were four kittens called mitten, litten, nitten and kitten.â They are so sweet, some of the things they write.â
Once upon a time there was a little girl called Julia who had two ambitions in life. One was to be an actress and the second was to meet Mick Jagger.
She spent several hours in pursuit of the first and many, many weeks attempting the second by standing outside lots of stage doors.
Julia Donaldson does now get to act out her own stories to children and adults all over the world, and while she never met Mick, thanks to his many children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren he’s now more likely to be a fan of hers than she is of him.