Date: 13 January 2021
Interviewer: Vanessa Joosen
Transcript: Cédrique Caethoven
Copy-editing: Anna Woltz
Translation: Lindsey Geybels
On the role of memories in the writing process.
I build on my own memories less and less. I’ve written twenty-four books now, so at some point your own memories kind of run out. I can really remember a lot and I still use that a lot in terms of feelings, how it feels to be an adolescent, to be a ten-year-old… I can never run out of that feeling because I can use that in any fictional situation, but the real events or, for example, a funny statement by my sister, I obviously only use that once, I’m not going to recycle it in another book.
When asked if Anna Woltz researches children and adolescents for her books.
To me, children feel so close, and at the same time, of course, I am very aware that there are an awful lot of people I don’t understand. It doesn’t matter whether they are children or adults. I will always write about main characters who somehow still have some kind of connection with me.