Sofie Laguna, best known for the children's books Too Loud Lily and Bird and Sugar Boy, has just published her first novel for adults, One Foot Wrong. As that book hits the bookshops she is interviewed by Sherril Nixon for "The Sydney Morning Herald".
"What is satisfying is the fact that adult fiction gets a lot more attention in the media and, whether we're conscious of it or not, children's fiction gets dismissed as less important and less sophisticated and it requires less talent," Laguna says. "I am a person who just doesn't see the division so clearly." Her latest offering has certainly received instant accolades - local reviews have described it as masterful, absorbing and authentic, and it has sold into overseas markets including the US, Italy, Russia, Germany and Spain. The film rights were also sold before Laguna had put the finishing touches on One Foot Wrong and a team of producers connected with the horror movies Saw and Wolf Creek are working to bring it to the pre-production stage next year. Laguna wrote the screenplay earlier this year while simultaneously completing her book, a process that allowed her to sharpen the novel and ratchet up the tension. She is thrilled at comparisons with Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time and Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy, and even wonders if there's a little of Stephen King's Carrie or Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit unconsciously influencing her child narrator.
