His series about Alex Rider, the 14-year-old reluctant British spy, catapulted author Anthony Horowitz to international celebrity status. In a survey of teenagers' reading habits he emerged as the second most popular author, after J K Rowling - but a long way behind Heat magazine. When he visits Scotland next week, he will be speaking to one audience of hundreds of young fans - and one of 11 teenagers in a secure unit.
Q: Children will be queuing up to meet you when you come to Glasgow, so why have you decided to see fewer than a dozen at Howdenhall Secure Unit in Edinburgh?
A: I'm trying to push the boundaries and get away from the leafy suburbs. I don't expect it to be easy or pleasant, but you need both sides. I don't even know if the kids will have read any of my books but it'll make a nice change from saying the same things over and over to the same sort of kids. Of course, I may get a real slap in the face. Come back to me in two weeks.
Q: Can reading make a difference?
A: I do believe that reading, especially reading for pleasure, has a huge impact on how you grow up. Reading certainly saved me at that age. In my privileged and emotionless upbringing, books were a real lifeline. They provide you with a sort of gauge and understanding of how the world works that you can't get from elsewhere. I've visited schools where there is no proper library or active librarian and you can tell immediately. It's in the air when you walk in.
Q: Have you visited anywhere like this before?
A: Matt, the hero of the Power of Five series, starts one book in prison. He's wanted for nearly murdering someone. (In the original he actually killed a guy, but the publisher persuaded me to soften it.) I wanted to see what these places were like and visited what they call juvenile correction centres in Reno and Las Vegas. Some of these boys had done terrible things - murders, drive-by shootings - but talking to them one to one, hormonally, physically, chemically, they seemed very similar to the kids I meet every day. Just a bit sad and lost. I'd planned to do magic tricks to win them over but found I didn't need to. They live under a very strict regime and I guess it provided a bit of variation to have an English former public schoolboy visiting.
Q: How accessible is your work to children who don't read much?
A: You don't have to be clever or sophisticated to read my stuff. I still get letters from the parents of dyslexic teenagers telling me an Alex Rider book was the first thing they'd read right through. They're written for a universal audience.
Q: What are you involved in just now?
A: I'm doing a launch tour for the paperback of Snakehead, the latest Alex Rider book. In between, I'm writing Necropolis, the fourth book in the Power of Five series, and doing a five-part series for Channel 4 about a multiple vehicle pile-up. Apart from being a children's author, Horowitz is also a well-known scriptwriter.
He created Foyle's War and adapted the popular series Midsomer Murders.
Q: Are you flattered or insulted by last week's teenagers' reading poll in which he came eighth, behind Head and Bliss magazines, online computer game cheats and J K Rowling?
A: I suppose I should be happy but it's a bit depressing. There's a lot of hypocrisy about this stuff because if you asked adults to keep reading diaries then Heat magazine would be way up there on their lists, too. People are always finding ways to demonise the younger generation. They're such easy targets. I get on with them because they know I'm on their side.
- Anthony Horowitz will be signing copies of his books at Borders bookstore in Glasgow at 1pm next Tuesday, April 8.
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