Tui T. Sutherland

"Listen, my books are about dragons and vampires and puppies and bad-tempered unicorns, because I like all those things and I want to write funny, happy books. But one of the biggest reasons I write at all is to get inside someone else's head. I think everyone is at the center of their own story, and I always wonder about how other people see the world... how two people might experience the same event in completely different ways. [...] [I]t shouldn't be surprising that I put a lot of faith in the power of storytelling to shape our own real-life character."

"I feel so lucky that these amazing readers have connected with my books - and they are amazing; the kids I've talked to are the sweetest, smartest, most thoughtful people, and it gives me so much hope for the future. Especially since so many of them are storytellers and artists, too! Maybe that's the unexpected response I'm proudest of, that there are so many incredibly creative young people who want to come play in my dragon world. I hope it inspires them to create their own hopeful, compassionate stories and a more hopeful, compassionate real world."

"I’ve always loved kids’ books, because I feel like children are the most interesting audience and the one you can affect the most. I remember the books I read when I was 10, 11, and 12, and I feel like they shaped me and my view of the world, and the kind of person I wanted to be. It’s such a wonderful field to work in. I’m interested in joyful and hopeful stories. There’s a lot of dark, crazy things that happen in the dragon books, but the kind of thing I’m always trying to head toward is that idea of hope and agency, that no matter who you are you can control your own destiny. I want kids to feel that coming out of these books."