SHERRY ASHWORTH

This is an edited version of a live web chat which took place on 4th May 2005 between the British Council Readers' Club in Uzbekistan, and novelist Sherry Ashworth. Members of the group had been reading Sherry's book Disconnected, about Cat Holmes - a normal, bright teenage girl who begins to lose her way. You can find out more about Sherry and her work at www.sherryashworth.com or read the full text of the chat.

Aussie: Sherry why did you decide to write such a book?

SA: Because of my fascination with girls of Cat's age - and a feeling that schools pressurise their students too much - we must let teenagers grow up at their own pace.

Marisha: Is Cath Holmes a real girl?

SA: An amalgam of girls I have known - but as a character she is a construct - and maybe based just a little on me, as all my characters are!

Aziza Nazirova: I think that Cath is a selfish girl, do you agree with me?

SA: Yes - I think she is most definitely selfish - most - not all - teenagers are. I think it's part of teen brain chemistry. But when you are depressed also you get selfish. You can't help it. It's like when you're ill.  

Olga: What is the future of Cat and Jan?

SA: Cat has more of a future than Jan. Cat will become a social worker/probation officer/criminal lawyer; Jan - I hate to think!

Olga: Would you ever write a novel based on the life of your own daughters?

SA: My daughters, now 22 & 19, would kill me if I ever used their lives as material for a book! But the things they say often find their way into my fiction.

Ann: Sherry, I'm from Uzbekistan and I'm 15, and for me the thoughts your hero had were quite strange... I'm really curious - does it happen that way for many British teens or that is a rather rare story?

SA: I'm afraid Cat is reasonably typical! A lot of our teenagers are disaffected. I think in an affluent society there is more room for people to make mistakes. Where education is free and forced on you, teenagers can take it for granted and react against it.

Marisha: Sherry, you touch on the problem in Taz's family - ignoring his grandparents from the mother's side. Does this really exist between European and Asian cultures now in a democratic society? It was exiting when I read it, we also have such problems in Uzbekistan but not so deep, there are mixed marriges in our country, but almost have troubles with relatives. Does this really exist in England?

SA: Yes - there are problems with European/Asian cultures - mixed marriages are still seen uneasily and the culture of fear since 9/11 has not helped matters at all.

Tamara Chjen: How does it happen that there is only one helpful adult in Disconnected?

SA: All the adults were trying to be helpful but they went about it in the wrong way - but it's not their fault - I forgive the teacher, even Cat's mum, they did what they thought was best.

Olga: How do you manage to understand the personality of teenagers now?

SA: Olga - I still teach, and learn as much from my students as they do from me! And I have a strong inner teenager - that time of my life is very vivid to me.

Geo: What event in your life would you like to reveal in one of your books?

SA: Geo - what a question! I don't know - I wouldn't choose to write directly about anything - but I would like to write more about my mother - she passed away 6 years ago - just to get close to her, I suppose.

Tamara Chjen: Do you deliberately write very simply?

SA: YES!!! My favourite writer is George Orwell, and like him I believe language should be plain and direct and accessible. I like all of Orwell - I'm especially fond of Down and Out in Paris and London - I love his descriptions of squalor. Imagine what George Orwell would have thought of chatting to a readers group in Uzbekistan!!!

Olga: Do you write only when you are inspired or is it a kind of everyday work?

SA: It's both inspiration and perspiration! An idea for a book is inspiration but getting it on paper is everyday work. For me, 60-90 minutes every day.

Galima: Have you any favourite book amongst your ones?

SA: My fave book is always the one I'm writing, the one just out - and all them - they're like my children. A cliche but true.

Tamara Chjen: Who is your ideal among writers: I mean, do you unconsciously copy anybody?

SA: I think I probably unconsciously copy a lot of people - with Disconnected I consciously was aware of JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and although my style couldn't be more different, the shape and subject of my novel owes a lot to the American book.

Olga: What Russian writers do you like to read?

SA: I LOVE Russian writers! I spent all of my teenager years deep in Tolstoy, Dostoevsky - and my fave of all - Gogol!!

Ann: Ohhh! Sherry - Dostoevsky is my favourite writer as well!

Olga: Do you think that reading teenager lit can be very helpful for adults?

SA: Yes!!!! Teen fiction is better than much adult fiction. It crosses the boundaries between popular and literary fiction - is more concise, more dramatic - teen fiction is a much underrated genre.

Nazim: Sherry what was your first book?

SA: A Matter of Fat - about dieting.

Olga: What advice would you give to young writers? How should they start?

SA: Just write! Keep a diary - and get someone to read what you write and give you feedback - a reader is the most important thing for a writer - my daughters read everything I write.

Ann: Can I ask you one 'big' question Sherry? How can you define the notion of happiness?

SA: Happiness - gosh! Realising how varied and interesting the world is, and how much more there is to discover, and how an individual is not the most important thing, but all the other people are - and that you're part of them.

Galima: What will your next book be about, Sherry?

SA: I've just written the first draft of a novel about a boy who discovers his real father.

Olga: It is a wide-spread belief that writers are often like children. What about you?

SA: Yes - I am very childklike - emotions on the surface - love eating sweets! Very imaginative and easily scared.

Galima: I just wanted to say that we all loved reading Disconnected, it was a very interesting book and this is such a great opportunity to speak to you! Thanks!

Sherry: Thanks to all of you Uzbekistanis! And aren't you all good at English!!

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