Interview with Tom Percival, winner of the Ruth Rendell Award 2025

What did it mean to you to win the Ruth Rendall Award?

It was amazing. To be honest, it was unexpected because I didn’t even know I had been entered for it. I’ve done a lot of work with the National Literacy Trust over the years, and I’m a big supporter of their work. I do that because I believe in the importance of the work that they do; my mum was a librarian, and she was always supplying me with books that I would enjoy. That’s why I try to do what I can to advocate for reading for pleasure, because I feel like I benefited from those things. But the short answer is it feels good to win it!

Can you tell us a bit more about your background and how you came to become an author?

Growing up, we lived in a fairly remote place in a caravan, and we didn’t have a TV. We didn’t have heating, really. There were points at which things were challenging, and books were an escape. I grew up in a rural area and books were an expansion of my world. Growing up in the 1980s on the border of mid Wales, you didn’t really see people that didn’t look like you. It was like quite a narrow understanding of what humanity was and what the world could be, and reading books expanded my world view. So that was important to me as a kid.

I read so much as a child and as a teenager. I always loved creating worlds whether it was through pictures or music or writing, and I wasn’t planning to become an author at all. I was an illustrator first and foremost, and then I started reading. I was working at Harper Collins, the book publishers, and I was illustrating covers for some of their children’s books. And I just thought “I want to have a go at that”. It took a long time, but then eventually, I started coming up with ideas that I felt were viable.

When accepting the award, you were passionate about the ways in which reading can change lives. Can you talk about the impact it has had on your own life?

I genuinely feel as though reading gave me everything in my life. It’s given me my career, my friends, and an outlet to express myself. Sometimes I find it hard to say what I’m trying to say out loud. Whereas when you’ve got the time to consider it and write it down, you can formulate your thoughts in a way that makes sense to other people. That’s why I love writing, because I can communicate what I’m trying to say. Although, people expect me to be eloquent and interesting when they meet me, and end up sorely disappointed! Give me a week and a chance to write a good draft I can edit, then I’ll be able to respond to you in an interesting way.

Can you tell us about your first novel, The Wrong Shoes, and the campaign to tackle illiteracy in a disadvantaged communities that accompanied it?

I wanted to write the book for a number of reasons. Obviously, it is not autobiographical. It’s more that the main character, Will’s, outlook is similar to mine, and that feeling of being at a disadvantage and struggling. That makes him angry. I felt quite angry when I was young, and I wanted to communicate that. I didn’t want it to be a book that was this plucky kid who pulls his socks up and does his best and wins against the odds. I wanted something that felt a bit more authentic. That feeling of anger and resentment, I think, is very natural if you feel you’re at a disadvantage.

And as far as the campaign goes, it was just obvious to me that if I’m exploring a topic like this, then I need to try and do something to benefit organisations that can tangibly do something to help children who might be struggling. The National Literacy Trust seems like an obvious organisation to work with because I’ve done a lot of campaigns with them over the years. What I really like about their work is how proactive it is and the amount of thought that they put into their campaigns and research as well.

As well as donating part of your book sales to the NLT, you also visited primary schools across the UK, what was that experience like? Were there any particular memorable moments?

The experience was broad. There is no single factor that that determines the reading culture in a school more than having a school librarian or literacy lead who lives and breathes books. When you go into a school like that, regardless of the socioeconomic background, the kids respond really well. They love the event, and they’ve got great ideas.

A memorable moment? In one school I heard a kid say, “today’s been the best day of my life”, which I’m sure was hyperbole, but they really enjoyed the session. You can’t get much better than that.

All that I want anyone to take away from my school visits is that you can do it. You can do whatever it is that you want to do. I don’t believe in the idea of skill or talent, really. I believe that we all have advantages in certain areas. Some people might be more predisposed to sprinting, and some people might be born with some level of musical understanding. But my key thing is that you if you work hard, you will become a better musician or artist than someone who is advantaged in that area and doesn’t work hard.

How do you approach the writing process, and what do you think is important to consider when writing for younger audiences?

I approach anything I create in the same way. Music is the same as drawing, writing, and photography. You have the same tools, you’ve got contrast, you’ve got pacing, and you’ve got dynamics. You also have excitement and surprise. You use all these tools or all of these concepts in different ways and in different mediums. I view writing in particular as very sculptural. I don’t sit down and think I’m going to craft a beautiful sentence and work like that. It’s more like clay and I’ve got an amorphous blob that I try to mould into something that’s the kind of shape that I’m looking for. if it is, then I start going in and trying to craft the sentences. What I like to do before I even start writing is to have the full structure mapped out so that I can read the story in almost shorthand in my head. That feels satisfying to me.

When writing for an audience, I try to view it in the same way Pixar creates their films. You don’t include anything that the children can’t understand, but you can include things that adults will read and understand in one way and a child will read and understand in another way. I would like to think that there are layers of subtlety and nuance that as a parent or grandparent, depending on where you are in your life, you will read the story slightly differently and have a slightly different understanding of it. I don’t write just for children. I’d like to think that anyone who reads my books will be able to get something out of it.

Why do you think it’s so important that children develop a love of reading?

I think a love of reading is really important because if you love something, it’s effortless. If you enjoy exercise, then you will do it. And if you do exercise, you get stronger, fitter and healthier. And those benefits all come to you for free because you enjoy the activity that brings those things to you. Reading and literacy give you so many things, so if you can enjoy reading and do it for fun, then you get all of those benefits.

You can learn more about Tom and his work here.