OZ LIT PROFILE #8 - William Kostakis

This weeks' profile victim is William Kostakis. William is talented, witty and a lot of fun - in his writing and in real life. He's much cleverer with words than I am so I am going to steal from his web site to introduce him. BTW when I sneaked back in to William's website to do my pilfering I discovered another hidden talent. He's a damned good poet too. Check out the blog post titled April's Poem.

But back to William and the word pilfering:

William Kostakis is the award-winning author of LOATHING LOLA, the side-splittingly funny story of Australia’s newest reality TV star, fifteen-year-old Courtney Marlow, with a love story, some mystery, betrayal, cuss words and Lola to boot. In 2005, William won Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year. If you’ve met him, he’s probably beaten you over the head with his plaque. He’s just that into himself. He's 19 and likes to think he's in way over his head...

Or read the author's description of himself in this Age article (oh I wish I could write an article like this!)

1 The last children's/YA book you read (fiction or non-fiction) James Roy's Hunting Elephants. It's not the sort of book I'd usually read, but was guilted into it because I know the author - and it was sensational.

2 If it wasn't an Oz title, then the last Oz title Proudly Australian.

3 Name one favourite book from your childhood The 3 Magic Faraway Tree books... it's a shame they've been censored though. Still trying to Ebay my way to THE uncensored originals...

4 Name one picture book that you love for the illustrations Nick Bland's The Very Cranky Bear made me chuckle.

5 What is your personal favourite among the books you have authored/illustrated Well, there's only one. Nice to see I'm not getting a set of generic questions or anything, Sandy. :-P It was a difficult choice, but how about... Loathing Lola. {Hmmm... red-faced apology from me... I was trying to be consistent... anyway I bet it's not long before the ball park changes and there are many more balls in the air}

6 What book do you wish you had written - for love or money Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett... well, anything by Terry Pratchett really, but that's one of the stand-outs. Chosen for love, but let's not act like Terry's a starving author or anything...

7 If you could be a character in a book, who (or what) would you be
Tossing up between Gandalf, super awesome in a you-shall-not-pass kind of way, and Edward Cullen, because... well, if you're stuck in a bad novel, do you notice all the grammatical errors?

8 Do you have a favourite quote - from a book or life in general! Anything.
I believe in Chloe and chocolate.I believe the best part is always before.I believe that most girls are shifty and most guys are dumb.I believe the more you spill, the less you are.I don’t believe in life after death or diuretics or happy endings.I don’t believe anything good will come of this.
- Simmone Howell, Everything Beautiful