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QUESTIONS CHILDHOOD FACT FILE |
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QUESTIONS CHILDHOOD FACT FILE |
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Anne Fine is one of the most successful children's writers in Britain. She is probably most famous for her book Madame Doubtfire, which was turned into a full length feature film starring the famous Hollywood actor Robin Williams as the lead character. This book deals with the issue of parental separation and divorce.
Her most recent novel is Bad Dreams. Some of her other popular novels are Goggle-Eyes, Bill's New Frock and Flour Babies. |
The Life of Anne Fine
Anne was born in the Midlands and was sent to school two years early, because her mother had triplets and was too busy to look after her! As Anne went to school so young she could read from a very early age. She went on to study history and politics at university and then had various jobs including teaching at a secondary school, working as a secretary and a job for Oxfam as an information officer.
Anne wrote her first book when her eldest daughter was a baby. She was trapped in her freezing flat by a snowstorm and was unable to get to the library to get a book to read so she started to write to cheer and warm herself up. The book was The Summer House Loon, published in 1978, It was finished in weeks, and was by far the fastest book Anne has ever written but at first it was turned down by the publisher she sent it to. She later entered the story into a competition run by the Guardian newspaper. Although the book didn't win the award it was a runner-up and at the award ceremony Anne met an agent who eventually helped her to publish her work.
Mostly, Anne writes comedy books. She says that this is because her favourite books when she was a child were comedies, Richmal Crompton's William books and Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings books in particular. Anne was also a great Enid Blyton fan. Not surprisingly English was Anne's favourite subject at school.
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Anne has now written over twenty-five books, for all ages, even adult. She says that the books she writes for readers of ten and up take her around a year to write and her novels for adults take around two years to write. She doesn't use a word processor (she says she's too quick tempered) and still works as she always has: in absolute silence, hiding her work with her arms from anyone who comes in the room. Anne writes with a 2B pencil and rubs out constantly. She has a special sharpener that catches the droppings for use on trains, but can do nothing about the manky bits of rubber getting all over the trays and tables! |
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Anne now lives in a stone house by the side of a river in a tiny town in County Durham. She has two daughters, two cats and a golden retriever dog.
