But because of the time and the money you spend on championing literacy, why is that so important . For me, the most important thing is getting kids reading. Because if our kids do not become competent readers, especially kids at risk, how are they going to getjobs and go to school . If they get through, ten and ii and they are not competent. Therell be a Drag On Society and the city and all of us, and it will make for a harder life for them and the thing about. As an individual i cant do much to solve Global Warming or health care crisis, whatever, but as an individual we can all get the kids in our homes reading, mostly, we can help the local school, we can help the local libraries, libraries are a big issue now and how they get funded in england. Ijust hope that people will stand up and go, our libraries are really important, we need the money for libraries. How much does your interest in this stem from the fact that you had a son who was a reluctant reader . Well, jack is a bright guy. When he was eight years old, that summer, we said you can read every day and he said, do i have to . And we said yes, unless you want to live in the garage because we read in our house. But we said this is going to be painless, well buy books youll like, so weve got a dozen books like percy jackson, and one of mine and by the end of the summerjack had read a dozen books and his Reading Skills went up dramatically, and ultimately they have Sat Scores In America so a perfect score in reading is 800 and he had 800 in reading, and he is going to an ivy league college. In terms of what can happen, if you take charge with your children, make it your responsibility. There is nothing more important than a mother or father or grandparents to do than make sure the kids read. It is good you get them out with exercise but they have to be able to read. You are hugely successful, a writer of commercial mainstream fiction, do you hanker after writing the Great American novel . I have already they are just commercial no, i love what i do. I think it serves a purpose. On my gravestone, james kept a lot of people up late at night. And bookshots are going to be one of the reasons. Bookshots are a revolution. This is going to change the way people read. Although she says that she thinks of it as comic, the comedy is darker than forever. For one of our most prolific and most read authors crock lat was an International Bestseller and memorable film. Sler an exploration of some of the most troubling relationships between teachers and pupils and the havoc they can sometimes wreak. It strikes me that schools attract you, you like them, dont you . me that schools attract you, you like them, dont you . I am very fobbed of schools, i taught in them for 15 years and theyre wonderful observations of community. The observation here is as i said at the beginning, pretty dark. Its funny, its touching. But it goes to some very dark places. Both in terms of the staff and their charges. Some very dark places. Both in terms of the staff and their chargesm does. Ifound of the staff and their chargesm does. I found that schools are a kind of perpetual stage for tragedy and farce and everything in between. So many things can happen. Its an unpredictable environment. And that isnt just because of unpredictable environment. And that isntjust because of setting, its because of the age of those involved. You are talking about adolescents going through crises, some imagined, some real and relationships with teachers which are inevitably delicate things. Relationships with teachers which are inevitably delicate thingslj think so, yes. Its an intense stage of life, adolescence, you feel things very strongly. You can experience experience things for the first time and they can be powerful that theyre completely create an upheaval in your life. I found that theyre completely create an upheaval in your life. Ifound it interesting to be part of but its daunting as well because later i realised as a teacher you can really influence somebodys life and people remember you and they remember what you said and if it was unfair they will resent it in a way that an aduu will resent it in a way that an adult i dont think would resent. Some bad things happen in this book, i will not talk about what they are, its safe to say you are led into territory thats become more familiar to us territory thats become more familiarto us in territory thats become more familiar to us in the last two or three years, allegations of sexual impropriety and misconduct and so on and Emotional Trauma with staff and pupils, did you know thats what you we re pupils, did you know thats what you were getting into when you started . Not entirely, no. I think what happened was i started off with a germ of an idea in this book and then in real life Operation Yewtree started to unfold and i found there was an uncomfortable crossover in what i was writing about and what happened in the world. It became much darker and more topical than i thought it would be. You touch on the question in this book of atmospheres that can develop, rather hysterical ones leading to a kind of almost a witch hunt atmosphere, or a territory where there are false accusations and difficulties and great damage done as a consequence. Its something that clearly fascinates you, the unfairness that is lurking there under the surface. Yes, i think so. Also the past and how the past affects the present. And how memory is not inherently a reliable tool, particularly when dealing with experiences of trauma, how memory can be affected by all kind of things happening in the present day and how memory can sometimes be both unreliable and frightening. The main character has been a teacherfor a frightening. The main character has been a teacher for a long time, frightening. The main character has been a teacherfor a long time, this has happened to him again and again. Theres that interesting sense of having seen generations of pupils coming through in his case to learn classics or not to learn, first of all, you clearly adore him. Classics or not to learn, first of all, you clearly adore himlj classics or not to learn, first of all, you clearly adore him. I am very fond of him. We are not entirely the same person but i might have grown into him if i stayed at the school in which i taught for long enough. Hes flawed in a lot of ways but ultimately he has a good heart. He is warm, he is affectionate. He loves hisjob. He is aware of the consequences of the job that he does. He is aware that he is affecting young lives and he has a strong sense of duty. I also like the fact that he is a bit of a subversive. That he has various prejudices which is unaware of, he has favourites and he is unaware of this. He is bad with technology. He likes the Odd Sneaky Fag outside when he shouldnt have. One of the interesting things about the way you construct the narrative here is that you have got an older man talking but you have youngsters as well so theyRe Inhabiting but you have youngsters as well so they Re Inhabiting different but you have youngsters as well so theyRe Inhabiting different theyRe Inhabiting different theyRe Inhabiting different theyre in the same place in the school. Thats right. I had the benefit of being in that environment for long enough to pick up a lot of voices, to remember the way teenager boys talked, the way older members of staff talked, and so i have borrowed from colleagues, from pupils who are now ex pupils and watch the whole process with joy from twitter and facebook. You are a great twitter user . I am, yes. A lot of boys say i remember this and read this book and often they turn up to readings and of course they all think i am writing about them, which isnt quite true, but there are certainly little vinets. Its a dark story but you are having fun. You area story but you are having fun. You are a successful author, widely read, are you irritated when people say you are the chocolate woman . Does it sometimes hang around your neck . Inevitably a little. I am very grateful for the response to it and the fact that people loved it and i love it too and i am still writing about those characters. What i find irssome, if anything, about those characters. What i find irssome, ifanything, is about those characters. What i find irssome, if anything, is that assumption i will do the same thing. I could go in almost any direction and have done, i am lucky in that sense. You are and you take what i might call the authorial responsibility seriously. You are speaking up for authors and recently you talked about not going to one na meless you talked about not going to one nameless Literary Festival because they were expecting all kind of things and exclusive contracts and saying, hang on, authors deserve to be treated in a better way. Its not just about me, about me wanting money or special treatment, com pletely money or special treatment, completely the opposite. I would like is for people to see writing as ajob, like is for people to see writing as a job, its a profession. And to treat authors professionally and this is particularly important for Young Authors who have a real difficulty sometimes in getting to festivals because of what its going to cost them. They dont make much money writing, contrary to public opinion. Absolutely. The average salary for professional author is £11 thousand a year, according to the society of authors, this isnt much, not many of us get to write for a living and make a reasonable living out of it. You are an author who conforms i think to one of the wonderful stereotypes, you work in a shed at the bottom of the garden. Wonderful stereotypes, you work in a shed at the bottom of the Gardenlj Shed at the bottom of the garden. do, yes. You enter a different world when you are there . Shed world is a specific space. Its psychologically important for an author to have a work space, particularly somebody like me who was on a timetable for a long time, its difficult to manage time and difficult to get into the psychological head space of writing. Soi psychological head space of writing. So i think its important to create a place where you work and nothing else happens, whether its a shed, whether its a desk, when i was just starting off i didnt have a desk, so starting off i didnt have a desk, soi starting off i didnt have a desk, so i had two objects that i would put in front of my laptop when i wa nted put in front of my laptop when i wanted to write and that created the work space, wherever it was. Sometimes i am working on two at once, in fact nearly always because i have books i write on sunny days and book i write on dark days. This was a Dark Day Book . Definitely a Dark Day Book. Although it has some glimpses of sunshine in there. should say its fun, as well. Joanne harris, thank you very much. Well, this is about as much snow as ican well, this is about as much snow as i can offer in this weather forecast. Its going to be an incredibly mild christmas, pretty windy too, especially across scotland, particularly boxing day. It will be stormy there. This is the next storm, storm conor out there in the atlantic. Its a powerful wind storm, its drawing all of that mild airfrom the storm, its drawing all of that mild air from the southern climes and is pushing that warm air in our direction. So i would go as far as saying its going to be warm. Temperatures by the early hours of Christmas Day morning will be around 11 across the south, so certainly not a hint of any frost across the country at this stage. Those winds will increase, particularly across the north west, here outbreaks of rain and for many of us a cloudy gloomy day. Sunshine from time to time, butjust in a few areas, perhaps north east of scotland, to the east of the pennines, i wouldnt be surprised if there is sunshine there. You can see rain pushing through scotland and Northern Ireland and these temperatures, 13, 14, ireland and these temperatures, 13, 1a, even a slim chance we could get up 1a, even a slim chance we could get up to 15. The rest of the south and the south west, plymouth also around 13 with a few spots of rain. Thats how it will continue through the rest of Christmas Day. One thing that is going to happen is its going to cool off in the north. Turning colder across the north of scotland. This is storm conor at this stage, there is a chance of some wintriness, particularly across the hills. More disruptive will be the gusts of wind, gales up to 80mph across the Northern Isles and the north of scotland. And very windy elsewhere. This is boxing day. Another blustery day with some rain in the north and bits and pieces of rain across wales and the south west. Again look at the temperatures, double figures from the southall the way to the north, evenin the southall the way to the north, even in shetland and orkney. Then beyond that after all of this windy weather, its going to calm down. High pressure builds and u nfortu nately down. High pressure builds and unfortunately it looks as though fog could be the problem on tuesday and wednesday, particularly in the morning. Some sunshine around but frost and fog could prove to be a hazard. Bye. If this is bbc news. Im reeta chakrabarti. The headlines at eight authorities in tunisia arrest three people suspected of being part of a terror cell connected to the berlin Christmas Market attacker, anis amri. A man and woman have appeared in court in london charged with making preparations for a terrorist attack. Israel condemns as shameful a Un Security Council vote calling for an end to settlements on occupied palestinian land. Tributes are paid to the status quo guitarist rick pariftt, who has died in hospital in spain at the age of 68. Also in the next hour the Prime Minister calls for unity after the brexit vote. In herfirst christmas message, theresa may urges britain to move forward as the country prepares to leave the eu. Merry christmas, everybody
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