Q&A with Louie Stowell

Loki is officially published and children are loving this trickster god being sent to Earth to live out his punishment as a weak human boy! We are so excited to share a recent Q&A with Louie Stowell, all about Loki!

Loki’s journal writes back to him, often with hilarious and witty remarks and critiques of Loki. Does comedic writing come naturally to you or is it a skill you’ve really had to work on?

I think life is fundamentally ridiculous, so essentially comedy is just documentary. But it’s definitely taken a while to work out how to make sure my jokes were pitched in the right way for children – I started off with a tendency to use too many references that children wouldn’t get.

What impact do you hope this book will have on children?

I’d love for this book to make them question the world around them more and challenge assumptions. I also hope it will help more of them keep going with their drawing, given I’m doing it professionally and my drawings are super scribbly.

What required more time and effort, the writing or the illustrating?

The illustrating. SO much longer. Come back writing, all is forgiven! You were so quick!

Could you share one interesting fact about Norse mythology?

There’s a giant in the myths who rides a giant wolf with snakes for reins. I liked her so much I stole her for my book, although she only appears in one story that I know of, set at a funeral.

https://lokibooks.com/

The link above will take you to Loki books website where you will find further details and activity sheets to use alongside the book. Teachers notes are also available from https://dam.walker.co.uk/dam.aspx?p=downloadasset&s=341d3a93-2d54-4baa-b730-eaf4f41e6519&assetversionid=2290729&key=a18aa29625&damloggedin=1&filename=Loki+Teachers