4. Joanne Harris is a versatile novelist who has written acclaimed novels in diverse genres. Visit the author’s website (http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/books/) and select another title in a different genre to read. Compare and contrast which themes the book has in common with Different Class. Discuss the writing style. Which do you prefer?

A Conversation with Joanne Harris

What are you working on next?

A collection of illustrated stories for adults, called Honeycomb, and a sequel to my Norse myth–based fantasy novel, The Gospel of Loki.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about yourself while writing Different Class?

Two things. One: how very close I still feel to the teacher I was fifteen years ago; and two: how much of my high school Latin I still remember.

Let’s talk movies. You’ve already had one novel, Chocolat, made into an Oscar-nominated film, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Deep. If you could cast Different Class, who would play the lead roles?

Roger Allam as Straitley; Jude Law as Harrington; Christina Hendricks as Ms. Buckfast.

You have written acclaimed novels in several different genres. Which genre do you enjoy writing the most? Which is the easiest? Which is the hardest?

I don’t think of genres when I’m writing. Instead, I think of my books as explorations of a number of common themes, viewed in a number of different ways. Some characters and themes are darker, and therefore more challenging to write than others, but generally I find that all my books have their tricky parts—especially around page 150, where I often have a period of uncertainty. Even now, after so many books, I never take things for granted.

You were a teacher for fifteen years and you dedicated the novel to your Brodie Boys. How much does your teaching experience influence your writing?

Inevitably, a lot of what I experienced as a teacher reappeared in various forms in my books. Schools are fascinating communities, in which almost anything is possible. My teaching career saw every possible permutation of tragedy, farce, and what lies in between. . . .

What are you currently reading?

I’m rereading Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon, in preparation for writing the introduction to the new reissue of the novel next year.

Are you planning on returning to the halls of St. Oswald’s and to Roy Straitley?

I think so, yes. I’m very fond of Roy, and I think he has a few stories left in him yet. . . .

You’ve been quoted as saying one of your hobbies is the “quiet subversion of the system.” What do you mean by that? How has your writing allowed you to accomplish this?

I think all good writing is subversive. Stories should make people think; should provoke; should challenge ideas and assumptions. Stories are safe spaces to explore the things that make us the most uncomfortable; places in which to face our fears (and sometimes overcome them).