Ursula Dubosarsky

My latest book is The Red Shoe (A&U).

It’s about a family with three daughters who accidentally find themselves living next door to a spy! It’s set in Sydney in the 1950s.

The best thing about being a writer is the feeling of all the things out there waiting to be invented.

My first published work was Maisie and the Pinny Gig about a girl who has a recurring dream about a giant guinea pig…

Morning person or night-owl? Morning because I can’t wait to drink that first cup of coffee!

My first job was looking after people’s pets in their houses when they went away on holidays. I was thirteen. I put an ad in the newsagent window. I looked after a family of three German shepherds with health problems (I had to put tablets inside their mouths), four very wingey Siamese cats who kept following me home, and a big brown horse called Noble.

On a quiz show, my special subject would be the novels of Agatha Christie.

My last holiday was going on the night train to Melbourne and looking out the window in the dark from a little bunk bed – it was great!

My perfect Saturday is sitting in the sunshine watching my chickens wander about the garden.

The last CD I bought was a Woody Guthrie collection.

I’m currently reading Cassell’s Dictionary of Rhyming Slang, it’s really Robin Hood, if you know what I mean.

Big Brother or Australian Idol? Too hard!!

Favourite film/tv show is Mary Poppins

My favourite book is An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden

The book character I would most like to meet is Rupert the Bear (nice and friendly).

The book character I would least like to meet is the Cat in the Hat (too scary).

The worst thing I’ve ever written is a story about a talking egg cup.

When I was growing up I wanted to be an animal trainer