Interview: Sadie Maskery
- Little Thoughts Press
- Jul 22
- 4 min read
Sadie Maskery lives in Scotland by the sea. Her latest poetry collection, The Usual Apologies, is published by Red Ogre Press. A short story collection, Overboard, will be published in Fall 2025 by Acid Bath Publishing.
Little Thoughts Press: Our Ekphrasis Adventure issue is about using visual art as inspiration for poetry and storytelling.
What stood out to you in the illustrations you chose to write about? What in the images served as the initial spark for your poems?
Sadie Maskery: I like fantasy rather than reality, so was drawn to the pictures that were not of our world, and perhaps from ones a bit dangerous for a very small child; things you can only see in dreams. Also, I wrote a poem about a talking tree persuading the wind to steal someone's knickers but you didn't print that one.
Little Thoughts Press: In your poem, "Monty," inspired by Jessie Lehson's illustration, The Bone Witch, you place the focus on the animal skeleton depicted in the illustration and use this to convey a very meaningful message about care, fear, and trying to see past our initial response to something by being more thoughtful and understanding about how we look at the world and each other. In your final stanza, you invite the reader to consider some very profound and important questions, but in a way that feels like a natural and appropriate conclusion to this poem that is ostensibly about a skeleton dog! Can you tell us a little bit about how you developed this piece, how you decided to incorporate this messaging, and more generally how you approach weaving important messages into poetry for children in a way that feels natural and avoids being too didactic?
Sadie Maskery: I am always going to be drawn to animals in a picture before humans, bones or not! He looked sad first of all, but then I thought about our own dog, Max, who looks like he has been imprisoned for weeks without food if you don't share your snack with him, and I thought, if that skeletal dog is anything like Max he is probably just outraged that he is not being taken on a walk. Once you think sideways about any situation you can find questions to ask that aren't immediately obvious. It's remembering to have that unblinkered perspective. Most small children still do, I think; it's us adults who get fixed into assumptions about the world. It's true, you need to watch out for danger and bad things. But different doesn't mean bad. Some of the baddest things that happen are done by people who look 'right,' and often to the things which look 'wrong.' So it is really, really vital to help children retain their curiosity. You can be honestly afraid of something without having to hate it. To stay deliberately ignorant to avoid having to think in different ways, that's pervasive in some parts of the world at the moment. Adults who do that and then force ignorance on their children, they scare me more than a bone witch. So it was more a poem reminding me to think like a child than one telling a child how to think.
Little Thoughts Press: For your poem, "Whoosh," you are drawing inspiration directly from a young artist and the fun and playfulness that Finn J. displays in his illustration, Fire Dragon. When you don't have a child's joy right there on the page to draw from, what methods do you use to tap into a childlike sense of wonder and adventure when you are writing for a young audience?
Sadie Maskery: I don't have a method, I think I am incredibly lucky still to have a sense of wonder. It is usually crushed under the black weight of worldly despair but, y'know, good days and bad days. And reading books—I fall into a good book like a mountain pool to wash away the adultness.
Little Thoughts Press: This issue is all about celebrating and spotlighting artists. Do you have a favorite artist, or a picture book, comic, or graphic novel that you love and want to shout out?
Sadie Maskery: Richard Scarry, because there you have a world that is instantly recognisable whilst yet being completely fantastical. I learned to spell at the same time as dreaming about alternative realities, all before I was five. I still think animals should be able to row gondolas and grow massive watermelons.
Little Thoughts Press: How did you get started writing kid-lit and what do you find most challenging and rewarding about writing for kids?
Sadie Maskery: I don't write kid-lit normally, but I would love to collaborate with someone on a picture book. A whole book of poetry, where someone sends me the pictures and I write a poem for each! Anyone?
Little Thoughts Press: Which kid-lit authors and books were your favorites growing up?
Sadie Maskery: The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Dark Is Rising series, the Earthsea series, the Discworld series ... I like other worlds. And Richard Scarry of course. I still want to drive an apple car like Lowly the worm.
Little Thoughts Press: What advice would you give to young writers?
Sadie Maskery: Write always with honesty, but be aware that what you think is truth depends very much not only on what you see, but who you are. Be curious, always.
Little Thoughts Press: Is there anything else you wish I had asked? Any upcoming projects, publications, or other news you'd like to share?
Sadie Maskery: No, thank you so much for the opportunity to share a little bit! And if anyone wants to work with me on some picture poetry, I know how to spell Ekphrasis and everything now.
(Oh, I do have a bluesky account at saccharinequeen.bsky.social from which you can find out about my poetry and short stories.)
Comments