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Theatre can transform a child's life, just as an early cultural experience whether with opera, ballet, music or art is a wonderful thing because it opens the door to a life-long experience, a life-long enjoyment.
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Stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions.
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Children have to be motivated to want to learn to read. Reading must not be taught simply as a school exercise.
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I don't want to be separate from something that's important to me.
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Remember to write for yourself, not for a market and give yourself time to develop your own style, your own voice. It takes a lifetime. Enjoy it!
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I fill up the well of stories in my head - without ever knowing I'm doing it.
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Any story you write about war, or film you make about war, is bound to be political whether you like it or not.
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Any problem can be solved between people if only they can trust each other
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Encouraging young people to believe in themselves and find their own voice whether it's through writing, drama or art is so important in giving young people a sense of self-worth.
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By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I'm talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren.
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I spend months, sometimes years, doing what I call dreamtime, weaving it together inside my head. But when I actually feel that the egg of my story is ready to hatch, then I can write it in three months. Then I know the landscape and the people well and from the inside, but I don't necessarily know where the story is going to take us.
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I think there's something about studying a book which will kill it if you're not careful.
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Books that kids read should be about what is going on in the world.
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There is the myth that writing books for children is easier than writing books for grownups, whereas we know that truly great books for children are works of genius, whether it's 'Alice in Wonderland' or the 'Gruffalo' or 'Northern Lights.' When it's a great book, it's a great book, whether it's for children or not.
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But I didn’t dare. That has always been my trouble. I’ve never dared enough.
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That's what sailing is, a dance, and your partner is the sea. And with the sea you never take liberties. You ask her, you don't tell her. You have to remember always that she's the leader, not you. You and your boat are dancing to her tune.
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As a young child my attention span was, as I remember it, rather short.
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You know, I really wish now I'd had the nerve to become an actor. Because I'd have been Robert Redford, no question.
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Characters are the key to a good book. It took me several novels to comprehend that.
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My Albert married his Maisie Brown as he said he would. But I think she never took to me, nor I to her for that matter. Perhaps it was a feeling of mutual jealousy.
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cause when there's life there's still hope
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Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.
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Read a lot - poems, prose, stories, newspapers, anything. Read books and poems that you think you will like and some that you think might not be for you. You might be surprised.
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It's the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom.