KRISTEN CICCARELLI

Meet the forMer ceraMic artist behind Ya fantasY The LasT Namsara

Tell us about your protagonist Asha. What’s her story?

As a child, Asha told a forbidden story that summoned a dragon who brought death and destruction to her city. Now she’s a dragon hunter trying to make amends for her crime. She’s not exactly a nice person. But what she lacks in kindness, she makes up for in bravery and ambition.

What’s the role of dragons in this world?

In Asha’s world, dragons are betrayers. Once allies of Asha’s people, they’re now bitter enemies who have one weakness: they can’t help but be lured by stories. Unfortunately, these stories are also a strength, since they enable dragons to breathe fire.

How long did The Last Namsara take to write?

I’ve been working on it for over a decade (though I wrote other things in between) and started over from scratch several times. There have been three very different incarnations, as well as dozens of drafts. I finished the first version when I was 24, knew it wasn’t good enough and that I wasn’t a strong enough writer yet to make it good enough, set it aside, wrote other (trunked) novels, and came back to it. So it’s evolved a lot!

Which authors would you be happy to be compared to in a dream review?

Robin McKinley, Kristin Cashore and Garth Nix.

The Last Namsara is published on 5 October.