We are delighted to welcome Susan Brownrigg to the blog.  Susan is the author of The Gracie Fairshaw Mystery and her latest novel Kintana and the Captain’s Curse is part mystery, part adventure set on the high seas and is a perfect summer read!

Pirates feature heavily in the story, can you tell us about some of the research you did as part of the book?

I love researching, and I always do my best to combine learning from books and other source material with finding ways to inhabit the world I’m creating. I’ve read lots and lots of books on pirates and watched documentaries and films. I found visits to the Merseyside Maritime Museum, in Liverpool, and the Vasa Museum, in Stockholm, and stepping aboard tall ships at various festivals enabled me to get a more immersive sense of what life was like on board ship. I know I would make a hopeless pirate – I’m not good with enclosed spaces or heights and I get seasick! I have also been to fabulous pirate festivals in Hull, Whitehaven and Liverpool, and that is also useful for seeing Living History and getting a feel for the objects pirates used – when I worked at Norton Priory Museum, I also got to spend many a summer performing as a pirate at our family friendly storywalks.

Kintana is obviously a girl, how possible would her involvement have been?

There were female pirates, so it is definitely possible! Anne Bonny and Mary Read. They both had been dressed as boys in their youth and became friends when they joined Calico Jack’s pirate crew.

Before them there was Gráinne Ní Mháille/ Grace O’Malley – the Irish Pirate Queen, who became a seafarer at age 11! There is a legend that Grace was told by her father that she couldn’t go to sea because her long hair would get caught in the ship’s ropes. To embarrass him she cut it all off, earning her the nickname Bald Grace.

Why do you feel pirates have such a popular place in children’s books?

Gosh, the desire to find treasure is definitely part of it! I think children love the idea of being rich. The fact that pirates are bad, yet we root for them, makes them very interesting as characters. The colourful clothing, action-packed battles, and exotic lands add to the appeal.

Since Peter Pan and Treasure Island, children have been enthralled by pirate adventures and it’s fabulous to see a flotilla of new pirate stories being published year after year – each with their own unique story to tell.

You’ve created a really vivid and memorable setting; it opens with that most wonderful thing in books – a map!  Did you create a map to help create the setting?

I didn’t, though I did do some sketches of some of the characters early on. I did however use real maps, both paper ones and Google earth. I adore the map in my book, (it was created by cover illustrator Jenny Czerwonka) it made my imaginary world suddenly very tangible. I was quite giddy when I first saw it.

How much research was involved with Malagasy Culture and what were some of the things you discovered?

Malagasy culture is fascinating and complex. There are over 18 different ethnic groups living on the island, each with different beliefs, styles of dress and dialect.

I read a lot of books, travelogues and travel guide books, as well as National Geographic articles.

I was fascinated by the fact that pirates once had their own island settlement at Nosy Boraha (there really is a pirate cemetery) and that Captain Kidd’s treasure is thought to have been buried somewhere off Madagascar – his ship was scuppered at Nosy Boraha.

I also enjoyed learning about the famadihana ceremony, also known as the turning of the bones, a funerary tradition where families rebury their ancestors.

After I had finished writing and editing my book, I reached out to the Anglo-Malagasy Society and the Ambassador to the Republic of Madagascar as I was anxious to make sure my book was accurate. I asked if they could suggest anyone who might read my book and offer any comments. I was incredibly grateful when the ambassador, Dr Phil Boyle, offered to read Kintana himself, and Daniel Austin of the AMS introduced me to two Malagasy women who kindly also offered their insightful comments and answered specific questions. Their generous feedback was so useful, particularly around fady, beliefs, clothing and language, and was especially specific to Nosy Boraha which was harder to find information about, as well as Madagascar’s varied wildlife.

I gained a deeper appreciation in particular for the impact finding an aye-aye hand would have on Kintana which prompted some rewriting and a better story.

Part of the setting focuses on the extraordinary flora and fauna of the islands, I understand some of this has been informed by your time at Blackpool Zoo, can you tell us a little more about that please?

Yes, I was very fortunate to spend a summer season working at an education assistant at Blackpool Zoo in 2012. One of my many duties was to do animal talks, and that meant telling visitors about lots of different animals – one of my favourites was Darwin, a giant Aldabra tortoise, which definitely had an influence on my book. Darwin is over 100 years old! I also especially enjoyed talking about the lemurs – they were rather cheeky, trying to steal the food I had for them before it was time! One of the keepers kindly also let me see the nocturnal mouse lemurs up close after months of trying to spot them! They are unbearably cute!

Back in 2009 I also spent a day as a zookeeper at Lakeland Oasis where I was able to hold a chameleon and feed the lemurs. They also had a fossa – but you certainly don’t want to get to close to one of those!

I have seen lots of Madagascar wildlife in zoos across Europe including tenrecs, fanaloka, bokiboky, geckos, tomato frogs, all kinds of lemurs including aye-ayes and sifaka as well as giant jumping rats!

Did you have a favourite animal that you wrote about, if so why?

I love Polly, the vasa parrot. I’ve seen them in zoos and they are so active and full of character! Parrots are often thought of as colourful, and vasas are dark grey, though the female loses her head feathers to reveal her yellowish skin underneath when she is ready to mate. In my book the vasas talk, but they don’t in real life! Polly always has a lot to say!

Although set in the 1700s, there are some very shrewd and timely comments around nature and conservation on p52 ‘Sadly finding [him] a mate has proved impossible.  It seems there are no other surviving Madagascar giant tortoises.’  Is this ecosystem under threat?

Very much so. Madagascar has its own unique eco system since it split from Africa 160 million years ago. A very high percentage of its mammals, reptiles and plants are endemic – meaning they are not found anywhere else of earth. Madagascar has over 800 endangered species including frogs, tortoises, lemurs and plants.

There are a lot of riddles woven through the story, were these fun to create?

Yes, I really enjoyed adding in these puzzles for Kintana to solve – I like using play on words and having clues in my stories for my characters to work out.

You have worked both as a living history presenter and as a journalist, do you feel these have fed into your approach to writing and storytelling?

I hope I have developed a good sense of what children enjoy from delivering school sessions at the museum, zoo and various heritage attractions. Working as a living history presenter helps you see that people in the past often had the same basic needs and emotions. My journalism skills have hopefully helped me to tell a story well! In both careers I had to take information and repackage it so it could be easily understood.  I like to keep the plot moving and enjoy sharing what I’ve learned from research.

I understand the book was actually your first children’s book and it has been around twenty years in the writing, can you tell us a bit about this?

Kintana was a very long time in coming to life! I first started writing about pirates and Madagascar back in 2000, when I found out my sister was expecting a baby. Up to then I tried writing for adults. My nephew is now 20!

The original book was quite different – it was called Dr Midas and the pirates. It was a time travel adventure with a time machine powered by smelly socks with an adult main character and a robot dog sidekick! The original story was longlisted in a Writers & Artists Handbook competition and I got very excited! I sent it to lots of agents, and someone at Puffin read it, but it never made it off the slushpile.

I reworked it a few times, because I still thought there was a good idea there. In 2020 I submitted it to Uclan Publishing, and I was thrilled when they said they would like to publish it. I have often joked to my writing friends that my rejected books are my catalogue – and one day after some editing perhaps they will find their time has come too.

You were named as one of the Undiscovered Voices by SCBWI, what kind of support have you had from the organisation?

I really don’t think I would be a published author without SCBWI. I have made so many friends, and the critique meet ups (currently done via Zoom) spur me on to write a new chapter each month. The feedback I receive from the tween group always helps me to see ways to improve my drafts and has encouraged me to keep going. Featuring in the UV anthology was a real boost to my confidence, and I have learned so much from the many workshops etc that SCBWI offer.

You’ve taken us to Blackpool and Madagascar, where do you think you will take us next?

Well, I’ll be taking readers back to Blackpool first! Gracie Fairshaw and Trouble at the Tower is being published in October. I’m not sure, after that. I have an idea for a story set in Russia (so I’m hoping to make a trip there once travel opens up.) I also have a book set in Peru during the Inca Empire that I’m hoping to revisit. It’s another historical adventure with some interesting animals!

Image Bank:

One - Aye Aye with Leaves

Two - Susan cleaning out lemurs at Blackpool Zoo

Three - Kintana's hat and accessories

Four -Jenny Czerwonka's map

Five - Susan and a lemur at Blackpool Zoo

Six - Susan with a telescope

Seven - Susan at vasamuseet in Sweden

Eight - Vasa parrot

A big thank you to Susan Brownrigg for the interview