Interview: Rachel Burrows
- Little Thoughts Press
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Rachel Burrows and her stories grew up in Wales though she now lives near Stonehenge with her family and dog, Fennel. Her children’s poems can be found in The Dirigible Balloon, Tyger Tyger, The Toy, The Yorkshire Times, Northern Gravy and Little Thoughts Press. She has read her poetry and stories on BBC Radio and Book Jive Live and recently featured as Brian Moses’ Guest Poet. She shortlisted for Write Mentor’s Picturebook Competition 2023 and The Cheshire Novel Kids Prize 2025 and longlisted in The Guppy Open Submission 2025.
Little Thoughts Press: One of the things that drew us to "Pandemonium" as we were selecting pieces for this issue was its quirky humor, with lines like “Carlos killed the bassoon like a pro.” How do you decide whether to inject humor into the story or poem that you’re working on?
Rachel Burrows: I don’t ever try to—it just happens. And sometimes it doesn’t! It’s funny you should choose that line as an example because I wondered if it was too serious! My favourite line is the trombone one—just because I can imagine it so clearly—poor old Trent! I used to sit in front of the brass section in the orchestra at school and they always did things like squirting us with water, so it has links to good memories too. I’m a bit scared of poems that are very sweet or cute—I’ll always add something to surprise or tickle. My poems about nature are my least humorous—I really try hard to just convey my awe in those—they don’t need me as a sidekick!
Little Thoughts Press: Your classroom experience really shines through in "Pandemonium." In what sorts of ways does your experience working in schools influence your writing for children?
Rachel Burrows: You get to know what makes a room full of kids laugh or gasp! I do love a reaction! I think I have a good memory for funny events that have happened in the classroom but also I remember funny things that happened at school to me. Sometimes these make for better poems as we used to have far more freedom—so there were far greater mishaps! When I write a poem about a class, I am the child not the teacher in it.
At the moment I work with teenagers who have had a really bad time. I write poems to help me process some of the things I know they have been through. These tend to be for older children and adults to read though.
Little Thoughts Press: Our Stirring Words issue is all about odd, interesting, or inspiring words and phrases. What is your favorite word right now? Why do you love it?
Rachel Burrows: Flabbles! It’s a word my kids made up to describe our dog’s jowls. Jowls is quite an ugly word to describe such lovely soft, whiskery things! He is a pointer x labrador and has a very floppy face—his flabbles sometimes get caught on his teeth giving him a very goofy smile.
Little Thoughts Press: Why did you choose the word(s) you chose to feature in your Stirring Words piece?
Rachel Burrows: I like to use prompts from online poetry groups to inspire me. One week it was pandemonium. I love the word because I hear it in the South Wales accent that I grew up with—it sounds very lyrical and goes on forever! When I realised euphonium sort of rhymed with it, the poem took off.
Little Thoughts Press: How did you get started writing kid-lit and what do you find most challenging and rewarding about writing for kids?
Rachel Burrows: I only started writing for children three years ago when I left the primary classroom. I wrote a lot of poetry as a child though. The most challenging thing for me is levelling it right. I am very sensitive to things being patronising, but I don’t want my poems to be difficult either. I love the range of things you can talk about in children’s poems—fox’s bums, snail parties and crocodile dentists, to name just a few! Those kinds of things still delight me and make me laugh! I can have fun illustrating them too.
Little Thoughts Press: Which kid-lit authors and books were your favorites growing up?
Rachel Burrows: I loved Peter Pan and Wendy—it was one of the first I read independently. My dad always used to read me Milly-Molly-Mandy and I especially like the map at the front of those books. I struggled to find fiction that I enjoyed after about 12 and read a lot of non-fiction about nature.
Little Thoughts Press: And what about today? Any kid-lit writers you love and want to shout out?
Rachel Burrows: So many! I wish we had the choice of today when I was young.
Picturebooks: anything by Jon Klassen, Wolf Erlbruch and a new favourite, Chloe Savage.
Middle Grade: everything by Zillah Bethall, Katya Balen, Sophie Anderson, Phil Earle, Matt Goodfellow.
YA: anything by Anthony McGowan and Sarah Crossan
Little Thoughts Press: What advice would you give to young writers?
Rachel Burrows: Don’t try to rhyme! Concentrate of choosing exactly the right word for that moment, not one that rhymes! Controversial! I like to reread my work to see if I can ‘feel it’, and if I can’t, I go and make it bigger or better. It’s like what they say about dancing—dance as if no one is watching, well I think you should write as if no one is reading! Read it out loud to yourself—if you like it, job done! Don’t tell your teachers I said that!
Little Thoughts Press: Is there anything else you wish I had asked? Any upcoming projects, publications, or other news you'd like to share?
Rachel Burrows: Maybe what am I most proud of writing? My friend, the poet Mark Bird, asked me to contribute a poem to an anthology he was compiling for the family and school friends of two of his kindergarten students who were lost in the Air India crash. It was the hardest and easiest thing I have ever written. I am so pleased I could do something at such an awful time for them.
I am waiting for a few adult poems to appear in anthologies. One is about being 12 and not loving pop music like my best friend did.
You can check out more of my poems on The Dirigible Balloon and Brian Moses’ blog site.
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