Festivals

Writing a book about the science of the universe and making it fun as well as informative must be a daunting task, especially when the people you are aiming your work at are the most discerning of readers - children.

But Lucy Hawking has found herself quite a knowledgeable co-writer for what is her first book for children, her scientist father Professor Stephen Hawking, who knows a fair bit about theoretical physics and the workings of the cosmos!

"I suggested to my dad that we work together, use my background in fiction and his amazing career in theoretical physics to write a book to explain some of the work he's done to my son, to my nephew and other kids out there, " Lucy explained, who has previously worked as a journalist and published several novels.

"My dad has such a passion and enthusiasm and such a talent for explaining very complicated concepts in simple language, that for him it was a very appealing idea."

After 18 months of work, the resulting book, George's Secret Key to the Universe, has hit the shops and two sequels are already planned.

Physics adventure

The book, "an adventure story about physics", centres on our hero young George and his many adventures, both on planet Earth and through an amazing doorway, opened by a friendly super computer, which allows him to explore the wonders of the universe.

"I want people to think 'just because I'm an arts person doesn't mean I can't understand or appreciate or enjoy a bit of science'," she explained.

"We all need to know a bit about science."

The "family entertainer" who was much more interested in drama, music and dance than the science of black holes as a child, Lucy has found that working on the book with her father has been an "adventure."

"It's been a professional journey, a scientific journey for me and a personal one as well," she said.

 "We get on very well and this book for us has been great, it's brought us closer together, given us a project to work on together and it was a really fun project as well.

Lot of laughs

"We spent a lot of time together writing it and had a lot of laughs doing it and I think we are very happy with the results."

"Creative differences basically came up when I was attempting to bend the laws of physics in order to tell a story, " Lucy laughs.

"Which I was completely not allowed to do."

With two more adventures in the pipeline for young George, as father and daughter tackle other scientific topics while continuing his story, parents and teachers will have no excuse for not introducing science to youngsters.

In fact Lucy says feedback has already been very positive, with one teacher emailing to say that her library was now full of kids talking about black holes and Hawking radiation, "this has never happened before!" she said.

Lucy Hawking was taking part in the Bath Festival of Children's Literature which continues until 30 September 2007.