Festivals

Those lucky enough to get tickets for Julia Donaldson's sell-out show at the Bath Festival of Children's Literature will have been treated to a lively and fun author event.

With dramatic readings from her many books, which include The Gruffalo and The Snail and the Whale - apparently one of PM Gordon Brown's top five books - along with songs and plenty of audience participation, Julia likes to "put on a show".

"I'm really a frustrated actress," she said as we chatted in the incredibly noisy 'green room' at Bath's Guildhall prior to her performance.

"It's lovely now I can show off to my hearts content."

Julia actually studied drama at Bristol University, which is also where she met her doctor husband. 

The two of them busked around the world, singing on the streets to pay their way, which is the slightly unusual means by which Julia got into writing.

"I started writing songs as a result of that and one of my songs got made into a book," she said.

"And now that the books are doing well Malcolm has managed to take a year off and travel around the world with me performing."

Rhythm of the words

The lyrical rhyme of her picture books certainly lend themselves to song: " Because I did write songs I do try and make it sound good, not just the rhyming but the rhythm and alliteration, " explained Julia.

"Like most people who write in verse the rhyming dictionary is in your head."

Julia's latest releases are a dinosaur book called Tyrannosaurus Drip and a book about a little fish called Tiddler.

"It's really a celebration of storytelling, " she said.

"This little fish gets lost, but in the end it's his own stories that show him the way home. His stories have spread throughout the ocean from sea-creature to sea-creature."

She's also two thirds of the way through writing a novel for teenagers, a change in direction for her, though one of her previous novels for youngsters The Giants and the Joneses, has proved so popular that it is to be made into a film.

"This is quite nitty, gritty realistic - it's quite different than anything I've done before," she said.

"It's something I've had in my head for years and years and been on the back burner, but now I've got a contract so I have just got to do it."

Writing the novel has also meant that Julia has had to become a lot more disciplined in the way that she works, setting aside a chunk of time to work regularly on the book, rather than in her usual, more ad hoc manner.

Terrier wrestling

"With picture books either I wouldn't be writing at all or I'll get an idea and be absolutely driven and do it every second of the day," she explained.

"Because it's much shorter you are like a terrier wresting with something until it's done.

"You have to pace yourself with a novel - it's an alien discipline to me really."

With all the drama and song, youngsters attending Julia's show in Bath should have found plenty to keep them amused and interested - but a veteran of the festival event, Julia wasn't counting any chickens.

"Children can be so unpredictable - they could all be going out to the loo, once one goes to the loo it becomes very fashionable," she smiled.

"I hope that won't happen - I hope they enjoy it."

More than 11,000 tickets for the inaugural Bath Festival of Children's Literature have already been sold, with Jacqueline Wilson speaking to more than 800 people on Saturday - with a signing queue nearly three hours long!

Tickets are still available for some events, though Anthony Horowitz’s 1,000 seater event on Wednesday has sold out, as has the Doctor Who Night on Friday.

The festival continues until September 30, 2007.