Interview by Cath Ayres
David Farr is one of the UK’s leading screenwriters and directors for film, TV and theatre. In 2009, he was appointed Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his productions of The Winter’s Tale, King Lear and The Homecoming all opened to critical acclaim. David is known for his work on Spooks and his BBC adaptation of The Night Manager, for which he wrote seasons 1 and 2, starring Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. He wrote his first feature film, Hanna, in 2009, and has since adapted it into a hugely successful series for Amazon Prime, and has recently adapted The Midwich Cuckoos for Sky. He directed his first feature film The Ones Below in 2015.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions today, David!
Prior to writing and publishing your debut novel The Book of Stolen Dreams, you spent many years working in theatre, and writing for the stage and screen. Were you a theatre kid growing up, or was there something else that sparked your passion for writing?
I wasn’t a theatre kid no. I didn’t go to the theatre at all really when I was young. Maybe twice? I am the classic kid who was inspired by reading and by a very good English teacher. Then when I was sixteen I started to go to the theatre and found “my kind of stuff.” Which wasn’t available in Guildford! It was Pinter and Beckett and Sam Shepard, and then Eastern European theatre. So incredible at that time.
In writing Stolen Dreams, you drew inspiration from your family history, specifically your Jewish grandmother and her siblings who escaped Nazi Germany. How did you decide on a middle grade novel as the best vehicle to share this story, and did you approach writing it differently to the way you would a play?
It was a very instinctive decision partly inspired by circumstance. We were in lockdown and there was no theatre, no film, no TV. But I could write a book. I’d always known if I was to write a book on this subject it would be for the magical middle-grade readers. I love that imagination; I did plays for that age a lot when I was younger and it just suits me. Maybe I’m still 9 years old really.
Despite the dark themes that permeate the Stolen Dreams series, the overall tone of your writing is quite playful, injected with plenty of wit and whimsy. I’m particularly thinking of the Poetess, who is just so delightfully absurd and provides such a contrast to Malstain’s malevolence! How do you navigate the balance between light and shade?
Good question. I do think that good writing should always create tension between subject and mood. If you’re too self-aware about your seriousness, I don’t think it’s as powerful. Some of my favourite writers mix humour into darkness. And then deep down I love people. I think they are resourceful and eccentric. It’s only power structures that destroy and allow certain individuals to run amok.
The world of Krasnia is so vivid and almost timeless in nature. If you were a Krasnian, where would you live and what would your daily life look like?
Oh I’d live in the North with all the artists. I’d like to live close to the library please, and not too far from the Kleins so I could pop over. I’d love a nice café nearby too. Somewhere to read and chat. The West is too sober and too posh for me.
Finally, I was thrilled to see that The Book of Stolen Dreams: The Final Battle was released in the UK last year. Congratulations on completing such a phenomenal series! I can’t wait to see how everything turns out for Rachel and Robert, and I’m already imagining what a befitting end might look like for Malstain… Do you know when we can expect to see it in Canada?
Sadly, I don’t know. Lobby Simon and Schuster! But you can always sneak a British copy I’m sure…
And, if you have time, a bonus question! You have, quite possibly, the greatest website of all time – what can you share about its creation?
Ah that’s very nice. It was done with Kristina, my designer. She’s very talented. I really enjoyed making it. And my daughter wrote the music!
The Book of Stolen Dreams by David Farr is available from all good bookshops and online.
If you need a starting point though, you can browse the Canadian retailers listed on Simon and Schuster’s website here, and if you happen to reside in the UK, like David, and want to know how the series wraps up, you can purchase from Waterstones.
YOUNG ADULTING 