Celia Rees was born and went to school in Solihull, in England. She now lives in Leamington Spa, England, with her husband and teenage daughter, Catrin. After gaining a degree in History and Politics from Warwick University, she taught English in comprehensive schools for seventeen years. It was during this time that she began to write.
Celia’s first book was published in 1993, a thriller for teenagers.
Celia now divides her time between writing, talking to readers in schools and libraries, and teaching creative writing on the University of Warwick’s Open Studies Programme. She writes for older children and teenagers and gets her inspiration from the world around her: newspaper stories, people she meets, places she visits. Celia particularly likes museums and art galleries. She first had the idea for Witch Child on a trip to the American museum near Bath.
On Writing:
Q. Who or what was your biggest influence in deciding to become a writer?
A. "I was an English teacher and began writing with and for my students; they proved to me that I could do it. "
Q. What's the best thing you have ever written?
A. "I haven't written it yet."
Q. What's the last piece of your writing that you hated and threw in the wastepaper bin and why?
A. "I never throw anything I've written away — it always comes in useful in one way or another, so I keep it for recycling purposes."
Q. Is there any particular ritual involved in your writing process?
A. I have things that stay on my desk — like a moon gazing hare and a cricket ball. I have things that live on top of my computer — formerly a very small plastic pig, but he got lost — so now it's one of the aliens from Toy Story.
The inspiration for Witch Child
'When I was at university, I studied American history. I remember being struck by the isolation of the first settlers who founded New England and thinking about how they must have felt, surrounded by vast forests, on the edge of an unexplored continent ... Many years later, I was reading a book about 17th century witch persecution ... At about this time, I also read a book about shamanism, and it suddenly occurred to me that the beliefs and skills which would have condemned a woman to death in one society would have been revered in another.'
Researching Witch Child ...
Celia wasn’t able to visit America to research Witch Child, but she says "I went to the library instead. Fortunately, my local university has an excellent American History and Literature section, which was ideal. I also used the internet to find all kinds of things, from Native American herbal medicine to maps of Salem harbour."
... and Sorceress
For Sorceress, Celia was able to make a brief trip to America. "I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d be looking for ... Someone mentioned a place I ought to visit, John Fadden’s Six Nations Museum, outside Onchiota, New York. He proved an invaluable source of information on the culture and history of the Iroquois (Native American) people, past and present."
On her next project:
'I know my next central character is a female pirate and I’ve collected some ‘inspiration’ – postcards illustrating the Bristol slave trade, a history of female pirates, and a replica pieces of eight – but I don’t want to say too much yet!'
You can find out more about Celia and the historical background of Witch Child and Sorceress at www.witchchild.com.
Celia's book Pirates! is set in the 1700s in the Caribbean and Americas. It is a wonderful tale of a female herione who escapes social conformity and becomes a pirate. Take a look at the Pirates website at http://www.celiarees.co.uk/home.htm