Our outgoing Teen Advisory Board were delighted to receive, as one of their last books, a proof copy of the new fantasy novel by Lili Wilkinson, A Hunger of Thorns. The teens loved it and were excited by the opportunity to ask Lili some questions about her process and inspiration.

Have you been working on/thinking about this book while writing other books? Or is it a relatively new idea?

SO LONG. At least a decade, maybe longer. I’ve always wanted to write fantasy, right from the very beginning, but it’s taken me eighteen books to get here. This particular idea, about lost girls, is definitely one I’ve been thinking about for at least twenty years.

What kind of research do you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning A Hunger of Thorns?

A lot. I was lucky enough to get a Creative Fellowship at the State Library of Victroria, so I spent a solid year researching for a book that I thought was about outsider artist Henry Darger, and the lost girls of literature (Dorothy, Alice etc). But it turned out to be a book about wild girls and magical forests. All the plant stuff is real, by the way (except the carnivorous tree). Real plant names, real things that plants can do (like filter radioactivity from soil). Plants are cool.

The world and fantastical magic system detailed in the book was something that we found to be so interesting. What did the process of coming up with this world and its rules look like for you?

As someone who has been teaching creative writing for a long time, I’m always very clear on one thing: think carefully about your magic system. Know its limitations. What can it do? What can’t it do? Who can do it? How does it work? Have all this in place before you write your story.

Did I take my own advice? No. No I did not.

The magic system evolved over time. I always knew it would be plant-y. Then one day I came up with the idea of a glamour patch, and that opened up a whole world of magic capitalism that just fascinates me. Then that led to the politics of it all. And only then did I come up with the concept of mettle, and mettle weaving.

There is a heavy theme of feminism within the book. What inspired you to make this a central element of the book and what impact are you hoping this theme has on your audience?

I think all of my books have a feminist theme. I’m not sure I can write a book without one. (Okay, maybe my picture book about a quokka who steals a birthday cake isn’t overtly feminist).

I’ve always been fascinated by stories about lost girls – I used to play a game called Lost Girls with my childhood best friend (just like Maude and Odette did ... and the similarities don’t end there). As I grew older and learnt how to ask questions of the stories I loved, I wondered why in stories nominally for boys, the boys wanted adventure. But in so-called girls’ stories, the girls just want to go home. There’s a line in the Wizard of Oz movie 'If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard'. This line is heartbreaking to me. It shuts down distant horizons and encourages girls and women to limit themselves to a domestic sphere. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the villain of Oz is an unmarried woman who has used a domestic tool (broomstick) to liberate herself.

The cover of A Hunger of Thorns is beautiful and there were certainly lots of details to spot after finishing the book. Did you have a big role in the design of the cover and are you pleased with how it turned out?

I love this cover with my whole heart. I did not love [the first cover my US publisher sent me], but I gave them honest feedback (very diplomatically), and they listened which is absolutely not a guarantee. And then they found Imogen Oh, who did the final illustration. I love Imogen, she’s the best. She’s read the book three times which is pretty unprecedented for a cover illustrator!

Are you planning on writing more books in this particular genre in the future?

Definitely. My next YA fantasy will be out in a year, and is set in the same world as A Hunger of Thorns, but with new characters. It’s called Deep in the Fen, and it’s an enemies-to-lovers romance in a swamp with a dangerous and misogynistic toad cult.

Thanks so much Lili! We are thrilled to now be able to share our love for A Hunger of Thorns with the world and hear their responses to this magical story.