Varjak Paw won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for Children's Literature, as well as regional book of the year awards in Gateshead, Stockton and West Sussex. It has since been adapted as a stage play and an opera, and a film is in development. It has been translated into 14 languages, and worldwide sales are now over a million, with over half a million in the UK alone. In 2021, Varjak Paw was included in BookTrust's list of the 100 Best Children's Books From The Last 100 Years.
The sequel, The Outlaw Varjak Paw (2005), won the BBC's Blue Peter Book Of The Year, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, and won the Leicester Teenage Book Of The Year. Varjak Paw is currently featured on the CLPE's recommended reading list for primary schools, and both books are being taught in classrooms around the UK.
SF's third novel, Phoenix (2013), is an epic space adventure for readers of 9 and up. It was chosen as an IBBY Honour List Book for the UK; shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award; nominated for both the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal; and won both the Warwickshire Secondary Schools Book Of The Year Award and the Haringey Children's Book Award.
He has described his new book Tyger (2022) as his "best book yet". Like his other books, it is illustrated by Dave McKean and published by David Fickling Books. It won Children's Book of the Year at the 2023 British Book Awards; Children's Book of the Year (Older Fiction) at the Week Junior Book Awards; the Foyles Children's Book Of The Year Award; and was picked as a book of the year by The Guardian, The Times and Sunday Times, and The Sun newspapers.
SF Said is a Fellow of Royal Society Of Literature, and is active in the wider world of literature and the arts. He has judged the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Book Awards (now the Costa Book Awards) and the Amnesty CILIP Honour. He has given talks at the British Library, the British Film Institute, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and on BBC Radio 4. He has also written extensively about children's and young adult fiction for both the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph. Here is a selection:
Features
- Blog launching the #CoverKidsBooks campaign for more children's books media coverage
- Feature on whether children's books can help build a better world
- Feature on re-reading children's books
- Feature on diversity in children's literature
- Top 10 Unlikely Heroes
- Book Blog on Ursula Le Guin's inspiration
- Book Blog on whether children's literature can be considered literature
- Feature on space stories
- Feature on the new golden age of children's literature
- Feature on classic storytelling, with Philip Pullman interview
- Column on The Amber Spyglass & the Whitbread Book Awards
- Interview with Jacqueline Wilson
- Interview with William Nicholson
- Interview with Richard Adams
Reviews
- Review of Eoin Colfer's Airman
- Review of Shaun Tan's Tales From Outer Suburbia
- Review of Michelle Paver's Outcast
- Review of Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre's Oliver And The Seawigs
- Review of Marcus Sedgwick's She Is Not Invisible
- Review of Francesca Simon's The Lost Gods
- Review of Ellen Renner's Tribute
- Review of Paul Magrs's Lost On Mars
- Review of Philip Reeve's Railhead
- Review of Maria Turtschaninoff's Maresi
138 comments:
Hi SF Thank you so much for recommending that Park Hill School in Kenilworth approach their local independent bookshop (us) to get books for your visit to them this week. We knew the event would be successful as we have heard you speak a couple of times in the past. It makes all the difference to us when we can build relationships with local schools. Several parents and children have been in the shop this week as a direct result of your visit. And, of course, we always recommend your books! Frances Kenilworth Books & Warwick Books
Hi Frances, thank you so much for your lovely comment! And you're most welcome - I always recommend that schools get in touch with a local bookseller for events, and try to put them in touch with one if they don't already have links. It just makes sense in every way!
In fact, I would always urge my readers to buy books from bookshops. I love bookshops; I love their physical space and browsability, and of course the expertise of booksellers. Those are things that you can't get on the internet, and I think we would really miss them if bookshops were no longer able to function as businesses... That's why I personally make a big effort to buy my books from shops that I love and want to support!
Dear S.F Said,
This message is coming to you from a year 4 class (4B) at South Norwood Primary school. We have recently finished reading your first book 'Varjak Paw' and we LOVED it! Our teacher thought it would be a nice idea to contact you with a few questions about yourself.....
1. Who was your biggest inspiration as a writer?
2.Which book did you enjoy writing the most and who was your favourite character?
3. Where did you get the name Varjak from?
4. What was your favourite book as a child?
5. Are you planning on writing any more books in the future?
We look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you for your time.
4B
Hello SF Said, you probably might remember me, you came to visit my school, New North Academy.
Anyways, my class and me would really appreciate if you came to watch us perform Varjak Paw, with your permission of course.
I love reading your books because they are interesting and fun.
P.S. The date is Tuesday 23rd June 2014.
Hello Leah, and thank you for your kind messages! I'm really looking forward to watching your performance of Varjak Paw – it's exciting for a writer to see a stage version of one of their books. Please say hello to everyone at New North Academy for me, and see you soon!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear 4B,
Thank you so much for your message! I'm really glad you enjoyed Varjak Paw - I hope you'll try my other books next next! Here are the answers to your questions:
1. I was very inspired by all the books I loved myself. It's hard to pick out one, but Watership Down by Richard Adams was definitely a big inspiration for me. If you want to know more about this amazing book, I wrote a blog about it here!
2. I think my new book Phoenix is my best one so far. It's a great big space epic, and I really enjoyed putting a lot of things I love into it, especially the stars. Here's a blog I did with some of the inspirations behind that book...
3. It was the name of my own cat!
4. Watership Down (see question 1) was a big one. I did also love The Cat In Hat, by Dr Seuss.
5. Definitely! There will be a third Varjak Paw book one day; see here for more information on that! But I'm currently writing a fantasy story called TYGER that I think will be my best one yet...
Thanks again for your message, and happy reading!
SF
Dear SF Said, I am writing to you to tell you how much I loved reading Varjak Paw and The Outlaw Varjak Paw. They are my favourite books I have ever read in my life. My mummy has ordered your new book Phoenix for me, I am very much looking forward to reading it. However, what I would love to know is,will you be writing more Varjak Paw books. I have really enjoyed them.
Yours sincerely Ella Burke-Hughes
Dear Ella,
Thank you so much for your amazing message! It means a lot to a writer to hear a wonderful thing like that.
To answer your question, I will be writing one more book about Varjak Paw, one day. I wrote a bit about this question in this blog post. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy Phoenix too – please let me know what you think when you've had a chance to read it!
With best wishes,
SF
dear SF Said, you recently visited my son's school Bancroft's. We would like to see you in any public signings or appearences that you might be doing. regards
Dear Saif,
Thank you very much for your kind message! It was a real pleasure to visit Bancroft's. I'll hopefully be doing a few public appearances this year, and will post details about them here or on twitter (@whatSFSaid).
Thanks again, and best wishes,
SF Said
When will your new book tyger come out, because phoenix is one of my favourite books ever.
Thank you so much for that fantastic comment! I really appreciate it, and I'm really glad Phoenix is one of your favourite books!
I have to be honest – I have no idea when Tyger will come out. I'm about 2 years into writing it at the moment. Phoenix took 7 years in the end, so it might be a while yet! I hope it won't be as long as that, but I want my books to be as good as they can possibly be, and that always takes a long time and a lot of hard work.
So please be patient; Tyger will come out one day, and I think it might be even better than Phoenix when it does!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear SF said my name is phillippa asante and i go to pound hill junior school I am in 4F my teachers name is Mr Ferguson every time the teacher starts I love to hear everything so I always sit at the front to make my literacy get better
Dear Phillippa,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, it means a lot to me! I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying literacy with Varjak Paw. Keep the Way alive!
With best wishes,
SF Said
hi SF
my name is Louis
you visited our school=Vinehall School
i really like your books and would love to ask you where you got the idea for phoenix
and when you signed my book i was wondering what "keep the way alive" ment now i know and just wanted to make sure does it mean the seven skills
thanks louis
Dear Louis,
Thank you so much for your comment! It was a pleasure to visit Vinehall and to meet everyone there. And it's great to hear that you've enjoyed my books.
The Way is the whole way of living that Jalal teaches Varjak. This includes the Seven Skills, but also everything that he learns in The Outlaw Varjak Paw, and perhaps a bit more in the third book, when I write it!
Phoenix has many sources of inspiration. One of them is the stars themselves, and the science of the universe, which I find totally fascinating. I wrote a little bit about this here. Another inspiration is ancient mythology, which I also love. I wrote a little bit about this here. In Phoenix, I wanted to try and bring science and mythology together, somehow. I hope you liked it!
Thanks again, and best wishes,
SF Said
hi SF
thank you so much for your reply
one day i hope to be author just like you and as successful as you and can't wait for Tyger and the third Varjak paw
thanks
louis
Hi Louis,
Thank you, that's very kind! I'm 2 1/2 years into writing Tyger at the moment; I don't know when it will be finished, but I hope not as long as the 7 years it took me to write Phoenix!
Good luck with your writing - I've been doing a series of writing tips here on my blog - you might find some of them helpful...
With best wishes,
SF
Hi SF Said,
My name is Nell. My classmates and I would like to ask you a question. Who inspired you to become a writer? We really liked your Varjak Paw books when we read them in class because they were adventurous and sometimes spooky. We hope you continue to write more Varjak Paw books.
Thank you!
Hi! Im name is Rachel and I just adore your books! I can't wait for the 3rd Varjak Paw! When do you think that it will be published?
Dear Nell,
Thank so much for your fantastic comment! I'm really glad that you and your classmates enjoyed the Varjak Paw books. I am planning to write a third one, one day; I wrote a bit about my idea for it here. In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy my new book Phoenix too – it might sound quite different on the surface, but I think it has a lot in common with Varjak Paw.
To answer your question, I was inspired to become a writer by all the books and authors that I loved myself. They meant so much to me that I wanted to write books of my own one day. I wrote a little bit about one of my biggest inspirations here.
Keep the Way alive!
SF
Dear Rachel,
Thank you so much for that lovely comment, it really means a lot!
I don't know when the third Varjak Paw book will be published, as I haven't written it yet. I think it's a book that I need to be older to write. I wrote a bit about the reasons for this here. It will happen one day, though, so please do keep the Way alive!
With best wishes,
SF
hi sf said my name is daisy i love your 2 books varjak paw and i would love to know if you are making a new book of varjak paw because i love them so much and i want to read more
Dear s.f said I am in class 4B I want to become an author can you help me I am in the middle of writing a story what do I do?you are the greatest author I would be honoured to hear your reply thank you fingers crossed
Hi Daisy, thank you very much for your kind comment! I will write a third book about Varjak Paw one day - I wrote a bit about my idea for it here.
In the meantime, I hope you'll try my new book Phoenix. It's not about Varjak, but I think if you enjoyed his adventures, you will enjoy it too!
Keep the Way alive,
SF
Thank you very much for your message, and your kind words!
The best advice I can give anyone who is writing a story is this: write the story that you most want to read yourself. Tell yourself the story, and make it as good as you would want the story to be, as a reader.
I've done a few writing tips on my blog – have a look, I hope you'll find them helpful!
With best wishes,
SF
Hi there, I'm Megan and I just want to tell you how amazing I think Phoenix is. Last Friday you visited my school, Whitworth High, and I'm glad I got to meet you. Between us, me and my friend Lexi (you might remember us ;P) got all three books and I decided I wanted to read Phoenix first. And I couldn't stop. I'm one of those people who enjoys reading everything, but Phoenix is by far one of the best books I've read and I can't wait to read Varjak paw.
Oh, one other thing. Have you ever heard of a website called Wattpad? It's really good for both people who want to read and people who want to write. You publish your books online and anyone can read them, but you also get comments about your books, how you could improve and what people do and don't enjoy. I've been on Wattpad for nearly 3 years now and I love it. I recommend checking it out. But I'm not forcing you. If you like keeping drafts more personal, I don't mind. I just thought I'd share it with you.
Well, I've got to go. I'm sure I'll enjoy Varjak paw just as much as phoenix. :)
Hi Megan, and thank you so much for your fantastic comment! It really means a lot to hear things like that about my books. Phoenix took me seven years to write, but all the hard work feels worthwhile when I hear something like that from a reader like you!
I have heard of Wattpad, and I think it's a great thing. It's not something that would work for me personally, but it sounds like you're finding it helpful, and I'm all in favour of anything that helps people write the stories they want to write!
I hope you enjoy Varjak Paw too. And please give my best to Lexi and everyone at Whitworth – it was a real pleasure visiting your school and meeting you all!
With best wishes,
SF
hi sf said! today you came to our school and it was awesome! btw my name is yagmur! i bought ur new book phoenix at your signing! :)
Dear Yagmur,
Thank you so much for your awesome comment! I really enjoyed visiting your school and meeting everyone. I hope you enjoy Phoenix – please let me know what you think when you've had a chance to read it!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Hello!
I just wanted to say that your books hold a very special place in my heart. I read them when I was younger (I'm 16 now) and they sparked a seemingly lifelong interest in literature for me - I'm now starting on my own writing journey! There must have been one year where I read nothing but Varjak Paw over and over again, and it was either in my bookbag or on my bedside.
I can still remember how I pictured Varjak and his surroundings in my mind's eye, even so vividly to this day. To me, it was so much more than a story about a cat that did martial arts, and still is. So, thank you for inspiring me, and I'm sure many more kids just like me!
Hello Eleanor! And thank you so much for that amazing message. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear things like that from readers. The idea that my books might become part of people's lives is just incredible, and makes all the hard work of writing them worthwhile.
Have you had a chance to read my new book Phoenix yet? And what are you writing yourself at the moment?
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive,
SF
It's no problem at all! And I've just ordered Phoenix, which sounds absolutely brilliant. I'm about halfway through my first proper book, a detective story set in London. I won't go into details as that would take a while, but basically a circle of the most powerful people in the country start getting killed off by a man that should be dead, and still appears to be. It turns out that there's something more off about the victims than would have seemed at first. It's called The Dead Men's League.
It's pretty silly, I know, and I'm still only on the first draft, but everyone has to start somewhere, eh? I usually only write poems or short stories for a few competitions, but I decided to just jump into the deep end and go for it.
Keep the Way alive, and thank you for replying to my comment so quickly!
I think that sounds like a great idea for a book! On a first draft, I would keep writing every day until you reach the end, and don't worry about what anyone else might think. Just keep going, that's the main thing! I've done a few writing tips here on the site - I hope some of them might be useful.
And thank you so much for ordering Phoenix! I hope you enjoy flying among the stars with Lucky and Bixa...
With best wishes,
SF
Wow, thanks! I'll keep soldiering on, and I'll check out the writing tips now. Looking forward to Phoenix arriving!
Thanks again, I hope you have a great weekend!
Best of luck with the writing! I hope the tips are helpful - start at the bottom of that page, with the first one, and work your way back up.
Hope you have a great weekend too!
SF
Hello SF - What made you write about cats?
Jacob, Isaac and Sam year 3 All Saints School Cockermouth
Hello Jacob, Isaac and Sam! Thank you for your question. I was inspired to write about cats by watching my own cat's adventures as he went out into the world for the first time. I wrote a little bit about that in this blog.
I hope you're enjoying reading Varjak Paw!
With best wishes,
SF
S F Said,
My name is Ashwin, and I hear that you'll be coming to WCM soon! Me and my classmates can't wait. We recently read Varjak Paw and Phoenix and think they were great books.
Personally you've inspired me to try to write books!
Sincerely,
Ashwin P.
Dear Ashwin,
Thank you so much for your great comment! I'm really looking forward to visiting your school; it's brilliant to hear that you and your classmates enjoyed my books! Good luck with your own writing - my number one piece of advice is to write the stories that you most want to read yourself.
With best wishes,
SF Said
I'm from that school as well and can't wait either
Thank you so much, Travis - not long to go now!
Sf thanks for sining my pokèmon card I am thinking of writing a sequel to Phoenix
I loved it when you came and my literacy teacher said you read my 5 min draft and you said it was anazing! I was so happy and grateful!!!
My fave book is PHEONIX!!! It was awesome and I loved it! Thank you for coming to our school.
Now I want to become a half time authour!!!
Thank you for reading this comment,
Farduus J.
You're welcome, Travis! It was great to meet you, and I loved hearing the story you wrote. I think it would be amazing if you wrote a sequel to Phoenix - I'd love to read it one day!
Hey SF Said, Ashwin again
You came to our school today and this is probably from everyone from Y4 to our class. I really enjoyed it and your writing tips helped improve my story writing. Would love if I could email my draft when complete to you.
-Ashwin P
Dear Farduus,
Thank you so much for your fantastic comments - I'm so glad you enjoyed the visit today, and that Phoenix is your favourite book - that really means a lot! I loved hearing your story, and I think you should definitely write more stories!
With best wishes,
SF
Hi Ashwin,
Thank you so much - I'm really glad you found the writing workshop helpful! Your teacher said he'd send me over some of your stories, so if you pass it on to him, he'll pass it on to me. Good luck with your writing - here's a link to a blog I made with some writing tips that you might find useful!
With best wishes,
SF
Sorry it was Draft 2 I forgot to change it :(
DRAFT: 3
THE PHOENIX GARD
All the worlds fell to ash, the 12 Astruaus aprear and stay in sink "3 aliens must come here and sacrifice then selfs for the rest of the universe. ". luckys 3 alinen friend stood on in front of them they spoke to lucky I soft voice and said "from the stars we all came." luckys reply was "and to the stars we will return. The ash from the many worlds rose up in to a phionix. All the shadow gards arma change orenge and red and the words "PHOENIX GARD" apered - lucky also got some armore but got a bird shaped helmet – and the stars read "The one with helmet difference from all the others will lead them." All of the suivers stared at him
Thank you so much for writing this, Travis, and for posting it here! It's amazing for me to see someone taking the characters and the universe I created, and making their own story from it.
I hope you keep writing, and keep working on your stories. Work on them as hard as you can, for as long as you can, to make them the very best they can be! Always keep pushing - keep trying to improve them and finding ways to make them better.
I think you've got some great teachers in your school who can help you become even better at writing. And I've done a series of writing tips on this blog – I hope some of them will be useful.
With best wishes,
SF
Thank u
Dear Mr Said,
I am writing from a Hallfield Primary School in London. We are beginning to read your super story Varjak Paw! So far we are just studying the first few chapters, which are really exciting us!
Would you mind answering a few questions for us?
- How did your Lebanese background influence your story?
- Why did you decide on Varjak to be your main character?
- How important is setting in the plot?
Thanks a million,
Year 4 and Miss Kolek
Top of the morning to you at said my name is Ellis from whaplode primary school me my class mates and our teacher Mrs adie love your book well be hoping for the Phoenix soon your Epic!!!!
Dear Miss Kolek and Year 4,
Thank you for your kind words about Varjak Paw - I'm glad you're enjoying the story!
To answer your questions in order:
- I'm not Lebanese; I was only born in Lebanon. But I do have Mesopotamian ancestors, and that definitely influenced my story!
- I based Varjak on my own cat, who was also called Varjak Paw. I wrote a little about him in this blog post.
- I think setting is very important, but character is even more important.
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive!
SF
Thank you so much, Ellis - that's very kind! I hope you enjoy Phoenix - please let me know what you think when you've had a chance to read it!
Dear SF Said,
Your book called Pheonix really hit me and deep inside it was the best and the most considerate piece of story and this inspires me to write my self and I wish you the best luck on your next book.
by Aysha
i like your book Phoenix it is really exiting and good i like the part when Bixa blasted her needels to the enemies your book is the best it is epic
Thank you so much! I like that part of the book too - Bixa's needles are among my favourite things in the whole of Phoenix!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Aysha,
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment - that really means a lot to me. Good luck with your own writing - and if you want to know more about my next book, here's a link to a blog I wrote about it.
With best wishes,
SF
Hi SF Said
My name is Alex and I'm a big fan of Varjak Paw.
My daddy told me that he told you that I'd written a story and you'd like to see it.
Here it is, I hope you like it:
Varjak Paw and the new evil pack
Part 1
Varjak dreamt he was in Mesopotamia with Jalal. Jalal said “You have done it Varjak you’re our hero now”. That night Varjak, Holly, Razor, Cludge, Tam, the two Scratch Sisters and Old Buckley were sleeping perfectly happily until a claw ripped out and hurt Holly badly.
A cat shouted “GET OUT OF MY TERRITORY!”
The cat’s eye had been cut off in a fight. Her name was Sor and she was looking for her beloved Sally Bones, but secretly Varjak had killed Sally Bones.
“My name is Sor and I am looking for Sally Bones”, she said.
Holly gasped, so did everyone else.
Tam said, “Sorry to say that she’s dead.”
Sor said, “You killed my Sally Bones!
“That’s it, I will get my revenge on you, you hear me?” and she walked into the dark alleys.
“What was that all about?” asked Razor.
As they entered the Free Cats’ territory Miss Moggs crying her eyes out. She said, “Sor has kidnapped all the Free Cats! I could not bear to come.
“Last night Sor asked where Sally Bones was, Jess said, “You’re her mother, but how?” Old Buckley said, “This is insane! Sally Bones is dead, but she’s alive!”
“WHAT!” said everyone else.”
PART 2
Meanwhile Sally Bones looked down from the secret alleys. “My mother is looking for me,” she said.
“Hello Sally Bones I am your mother and we could team up and kill Varjak Paw and his friends!” Sor said, but slowly a big hand snatched up Sor and Sally Bones.
“I am the BFG and I don’t like bullies who hurt other cats. There was a little girl called Sophie, now she was saying you’re naughty two cats! Let’s take you home.”
They never saw Sally Bones nor her mother again.
The end
it's alex again , I really like the drawings of the book and the cats. My favourite character is Cludge.
Dear Alex,
Thank you so much for posting your story here! I think it's brilliant. I particularly like the way you've brought the BFG in at the end!
And thank you for your kind words about my books. Varjak Paw took me 5 years to write, but all the hard work feels worthwhile when I get fantastic comments like this from readers like you.
Keep the Way alive!
SF
Thanks so much again, Alex – I'm really glad you like the drawings. Dave McKean is a brilliant artist! Have you seen his artwork and trailer for my new book Phoenix yet?
Phew. This might be a long one.
So, when I was little, my parents read to me a huge amount - which lead to me wanting to read myself. I also had a massive fascination with cats (I still kinda do) which meant I read pretty much anything with a cat on the cover.
And of course, that lead me to Varjak Paw. I think I actually read the second book first by mistake, but I was so young at the time it didn't really matter that much. Since then, I've read them countless times. In recent years though, I haven't had as much time to read as I'm now doing my exams. I'm currently reading Stephen King's The Shining, and while originally it probably would have taken me a week or two to read, its now taking me months. :(
However, when I get the chance, I love to read to my little sister. The first books I read to her was your incredible Varjak Paw duology. I should point out that she's not much of a fiction reader herself, and yet she loved both books and was sad (as I was) to see them come to an end. It was incredible to read the stories again, and understand them on a deeper level now that I'm older. I got actual chills reading through the endings of books 1 and 2 for what might possibly be the hundredth time.
Now, for english, as a sort of prep-task for our speech coursework, we were asked for hw to prepare a speech on our favourite children's book. And of course, it had to be Varjak Paw. When researching it, I came across your site. I was elated to discover that not only have you authored other books (which I will definitely check out when I can) but that you will possibly at some point in the future write a third Varjak Paw book (Can't wait to tell my sister about that one)!
All in all, your books have been a huge inspiration to me (even leading to me doing a small amount of my own story writing when I have the time). I guess there isn't really anything else I can say, other than thank you so much and
Keep the way alive, Varjak Paw.
PS. Man, I love Mckean's illustrations. Do you know where I could find more of his work, or what other books he's illustrated or films he's directed?
Dear Patrick,
Thank you so much for your incredible message! It means a huge amount to me to hear about the part that my books have played in your life, and your sister's. I don't find writing easy - Varjak Paw took me 5 years to write - but all the hard work feels worthwhile when I get a reaction like that from a reader.
I hope you enjoy Phoenix too - if you're in North America, it will be published there by Candlewick Press in October 2016. Here's a link to Candlewick's page about it.
Dave McKean is incredibly prolific - he's illustrated a huge number of books by authors including David Almond, Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury, has made many books of his own, and has directed 3 feature films and many shorts. He's also a great musician, and did all the music for the Phoenix book trailer, which you can see here. And here's a link to his website, where you can find more information about him and his work.
Good luck with your own writing - and keep the Way alive!
SF
Varjak paw is a very good book. I cant wait to read the second book:THE OUTLAW OF VAJAK PAW! How on earth did you come up with the way
From Elizabeth
Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy The Outlaw Varjak Paw as well. The Way was something that developed as I worked on the story – it wasn't there in the first draft I wrote! But I found the idea of secret martial art for cats very interesting – I hope you liked it too.
Keep the Way alive,
SF
I loved VARJAK PAW and I am now reading the Outlaw VARJAK PAW, I am not very far into it, but I have read the bit when VARJAK takes on a fight with Razor and nearly killed him!!! I did not expect that! I love Cludge and the way he struggles to speak and cares about his friends. I love VARJAK PAW and I love THE OUTLAW VARJAK PAW. How do you come up with such amazing ideas??? I would of never thought of the Ways and the creative names and where its set out if I wrote a story, so how do you do it???
Dear Megan,
Thank you so much for your fantastic comment! That really means a lot to me.
I wrote a little bit about how I get ideas, and about my writing process in general, in a blog post which you can read by clicking this link. And you can also find all the writing tips I've ever done on my blog by clicking this link. I hope they're helpful!
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive!
SF
Dear SF, my name is Ned and we were told today that you will be visiting my school, Great Wilbraham Primary.
I really enjoy your books and am looking forward to meeting you (and getting you to sign a copy of one of my books!!). from Ned
Dear Ned,
Thank you so much for your comment! I'm looking forward to visiting your school and meeting you all – and I love signing books! Which one of mine is your favourite?
With best wishes,
SF
Dear SF, thank you for replying to me. My favourite book is 'The Outlaw Varjak Paw'. I really loved the ending when I found out Holly was still alive.
I've just started reading 'The Phoenix' with my mum and dad. The tension in the story is really good and keeps me wanting to read more.
See you in a couple of weeks. From Ned
Dear Ned,
Thank you so much - I like the ending of The Outlaw Varjak Paw too. And it's great to hear that you're enjoying Phoenix! Please do let me know what you think when you get to the end - maybe you'll have finished it by the time I visit your school...
With best wishes,
SF
Dear SF I just wanted to say that it was lovely to meet you when you visited. I am continuing to read Phoenix over the Easter Holidays. I hope you have a lovely holiday too. From Ned
Dear Ned,
Thank you so much! It was lovely to visit your school, I really enjoyed meeting everyone. I hope you enjoy reading the rest of Phoenix!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear SF Said,
One of our young readers has posted a wonderful review of "Phoenix" at our new website (www.kidseyebooks.com). If you happened to leave a comment for him there, we know he would be thrilled!
Thanks,
Wendy & Janet
Dear Wendy & Janet,
Thank you so much for letting me know! It is a wonderful review of Phoenix, and I've left him a comment.
And thank you for giving space to children's reviews of children's books - I think you're doing a terrific job!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Hi I am Valisha Martin my teacher Mr.Rahim He read Varjack Paw and The outlaw varjack paw. I love the book so much you are so talented in writing your stories and so deatailed Can you turn them into a Movie.
Dear Valisha,
Thank you so much for your message, and please thank Mr Rahim for reading you my books! I've been working with Dave McKean, who illustrated the books, to try and get a movie made for a long time now - Dave is also a brilliant film-maker. We haven't got there yet, because it's very hard to get movies made, but I hope it will happen one day! In the meantime, here's a blog I made about your question that you might find interesting:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2013/04/interesting-question-about-varjak-paw.html
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive!
SF
Dear sf said
I am Naveen and really like your book those books really do hold a place in my heart the literary techniques you use are just mind blowing it’s been two years since I read you Phoenix book and it was just out of the world literally now I am thirteen and am waiting eagerly for Tyler may I know what is Tyler going to be about because i couldn’t find any sneak peek of it. Is it going to be about space hope it’s about space nevertheless I am still supportive of any type of book you make you will always be my favourite author
Thank you
Best wishes
Naveen
Dear Naveen,
Thank you so much for that amazing comment - it really means a lot to me. I don't find writing easy, and it takes me years and years to write each book, but all the hard work feels worthwhile when I hear from a reader like you!
Tyger is not about space; it's a whole new project. I can't say too much about it, because my books always change a lot as I write them! But here's a blog post I made about it - I hope it won't be too much longer now before the first book is published!
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/01/i-had-amazing-message-from-reader.html
Thanks again, and best wishes,
SF
Dear S.F. Said,
I have written a book and wanted to know if you had any recommendation on an agent to submit it to. If you can be any help, I'd appreciate it greatly.
Thank you,
Hazel Morton
Dear Hazel,
Congratulations on writing your book! I found my agent using the Writers & Artists Yearbook, which has lists of all the agents, with contact details and an idea of what sort of thing they're looking for. You can get it as a book, or they have a website:
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/
Good luck!
SF
dear S.F. said,
I love your book's there great! ;)
From
Joseph Trapnell
Dear Joseph,
Thank you so much for your comment! Which is your favourite one so far?
With best wishes,
SF
Dear SF Said,
I teach Year 4 and we are currently reading Phoenix- my class absolutely love it!
We are 5 weeks into analysing your writing techniques and my class are hocked (and we’ve only read up to Chapter 7)!
They would be overwelmed to read a reply from you, as they are currently writing their own ‘Phoenix Style’ story this week.
Thank you in advance.
Kind regards,
Sophie Bull
Dear Sophie and Year 4,
Thank you so much for your message! I'm really glad you're enjoying Phoenix - that book took me 7 years to write, but all the hard work feels worthwhile when I hear from readers like you.
If you're analysing writing at the moment, you might be interested to read this blog I made about my writing process - it compares an early draft of Phoenix with the final draft. I hope you find it useful with your own writing:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
With best wishes,
SF Said
Dear SF Said,
Thank you so much for your reply- my class are going to be so excited!
(Also, sorry for my previous typo- I was meant to write ‘hooked’!)
Wow, 7 years is a long time, however this will show my children that perseverance pays off!
Thank you for sending the link, I will definitely read it and share with Year 4.
Kind regards.
Sophie and Year 4
Dear Sophie,
Thank you - it's always a pleasure to hear from teachers who are working with my books! Please do let me know how it goes - and feel free to tweet me any writing, artwork, questions etc that come out of reading Phoenix with Year 4. You can find me on Twitter as @whatSFSaid here.
All the best,
SF
Dear SF Said,
Year 4 have completed their stories and they are amazing!
We are unable to send you any work examples, however I wanted to inform you that the children have really adopted your style of writing and have packed their stories full of brilliant description- just like Phoenix!
They have also analysed your use of short and extended sentences and used them in their writing too, to engage and draw-in the reader. Year 4 also found your writing tips blog really inspiring and useful.
We just wanted to say a really big thank you for your replies and support.
Kind regards,
Sophie and Year 4
Dear Sophie and Year 4,
That's so wonderful to hear! Thank you for working with Phoenix - and please wish Year 4 happy writing & happy reading from me!
All the best,
SF
Dear SF Said,
We have just finished reading Varjak Paw and we are writing to tell you all about the work we have done based on your book (Jessica). (We are putting in brackets the names of everyone in the class who has contributed an idea to this letter). Thank you for writing such a wonderful book (Fedor), we really enjoyed the way it got better and better with every chapter (Tilly) and we thought it was the best book we’ve ever read in school (Nathan, Shriyans, Caitlin and lots more!)
You wouldn’t believe what had happened when we came back from the holidays in September (Marisa)! Our classroom had been ransacked and looked like a dump (Idman and Rachele)! There were scratch marks on the working wall, 'Missing cat@ posters, empty cat food and cat cages, a toy mouse, cat fur, footprints and a copy of your book - but no cats!
It looked as if a cat had vanished so we investigated further and wrote newspaper reports about the Vanishings and designed a front page. We got ideas from your book to use in our writing (Divine), for example we wrote a diary entry in role as Varjak (Emily) and also created an extra chapter where Varjak met another character. While reading we did readers’ theatre where people take the role of different characters and speak their words (Ludwig), freeze frame, to get to know the characters, and conscience alley, to help Varjak decide whether to stay or go (David).
We played a game found in Mesopotamia called the Royal Game of Ur – the oldest board game in the world (Pia) – and wrote instructions on how to play it (Caitlin).
In guided reading we read the first chapter of The Outlaw Varjak Paw and an interview with you.
We tried to draw in the style of Dave McKean using charcoal and practiced by drawing upside down, not looking, using our weaker hand and continuous line drawing (Charlie)
We used the Seven Ways of Jalal to create our own ways of learning and behaving – they are the Seven Ways of Year 4 (Aoi): Floating Hands, Bubble Focus, Shadow Walking, Connecting Minds, Sharing Opinions, Writing Awareness and Listening Time.
We even used it in Maths when we counted the most commonly occurring letters, length of words and sentences to create bar charts and different kinds of data (Cameron)
Our favourite characters were Varjak (4 votes), Sally Bones (3 votes) but the clear winner was Cludge (23 votes) (Cassius).
You might remember coming to our school before (in January 2016 when we were in Year 1) and we’d love it if you could come again.
Best wishes and merry Christmas from Year 4, Dundonald primary school.
Dear Year 4 at Dundonald,
Thank you so much for your wonderful letter! It was brilliant to hear that you enjoyed reading Varjak Paw. I loved hearing about all the things you've been doing with it. I particularly love the fact that you discovered the Royal Game of Ur from Mesopotamia, as I've played that game myself! Like Varjak, I have some Mesopotamian ancestors, so I'm very interested in Mesopotamian history, civilisation and mythology - the oldest stories in the world are ancient Mesopotamian myths. I'm delighted that reading Varjak Paw has led you to discover some of this for yourselves, and I hope you enjoy The Outlaw Varjak Paw too!
And I do remember visiting Dundonald! If you'd like me to visit again, please ask your teacher to leave me a message on my author visits page, with an email address for me to reply to, so we can discuss the possibility.
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive!
SF
Dear S.F. Said,
I love Varjak Paw and the outlaw Varjak Paw however when I finished the books I was sad because there wasn't another amazing book to pick up and read. If you could write another book then I would enjoy reading even more fantastic adventure cat books.
from Eleanor (age 9) 🐱👤😺😸😹😻🐱🏍🐱👤🐱👤🐱👤🐱👤🐱👤🐱👤🐱👤🐱👤🐱👤
Dear Eleanor,
Thank you so much for fantastic message! That really means a lot to me.
I will definitely write another book about Varjak Paw one day - I wrote a bit about my idea for it here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/07/will-there-ever-be-third-varjak-paw-book.html
In the meantime, I have also written a book called Phoenix - it's not about cats, but many people who have enjoyed Varjak Paw have enjoyed it too - sometimes even more!
And I am currently working on a book called TYGER that I think is the best thing I have written so far! You can read a bit about it in this blog post. It's not quite ready to publish yet, but please do look out for it one day - maybe when you're around 11 years old!
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive!
SF Said
Hi SF,
We are writing to tell you how much we enjoyed reading Varjak Paw. It was so good I almost cried (Pippa), I loved the words you used to describe everything (Rafa), I loved Dave McKean's pictures (Henry),
We wrote a chapter when Varjak met another 'monster' on the streets of the city at night for example, a rubbish lorry (Aran), a fox (Bernardo), a motorbike (Daniel), a fire engine (Sophia).
I really liked the seven Ways of Jalal (Jonathan) and we made up our own Ten Ways of Year 4M for our class charter. It was the great the way you wrote the book so that it made us keen to carry on (Archie) and I loved all the different characters (Keni). We wrote newspaper reports about the Vanishings and designed front pages on the computer (Gayatri). I liked the way the Vanishings were so mysterious (Yule).
We have a few questions for you:
Are you going to write any more Varjak Paw books after the Outlaw? (Locky)
Do you remember going to college with someone called Victoria? She's my Mum's friend. (Kai)
Which of the books you've written is your favourite? (Joman)
What's your favourite part of the story in Varjak Paw? (Hadia)
Our favourite characters were Cludge (14 votes) Varjak (4 votes), Holly (3 votes) and one for scary Sally Bones!
We would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and we promise to keep the Way alive!
love from Year 4M, Dundonald primary school
Dear Year 4M, Dundonald Primary School,
Thank you all so much for your amazing message! I loved hearing about your reactions to the book, and the things you did with it. I don't find writing easy - Varjak Paw took me 5 years to get right. But all the hard work feels worthwhile when I hear from readers like you.
Locky, I am planning to write one more book about Varjak one day - you can read about it here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/07/will-there-ever-be-third-varjak-paw-book.html
Kai, I do remember going to college with someone called Victoria! Please say hello to her for me, and tell her to get in touch one day, I'd love to hear from her again!
Joman, my favourite book is the one I'm writing right now! It's called TYGER - you can read a bit about it here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/01/i-had-amazing-message-from-reader.html
Hadia, my favourite part of the story in Varjak Paw is probably the two black cats, because I only thought of them in the 5th and final year of writing the book. They remind me that you can always make a story better if you keep working on it. If you'd like to know a bit more about how I write, and to get some writing tips for yourself, I wrote a bit about this here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
Merry Christmas to you all, happy New Year, and keep the Way alive!
SF Said
Hello S.F Said,my name is Haania and I am 8 yrs old. I live in the UAE,when I first looked at Varjak Paw,honestly I didn't bother picking it up, but when I got in yr 4, our teacher had started reading Varjak Paw from the first day and onwards. We had finished part 1 last term and finished part 2 today and I heard a lot of groans because our class had enjoyed Varjak's adventures sooooo much.Then our teacher told us about this website so I had to check it out.Anyway,I really want to see a Varjak Paw the---.Please could you try to start typing a few words on your typewriter(or whatever you write on)and I would be extremely happy.I LOVE VARJAK PAW(1 & 2)!!!!!!!
love,Haania.
Dear Haania,
Thank you so much for your message! That means a lot to me - especially as I have some family who live in the UAE!
I am planning to write a third book about Varjak one day, but it won't be for a while yet. I wrote a bit about my idea for it here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/07/will-there-ever-be-third-varjak-paw-book.html
Please thank your teacher for reading my books to you, and please say hello to everyone in your class for me! And keep the Way alive!
With best wishes,
SF
Hi SF Said,
You might remember me from Rangefield Primary,you came to my school a while ago.
anyways,my cousin at Fosterpark Primary has told me to tell you that he love your books and suggested that you write a book about Varjak teaching Jessie The Way but along the way she gets into fights with a new cat in town called Midnight.
HOPE YOU ENJOY WRITING THIS NEW BOOK
AND HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON!
Dear Abishayini,
Thank you so much for your message! And please thank your cousin for me too. I think that sounds like a great idea for a story. I don't think I will write it myself, but if you or your cousin wanted to write it, I would be totally honoured and thrilled!
I do have an idea for another Varjak Paw book that I hope to write one day - you can read a bit about it here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/07/will-there-ever-be-third-varjak-paw-book.html
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive!
SF
FS Said is an amazing children book writer , I am 64 years but I enjoyed reading his amazing books , I am looking firward to read his book for my grandson Roman ,
He is a great writer and a great humanbeen ,
Saba Tahir
Canada
Thank you so much, Saba - that means a lot to me. Please say hello to Roman for me, and wish him happy reading from me!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Hi S.F Said! I just wanted to ask you some questions because I would like to know more about you.
1) What was the first book you ever read?
2) who is your favourite author?
3) What inspired you so much to become such an amazing author?
4) In the Varjak Paw book, Where did you get the ideas of the characters?
5) When will your next book come out and what will it be called?
6) Do you have any advice for me to become an author 1 day?
7) How many more years will you be making books for?
I hope you respond to this!! From Shaganashree
Thank you - that's a lot of questions! I'll do my best to answer them:
1) The Cat In The Hat
2) Richard Adams, who wrote my favourite book, Watership Down. You can read about it here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2012/11/one-thing-ill-be-doing-in-this-blog-is.html
3) All the books I love myself! Writers are really just readers who take one more step, and write stories they want to read themselves.
4) Varjak Paw was inspired by my own cat's adventures!
5) My next book will be called TYGER and it will come out whenever it's ready. You can read a bit about it here:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/01/i-had-amazing-message-from-reader.html
6) Yes! There's lots of writing advice in this blog I made:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
7) As long as I possibly can!
Thanks again - happy reading - and happy writing!
SF
Hi S.F Said!
Thanks for responding to my question! It was amazing! I also wanted to ask where can I get the book Phonix at? Sorry if I spelled Phonix wrong! Thanks again for responding to my comments!
From Shagana.......
You should be able to get Phoenix from any bookshop, or library. Click here to see my UK publisher's page for it, which has links to all sorts of places you can find it!
Foxes class are really enjoying Varjak Paw. We have noticed that Varjak and the other cats use some words where you always write them with capital letters (eg Outside). We just wondered what was your thinking behind this? Our teacher usually doesn't appreciate "random capital letters" but she loves your books! We have several theories, but can't decide which is right. Thank you.
Thank you Foxes class! I can understand why "random capital letters" might not be appreciated, but I hope my capital letters aren't completely random. In the case of "Outside", I think it suggests how little the cats know about the world outside; to them, it's something like another country, which we would normally capitalise. Other examples might be proper names - such as the Contessa, the Gentleman, the Elder Paw etc - and others might be part of a system, like the Seven Skills. I suppose in a lot of these cases, I wanted to give the reader the sense that this isn't a small or ordinary everyday thing; it's something important. (Although I would never say it was Something Important!)
Thanks again, and keep the Way alive,
SF Said
Hi Sf Said,
Hope your well. I just wanted to quickly ask how many pages does the book phoenix have? Love your books though. I also wanted to ask, when you write a new sentence sometimes why do you start with a conjunction, since your npt allowed to do that?
I hope you answer these.
-Dilane
Dear S.F Said,
I am Divane Bootang,
I work in a school and my class (year 5) have read all your books and taken a quiz. Everyone got 80% except this one Student in my class who got 100%. Her name is Elliana (the girl who got 100%) and she loves reading. Her dream is to meet you so I was wondering if you can come to our school. Everyone in my class will be shocked especially Elliana. Year 5 would love you to come here to our school, and When you come I am sure they have questions they would like to ask you. I still haven't told them this. I think you should have a think then reply back and say yes or no. If you do say yes, I will tell you my email and tell you what our school name so you can come.
Your sincerely,
Divane Bootang.
Dear Dilane,
Thank you for your message! Phoenix has 490 pages. Don't worry if that sounds like a lot, though - there are a lot of illustrations on many of the pages, so it's not quite as long as it sounds!
As for conjunctions, while I think it's important to know the rules of grammar, I also think that sometimes it can be effective for a writer to break those rules, as long as readers can still follow what's going on. But you have to know what the rules are before you can break them effectively!
Thanks again, and best wishes,
SF
Dear Divane Bootang,
Thank you so much! To visit a school, I would need the school itself to invite me. So could you ask your teacher to get in touch with me, if that's something they would like to do?
In the meantime, I'd like to wish you and everyone in Year 5 HAPPY READING!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Hi S.F Said.
My name is Thomas and I just wanted to say all your books are awesome. I wanted to ask have you read the book called 'The tale of Angelino Brown?' Please tell me if you have. My dream is to meet you one day. I can't wait for your book TYGER to come out and I HOPE I enjoy reading It!!
Have a good Sunday
Jack
Thank you so much! I haven't read The tale of Angelino Brown yet, but I have read quite a few of David Almond's books, and loved them all - I think he's one of the best writers we have. And thank you about TYGER - I hope it won't be too much longer until it's ready!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Hi S.F Said,
Thank you for responding back to my comment. That's fine if you haven't read The tale of Angelino Brown I was just asking. Although you said that, if you ever do have time maybe, you can read the book as it is fantastic and one of my favourite books. In the story there is a angel (which is Angelino) which was found in bert's pocket while he was driving his bus and so on. When I said my name was Thomas I accidentally put it as Jack. SORRY about that! Meanwhile, I am waiting for your book TYGER. I know it will be a fantastic book!!!
Keep the way alive..
Thomas
Thank you so much much, Thomas - that means a lot to me!
Keep the Way alive,
SF
Dear S.F Said,
I am Aydimer Charlotte, and my class year 4 have read Varjak Paw and the Outlaw. It was FANTASTIC. I think we will be read Phoenix soon. We did a lot of work around your books and they enjoyed it. They are really excited for your new book coming out TYGER.
Keep up the good work!!
King regards,
Aydimer Charlotte
Dear Aydimer Charlotte,
Thank you so much for your message - I'm so glad that you and your Year 4 class enjoyed Varjak Paw and The Outlaw Varjak Paw! That really means a lot to me. And I hope you will all enjoy TYGER too, once it's finished!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Dear S.F Said,
I loved all your books they were fantastic. My favourite one has to be Phoenix since I loved it and so inspiring. My favourite book ever is Phoenix and Watership down. How did you write such an amazing book? I actually found this book in my class and thought I would read all of it cause it looked interesting and it was!!! How many years, months or days did it take to write all these fantastic books?? Usually I don't like reading because some books are boring and not that interesting but once I read all your books you inspired me to read more and that's made me work harder in class. And we have a chart to see how many words we've read and to see who's the 1 2 3 and so on.
Since all your books were a lot of words I've actually reached 5 Million words and I am the top in my class!! Thank you! From Sylivia
Dear Sylivia,
Thank you so much for your message! I'm so glad you enjoyed my books. Phoenix took me 7 years to write. It took that long because I did a lot of drafts, to get it as good as I possibly could. If you'd like to know more, here's a blog I made about my writing process - you can compare an early draft with the final published book!
http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
And congratulations on all your reading, and being top of your class! Keep reading - I think it's the best thing you can possibly do!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear S.F Said,
My name is Ellena. Your books are fantastic!!! I just finished your book today! It took me about 2 weeks to finish your book because I read it two times. Your the best author in the world! There is no other author that is better than you!!! Also, I wanted to ask, have you read any Tom Gates books before? Tom Gates is really good and I definitely recommend to you and other people who love reading. One book I did enjoy reading that was Tom Gates was "A tiny bit lucky".
I hope you have a great day,
Ellena.
Dear Ellena,
Thank you so much for your message - it really means a lot to me, especially the fact that you read my book twice!
And yes, I have read a Tom Gates book - and I liked it very much, too!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Dear S.F Said,
Thank you for replying back. I am so happy that you have read Tom Gates as well. I started reading them in 2020 in November when we weree in school. I got 100% on it in the quiz (Acclerated reader) a national test all over the world. Nearly everybody in my class reads Tom Gates. I wanted to ask, which book of Tom gates do you like the most e.g Ten tremendous tales, A tiny bit lucky, top of the class? There is also this another book of Liz Pichon she made which was Shoe Wars and I also got 100% on that. Have you read it? I have got 100% in all my quizzes. I am in year 4 and the top person im my class.
Have a great day,
Kind regards Ellena
Thanks Ellena! The one I read was called Tom Gates: Extra Special Treats (not).
Congratulations on doing so well in your quizzes!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Dear S.F Said,
I am called Haifa.You might of heard of some called shagana say something about how much she loves reading in this chat. She is the top in my class. She loves reading your books and she asked me to ask you if you recommend her to read Phoenix.In my class, we do accelerated reader where you choose a book at your level and has points based on how high that book is (If this makes sense to you). The level for phoenix is 4.9 (Which is a really high level. she reads a lot) and the points is 13 (Which is also very high). She also asked me to ask you if you have read wonder which is also a really high level and points book and she got %100. I also loved reading varjak paw.
Your such an amazing author.
By Haifa
Thank you so much, Haifa! I'm really glad you enjoyed reading Varjak Paw. Phoenix is definitely longer than Varjak, but my publishers recommend it for anyone of age 9 and up. And again, there are a lot of illustrations by the brilliant Dave McKean, so it's not quite as long as it looks. I hope you and your friend both enjoy it!
With best wishes,
SF
Good afternoon S F Said, hope you are well. I am in Year 5 and I have just read Pheonix and I have to say it is the best book I have ever read. It has restored my love in reading. If you don't mind sharing, can you tell us what inspired you to write this book? Thank you so much. I am looking forward to your new book Tyger :)
Dear Emilia,
Thank you so much for your amazing comment! I have to admit, I don't find writing easy - Phoenix took me 7 years to get right - but all the hard work feels worthwhile when I hear something as amazing as that, so thank you - it really means a lot to me.
There were many sources of inspiration for Phoenix, which go right back to when I was around your age. I wrote a blog about those inspirations which you can read here if you like:
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2017/august/s.f.-said---the-epic-story-of-phoenix/
And thank you so much about TYGER! This book took me an unbelievable 9 years to write - but I feel like it's a big step up on anything I've written before, so I hope you will enjoy it as much as Phoenix, if not even more!
With thanks again, and best wishes,
SF Said
Hi S.F Said! Hope you're well. How are you? I just wanted to tell you to keep up the great work. Even though I have only read 2 of your books which were about 1 or 2 years ago, well done for your awesome work. I haven't read 'Tyger' yet but I know it will be awesome.
I would like to also ask you a few questions:
-What/who inspired you to become an author?
-What is your favourite book?
-Which book that you've written is your favourite?
-If you have any advice for those who would like to become an author, what advice would you give them?
-Even though you recently just wrote a book, what type of genre or book would you start planning for your next book?
-How long does it take to plan and write a book?
Thank you!
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy Tyger - and in the meantime, I'll do my best to answer your questions:
-What/who inspired you to become an author?
The books I loved when I was young inspired me to write my own books. I loved them so much, I wanted to write something that was even half as good one day.
-What is your favourite book?
Watership Down by Richard Adams - I wrote about it in this blog post.
-Which book that you've written is your favourite?
TYGER!
-If you have any advice for those who would like to become an author, what advice would you give them?
I write the stories that I most want to read myself! All writers are really just readers who take one more step, and write the stories they want to read. You can do this too - all writers are readers, and all readers can be writers. I wrote a bit about this in this blog post.
-Even though you recently just wrote a book, what type of genre or book would you start planning for your next book?
I'm already working on my next book, but I can't say anything about it, because my books always change a lot in the years it takes me to write them!
-How long does it take to plan and write a book?
Every writer is different, and every book is different. But for me, it's been 5 years (Varjak), 3 years (Outlaw), 7 years (Phoenix), and 9 years (TYGER!)
Thanks again, and best wishes,
SF
As shocked as I am, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I am shocked because your book has finally came out. I have been thinking about your book "TYGER" now and then and I'm so excited to finally read it.
How many pages is TYGER?
Thank you so much! It's amazing to me that TYGER is finally finished, and out there in the world. The book is around 300 pages, although as with my other books, a lot of those pages are heavily illustrated by Dave McKean, and have very few words or no words at all. It's about the same number of words in total as The Outlaw Varjak Paw. I hope you enjoy reading it - please do let me know how it goes!
I would like to buy an Arabic translation of Varjak Paw for one of my pupils and would like to know if this wonderful book is available on this language. ( And if so, where)
Kind regards,
Marian
Dear Marian,
Thank you so much for your message, and for wanting to buy an Arabic translation of Varjak Paw. Unfortunately, there isn't one yet, but I hope there will be one day!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Thank you for sharing your books. As usual, your books are awesome.
Thank you so much Vaibhav - that's very kind of you, and hugely appreciated!
With best wishes,
SF Said
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