Sarah Tagholm - Children's Author in Cornwall

1. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I had been an aspiring children's writer for years, and my son watched me receive rejection after rejection, but I didn't give up and in 2020 I bagged five book deals with three different publishers and a brilliant agent. I feel happy that he witnessed that climb, that in at least one way, I set him a good example!

2. What motivates you to do what you do?

I love writing so I don't need any motivation to do it. I have always needed a creative outlet and tried many different paths, but with writing, I enjoy the unexpectedness of meeting whatever has been creeping around my brain when it crawls out onto the paper.

3. What do you owe your mother?

My mum is an unfailingly cheery and friendly woman with a huge amount of energy despite being almost 70. I think I inherited her optimistic outlook, which has been a true gift to me throughout my life.

4. Which women inspire you and why?

SO MANY women inspire me... Tove Jansson's phenomenal creativity and imagination – the way she captured the most mundane moments in life and made them heartwarming and hilarious.

Margaret Atwood's incredible intellect, I wish she were running the world right now – we certainly wouldn't be in the mess we are if she were.

Coming from a working class background myself, I have huge respect for Cornwall's Natasha Carthew – founder of The Working Class Writers Festival and champion of working class women.

And of course Melissa Hardie of the Hypatia Trust – what a brain! What drive and ambition - she flung shit in the face of no – there was nothing she couldn't get done, I miss her so much already.

5. What are you reading?

I always have a few books on the go... one in the lounge - Fathoms by Rebecca Giggs, a non fiction about whales. One by the bed – Glimpses of The Unknown, part of a collection called Tales Of The Weird by the British Library, I'm always drawn to the bizarre. A few on the table where I write – folklore and mythology mostly – they help plug my brain into a socket of limitless imagination.

6. What gender barriers have you had to hurdle?

This question is the hardest one for all of us I think, because really there have been so many, an endless track of hurdles looping infinitely around the world. One example was when my school began arranging work experience for our class....

‘What would you like to do for work experience Sarah? I'd like to do plumbing. Hmmm, well we can get you work experience as a receptionist at a plumbers, none of the plumbers want to take a girl on – it would be too distracting for them wouldn't it.’

7. How can the world be made a better place for women?

Education for all girls, and women represented at the top alongside the men in every single area – gender parity.

8. Describe your perfect day?

A flat sea, like blue velvet, stretching out in front of my kakak. Exploring a new stretch of the wild Cornish coastline, maybe a seal or cetacean dropping by for company. Lunch and a dip on a deserted beach. Back home to read on the sofa in a quiet house. Then dinner cooked by my husband Hugo with our son Darwin and the three of us on the sofa watching an epic like Lord Of The Rings or Dune, though Hugo would be snoozing – he doesn't believe in dragons - poor thing!

9. We've noticed there really aren't many (if any) statues of women around Cornwall - who would you like to see remembered?

I'd love to see one for all of our Grandmothers, and those before them, hard working women who spent every day scrubbing the floors, washing the clothes and making do and mending for nothing more than the love of their families.

10. Give us a tip?

I think maybe, just really, go at it hard.

There's a book in the Hypatia Elizabeth Treffry Collection and I have never forgotten what it said about its author – a woman whose name I embarrassingly cannot recall, but she was described as ‘a great woman of genius in the art of living.’

I loved that, it really stuck with me, and I think it's a wonderful thing to aspire to do – to live well - to do as much of the things you love with the people you love, because really, it's all over in a flash isn't it?

Sarah Tagholm is a children's author who loves writing about confused animals, mischievous children and all things bizarro. She is passionate about encouraging a love of reading, libraries and availability of books for all children. Sarah lives with her family in Cornwall, where they spend so much time in the sea it's a wonder they haven't grown gills! Her debut, Wolves In Helicopters, publishes on Thursday 1st September - you can see it here:

Wolves in Helicopters by Sarah Tagholm | Signed & Dedicated Pre-order – Falmouth Bookseller

and of course it's available in Waterstones, WHSMITH, Amazon etc too.

“Wolves in Helicopters tackles nightmares head on with one fiercely brave little bunny and the love of her mother. Can Hop find a way to escape the wolves in her nightmares, even if they chase her in helicopters? Mummy thinks so...”