Q&A with Tania Ingram, children's book author!

 
 Tania Ingram is an internationally published, best-selling author of children’s picture books and novels including the rollicking Jinny and Cooper series and the hilarious Aggie Flea series. She has acted as a peer assessor on the literature panel for Arts South Australia’s grants program and is an active ambassador for the Premier’s Reading Challenge.
She was born in Whyalla, South Australia and moved to Adelaide as a teenager. She studied at the University of South Australia and graduated with a Masters Degree in clinical psychology. Prior to becoming a full time writer she was a child psychologist, specialising in brain injury, disability and adolescent mental health. Her work has received a CBCA Notable, a Speech Pathology Book of the Year shortlisting,  and much praise from young and old fans alike. 
Tania also has a mid-grade novel with Scholastic, The Other Shadow, coming out in July 2024 and a picture book, Walls, coming out with Wombat Books in mid 2024. In her spare time, Tania likes to read children’s fiction, crochet crooked rugs and sing to her chickens who pretend to be oblivious to her talent.
 
1. Your latest books are Aggie Flea Is Not A Liar! (which was a CBCA Notable - congratulations!) and the sequel, Aggie Flea Steals the Show!  
Can you please share with us how the idea for Aggie originated and what was your process in bringing the stories to fruition through writing and publication?
 
Thank you for the congrats. Having Aggie Flea is NOT a Liar! recognised as a CBCA Notable book was an unexpected, happy surprise.
 
Aggie Flea is basically me as a child. I’ve always had a BIG imagination, and it often got me into trouble when I was younger. I’m not sure how my parents and teachers survived me with their sanity intact! For example, when I was six years old, I had a new neighbour move into the house next door. Through a misunderstood comment, I thought our new neighbour was an alien and somehow got it into my mind that he might be able to hook me up with my own R2-D2 (in my defence, Star Wars had just come out so ‘aliens’ had a whole different meaning to me!). I used this memory as the basis for the first Aggie Flea book, except Aggie thinks her neighbour might be a vampire.
 
In each of the Aggie Flea books there are three graphic novel sections of Aggie’s favourite book character, Princess Zombie. The Princess Zombie character was originally a few brief mentions throughout the Aggie Flea story. When Aggie found herself in trouble, she’d wonder how Princess Zombie would handle the situation. The publisher liked the character and asked me to add more. In order to explain how I viewed the Princess Zombie books; I wrote a short graphic novel one weekend and sent it to my editors. They loved it and suggested we add them into the story as a graphic novel. I thought it would make more sense if the themes of Princess Zombie somehow tied in with what was going on in Aggie Flea’s life. At the time, I thought it was different and clever – I had no idea how hard it was going to be to replicate until I started writing the second book! I’m still amazed that I managed to pull it off. Twice!
 
I originally wrote the first two Aggie Flea stories in 2019 and was editing the first book in 2020, when COVID shut the world down. Four years and five editors later – we finally made it! I was fortunate to have Anne Yi illustrate the books and between her gorgeous illustrations, Nicole Stofberg’s superb design and publisher, Rebecca Young’s guidance, the books look amazing!
 
 
2. Is there one thing, or multiple things, you know now about writing and publishing that you wish you knew when you began? 
 
My whole journey has been (and still is a learning curve). Where do I begin?!
 
Beyond the usual practical information, which you can find online, I’d say that networking is crucial in this industry, as is getting comfortable with ‘putting yourself out there.’ For introverts and anxious people like myself, this can be challenging at first but it does get easier. The same goes for social media.
 
The other thing I would say is to find yourself a small group of trusted friends in the industry and catch up regularly. Publishing can be a tough industry and having people to share your highs and lows with, or bounce ideas off can be hugely valuable. I’ve learnt so much from the group of ladies I catch up with one a month.
 
3. You write really funny, bubbly-bright, vivacious stories. Two I really like are your first 'Dog on Log' and 'The Great Barbie Disaster'. What's your key to writing humour so well? 
 
There are different types of humour. Some is pun-based or joke based and some is situational or character driven. I prefer to use situational and character-driven humour in my books as I personally find it funnier and more rewarding. I try not to overthink or force the humour. Instead, I create characters that are naturally zany and put them into situations where their responses drive the humour. Aggie Flea is the perfect example of this process and I think it’s why she’s resonated so well with kids and adults alike.
 
 
4. You have two buzz-worthy upcoming releases this year, a picture book called 'Walls' from Wombat Books and 'The Other Shadow', a middle-grade novel from Scholastic. Can you share anything about these two books with us? What is next in the pipeline for you? 
 
In Walls, there’s a Knight who lives on one side of the book and a Viking who lives on the opposite side. When they disagree on which side of the book is better, they decide to both build walls to keep themselves ‘safe’ from the other side. They are so busy with their walls that neither of them sees the danger that threatens both sides of the book. I’m excited for this book to come out. It was quite a tricky concept to illustrate and I probably wrote way too many confusing illustration notes, but Ruth Mary-Smith has done an amazing job with illustrating this story.
 
I came up with the idea for Walls after reading an article warning of the long-term ecological damage as a result of the Mexico-United States border wall. I couldn’t believe how these countries would risk the ecology of several areas simply because they didn’t trust their neighbours. Then again, when we look at history, we can see several examples of this (the Berlin Wall, Hadrian’s Wall, the Great Wall of China). Sadly, it seems to be human nature.
 
The Other Shadow is quite a different book for me. It follows the story of a young boy called Thomas who is struggling with both the death of his father, and his mother’s mental illness. Just as his father takes his last breath, a shadow appears to Thomas on the wall of the hospital room. A shadow that doesn’t belong to anyone and one which follows Thomas home.
 
This was quite a challenging book to write. I dug deep into both personal experience and also my previous experience as a child psychologist to write this story. I wanted to write a book about the realities of children who have a parent suffering a mental illness, especially for children who don’t get the spontaneous ‘happily ever after’ that is often represented in movies and children’s stories. I wanted to validate those children for whom happiness is a harder path to find due to circumstances beyond their control. I was really purposeful about the language I used in this book to describe the Other Shadow and I poured over what words to use for ages. At first Thomas’s descriptions are childlike and descriptive but as the story unfolds, the language becomes more emotional and visceral. It was by far the hardest book I’ve ever written and I am equally excited and scared to see how it will be received.
 
As for what comes next, I’ve recently received a contract for another picture book and I’m working on several stories at the moment (as well as having a few currently out on submission). So essentially lots of writing and crossing of fingers (which does make it hard to type!). 😊
 
5. And a fun question for last, to make you really think! If you put 3 Tania Ingram books in a time capsule to be opened in 1,000 years, so future generations have the best understanding of who Tania Ingram is as a writer, then which 3 books would you choose? 
 
Of my current books, I would say, The Other Shadow if you want to know my heart, Aggie Flea if you want to know my humour, and Jinny and Cooper if you want to share my love of magic.

Tania's upcoming Walls published by Wombat Rhiza Press and The Other Shadow published by Scholastic AU are out soon. Keep an eye out for these!
In the meantime visit TANIA online to learn more about her wonderful BOOKS at www.taniaingram.com !

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