The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Getting to know you
Author Gabriella Bennett celebrates her new lifestyle book by revealing insights into her own life
Q Which writers inspire you?
A Any who look closely at life’s mundanities. I always come back to Nicole Krauss, Lydia Davis and Muriel Spark.
Q What was your plan B careerwise? A It was always going to be writing.
Q Your house is on fire, what one item do you save? A Nothing. An excuse to purge all my belongings and start again.
Q Last meal on earth? A Fried egg sandwiches.
Q Dream dinner party guests? A All my best friends. Louis Theroux could come and entertain us.
Q First thing you’d do if you won £1 million?
A Buy a ramshackle bothy in the north west Highlands and do it up at my own pace.
Q If you could rule for a day, what would be the first thing you would do? A Get spending more time with nature on the school curriculum.
Q Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know? A I can do a startlingly loud impression of an orangutan.
Q Favourite holiday destination?
A Greenland. Alaska. The Cairngorms. Anywhere cold.
Q What was the last book you read?
A Problems by the New York author Jade Sharma. Graphic and funny as hell.
Q If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? A Eggs. I’m 90% at this point.
Q Describe yourself as if you were a fine wine. A Intense red (head), best enjoyed in small doses.
Q Have you ever had a paranormal encounter? A I’ve had a few dates that were so bad they felt like an out of body experience.
Q What makes you happy?
A Being somewhere with no phone reception.
Q What makes you sad? A Too much internet.
Q What was the first album you ever bought? A Too shameful to admit. (S Club 7’s S Club.)
Q If you could go back to any point in history, what would it be?
A I would have loved to have been an apprentice to the early 20th Century Arctic explorer and botanist Isobel Wylie Hutchison.
Q What is the best advice you have ever received, and who did it come from?
A “They’ve got to choose somebody... make it be you.” My mum’s way of saying we all have a shot.
Q What do you do to unwind? A Take very long baths.
Q Happiest memory? A All my best memories involve sitting behind a plate of something delicious.
Q And most embarrassing?
A I once accidentally kissed a colleague square on the lips who was going in for a peck on the cheek.
Q Biggest regret?
Not being kinder.
Q Who do you admire most?
A My boyfriend, without whom I would be an unevolved shrub.
Q If you could turn back the clock what one thing would you change? A Not sucking my thumb as a child to avoid the years of braces that followed.
Q Who would you like to thank?
A A boss who believed in me many moons ago.
Q What advice would you give to your younger self? A Chill the beans.
Q What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do? A Learn from criticism.
The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way by Gabriella Bennett is available through Waterstones £12.99.