We've been lucky enough to be talking to Kerry Drewery, author of A Brighter Fear and A Dream of Lights. Here's a bit about her, and about her writing!
SUMMARY
Yoora is a teenage girl living in North Korea, dreaming of the lights of foreign cities while eking out a miserable existence in a rural northern village. But then she makes a mistake: she falls in love. With someone far removed from her social class. Someone dangerous to know. When tongues start to wag, her father is executed and she is taken to a prison camp in the mountains. There, escape seems even further from her grasp. But Yoora is about to learn an important lesson: love can surprise you, and it can come in many forms...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kerry is the author of YA novels A Brighter Fear (shortlisted for the Leeds Book Awards) and A Dream of Lights (awarded Highly Commended at North East Teen Book Awards, nominated for the Carnegie Medal, shortlisted for the Hampshire Independent Schools Book Awards and longlisted for the Leeds Book Awards).
When not writing, she does ridiculous things like the Tough Mudder, runs across bridges and swims in lakes and sensible things like eating cake and chocolate.
She loves spiders but has a fear of moths.
You can find out more/follow her here –
Twitter - @KerryDrewery
Facebook – facebcook/KerryDrewery
Tumblr – kerrydrewery.tumblr.com
ABOUT THE NOVEL
Many people have asked why I chose to set a novel in North Korea.
I’ve always been interested in other countries, in the people and the cultures; as a teen I had this mad dream of visiting every country in the world. I think if I’d lived in another time and I was a lot braver, I would’ve liked to have been an explorer!
Some countries stick out more than others for me though. Russia has always fascinated me, Egypt too, but especially North Korea - the closed society, the secrets, the controlling leaders, the restraints on media, the borders its people aren’t allowed to cross. A country that, in this day and age with all the technology available to us, the world knows so little about.
I suppose it’s a bit like having a quiet student at the back of a class who looks different, talks differently, has no friends and an unknown family – I want to find out what makes them tick and why they behaves as they do and it’s the same with North Korea. Why do the people live like that? Are they happy? Do they want things to change? Why do some choose to escape, yet others don’t? Is it my natural curiosity or am I just downright nosy? A bit of both I think!
