As a child she wrote what she now considered “awful” stories – but the outlet of writing was a big part of her life.<\/p>\n
“It was the thing I love doing, it was creating stories and reading stories, it was fun,” added Mandanna, who lives in Norwich.<\/p>\n
“That’s what I want more than anything – for people to enjoy both the act of creating, and enjoying reading books.<\/p>\n
“It’s very easy to lose that sense of wonder and imagination.<\/p>\n
“I think we often, as adults, make the mistake of telling children certain books are the ‘right’ kinds of book to read, and some books aren’t ‘proper’ books. <\/p>\n
“Any reading is good reading, any book you enjoy is the most important part.”<\/p>\n
Mandanna said The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches in 2022 and The Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping, released in July, were “by far and away” her most popular books, having seen her first published 13 years ago.<\/p>\n
“It’s astonishing,” she added.<\/p>\n
“A large part of that is Instagram and BookTok and people discovering books in different ways. <\/p>\n
“You can’t really plan what’s going to be popular, it’s organic.”<\/p>\n