Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits of Aotearoa writers, and guests. This week: Antony Elworthy, illustrator, animator (Isle of Dogs, Kiri & Lou) and children’s book author of The Strange and Unlikely Tale of Montgomery, the Mysterious Bird of Mystery.
The book I wish I’d written
Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. I wish I could write something so profound, in so few words. And his illustrations are timeless.
Everyone should read
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, because it’s a great achievement. To read it, I mean. It’s like climbing a mountain, and everyone should climb a mountain.
The book I want to be buried with
I guess the point of being buried with a book is to take it with you to the afterlife. So something that would withstand infinite re-readings would be a good idea: a choose-your-own-adventure story for instance. I loved choose-your-own-adventure stories when I was young. Reading them was a thrill, like walking a tight rope – one wrong move would send you plummeting to an unhappy ending.
The first book I remember reading by myself
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss. I’m still a fan – I’ve never really grown out of Dr. Seuss. He wrote a story about a spooky pair of pants that still haunts me.
Utopia or dystopia?
Dystopia, of course. Utopia leaves nothing to desire, and life without desire would be boring.
Fiction or nonfiction?
I prefer fiction. A good storyline will keep me hooked right through a book. Good fiction is profound and meaningful – real life, on the other hand, is chaotic and arbitrary. I don’t like it when real events are twisted into the shape of a story, it always feels false. However, I do love non-fiction books about mushrooms and gold-diggers.
It’s a crime against language to…
When my editor got hold of my manuscript, she swept away several thousand commas. Apparently, I was a chronic over-user of the comma. Now, I am a little sensitive, to too many, commas.
The book I regret reading
I don’t regret reading any book, ever, even those books that I haven’t particularly liked. There have been plenty of books that I have abandoned part way through, and I don’t regret that either.
The book that made me cry
Old Huhu by Kyle Mewburn. Absorbing the loss of a treasured person is so hard, at any age. This sensitive story shows, in a beautiful way, a child coming to terms with the death of his grandfather.
The book that made me laugh
The Mr Gum series by Andy Stanton. I normally prefer a story that follows at least some laws of reason, but these books are a law unto themselves. One of the characters is a gingerbread man called Alan Taylor, who is able to function thanks to his electric muscles. And there’s a gin-swilling old lady called Old Granny – when she was young, she was a gin-swilling child called Old Granny.
The book I never admit I’ve read
I’m not telling.
The book I wish would be adapted to film or TV
I wish my book was adapted for film. That would be nice. Maybe one day.
Greatest New Zealand writer
I love all authors by the name of Maurice. New Zealand has produced a number of great Maurices.
But Maurices aside, I choose Margaret Mahy. She has fired the imagination of generations of Kiwis, she is a true inspiration.
The Strange and Unlikely Tale of Montgomery, the Mysterious Bird of Mystery by Antony Elworthy is available for purchase from Unity Books. Antony is taking part in the Auckland Writers Festival Schools programme in May 2025, details online here.