Author Interviews

Behind the books

Gobblefunked talks to the people who write and illustrate the books we recommend. These conversations look at how a story or a picture takes shape, what drew the creator to a particular idea, and what young readers might notice on the page.

Interviews sit alongside our reviews, so you can read about a book and then hear from the person who made it.

Interviews sit at the heart of what this site is trying to do, which is to share the joy of children's books by letting readers meet the people behind them. A conversation with an author or illustrator opens a window onto the making of a story, showing how an early scribble becomes a finished picture book or how a passing idea grows into a novel. These chats are warm and unhurried, more like listening in on two bookish friends than reading a formal Q and A, and they suit anyone curious about how creativity actually works.

The conversations range widely across the shelves we love, from picture books for the very young through to titles for older readers, graphic novels, and stories written in Irish. Some guests talk about the craft of writing itself, others about drawing, colour, and the small visual jokes hidden in a spread. Many reflect on the books that shaped them as children, and on the moments when a young reader's reaction taught them something new. Whatever the topic, the aim is the same: to make the person behind the book feel close and real.

Read alongside our reviews, these interviews give a fuller picture of a title, so you can enjoy a story and then discover the thinking that shaped it. They also work well as a gentle nudge towards something unfamiliar, whether that is a debut creator, a seasonal read, or a book in a language or style you might not pick up otherwise. New conversations appear regularly, so there is always another voice to meet, another process to wonder at, and another reason to keep sharing the pleasure of reading with the young readers in your life.