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About Tabitha
 I was born in London in 1975 to an English mother and a Japanese father, the eldest of five children. I went to the French Lycée in South Kensington and was a terrible pupil. I hated school and refused to work and did astonishingly badly in all subjects except for English. I spent a lot of my time writing with my left-hand (I'm right handed) in an attempt to while away the hours. In secondary school I would sit at the back of the class and write stories, which I got away with because my teachers thought I was taking notes. Occasionally, when the boredom got too much, I would throw my friend's shoes out of the window. Being half Japanese, I was sent to Japanese Saturday school. In the term report, the teacher commented that I would make more progress if I didn't always insist on sitting with my feet up on the desk. This still remains my favourite writing position, which is why I now have a reclining chair and a cordless keyboard.
When I was fourteen, I just stopped going to school - much to my teachers' relief and my parents' anguish. I got a job as an assistant dance teacher and also worked at a centre for children with Cerebral Palsy, which was enormous fun. I grudgingly did a few GCSEs by correspondence course and only turned up to some of the exams. I wanted to be an actress. My mother eventually tricked me into doing A levels (I thought I was signing up for a fun evening class). My fervent wish was not to go to university. I ended up going to university many times (the first time was at 17, the last time was at 29). I graduated in French Literature from King’s College London. I did French at uni because I thought it would be easy (I spoke French because of the Lycée). It wasn't. Two weeks before my finals, I still hadn't worked out where the university library was. |
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After university, I taught English as a Foreign Language, worked in IT, was a freelance translator... I finally got fed-up of drifting and did a PGCE in 2000. Between 2001 and 2003 I worked as a Year 1 teacher at Long Close School in Berkshire. Having been a 'school refuser' there was a bit of irony there. But I found that I loved teaching and I was lucky enough to have the best kids in the world in my class. While I was teaching full-time, I wrote A Note of Madness (and didn't get much sleep). In 2004 I left classroom teaching and began to divide my time between writing and peripatetic teaching: giving private English tuition and also teaching at the lovely Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith. This gave me time to write From Where I Stand (a psychological thriller), followed by Without Looking Back (about a family on the run), followed by A Voice in the Distance (a sequel to A Note of Madness). I have recently started writing for adults.
My own influences are wide-ranging. As a child, my favourite author was Joan Aiken. As a teenager, I particularly enjoyed reading books by K.M. Peyton, S.E. Hinton and Lois Duncan. These days, my favourite books are An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison; The Pursuit of Happiness, by Douglas Kennedy; Prozac Nation and More, Now, Again, by Elizabeth Wurtzel; We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver; The Hours, by Michael Cunningham and The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O'Farrell. My favourite teen fiction books are I Am the Cheese, by Robert Cormier; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon; Say Goodnight, Gracie, by Julie Reece Deaver and Looking for JJ, by Anne Cassidy. I love classical music, especially Rachmaninov and Mozart. My favourite films are The Hours and Amadeus.
My teenage brother Tiggy (aka Shin) is an amazing pianist who is currently studying music infomatics at Sussex University. Although his personality is nothing like Flynn's, he inspired me to write A Note of Madness, as well as letting me borrow quotes from his Revised Musical Dictionary, and checking the story for musical glitches. My wonderful friend and fellow-writer Akiko gives me honest and constructive criticism on all my books and I value her input immensely. And my mother laboriously proof-reads each of my books with infinite care.
Some TRIVIA about me
- My full name is Tabitha Sayo Victoria Anne Suzuma.
- I got a D in my English Literature GCSE (because I answered one of the questions on the wrong book - duh!)
- I hated studying French literature at university and often wrote essays on books I hadn't even read (York notes!).
- I passed my driving test on my 6th attempt.
- I don't speak any Japanese and have never been to Japan and don't have any huge desire to go to Japan.
- I made my stage debut when I was 8 and picked out of the audience and taken back stage to play the part of a baby monster.
- In my teens, I auditioned for Miss Saigon and The King and I and didn't get either parts (although I was told it was 'a close call')
- I started playing the violin at 2 and gave up at 11.
- I taught myself to play the piano.
- I was my brother's first piano teacher.
- I used to play truant from school and hide out in my local library (wild!)
- The poem Raven writes in From Where I Stand is the last verse of an extremely long anti-school poem I wrote when I was 12.
- My nickname is Tabby and I was named after my mother's friend's cat.
- I'm allergic to cats.
- I hate shopping.
- I am ridiculously tidy.
- As a child, my hair was so long it reached the backs of my knees.
- I always have short hair, now that I can choose.
- I love the sea and have even swum in it during the winter when it was hailing.
- I wrote my first full length book when I was 17. It was called Angels on the Wild Side and was about teenage gangsterism. David Fickling nearly published it but his superiors thought it was too risky, so he took me out to lunch instead.
- I hate getting up in the morning.
- I do most of my writing at night.
- I sometimes go to Tesco's in my pyjamas.
- Art galleries and museums bore me.
- My Year 1 pupils can draw better than me.
- I can't cook (except pancakes because they're fun).
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