Lyn Smith has worked for over twenty years for the Imperial War Museum and has recorded a large proportion of their tapes of oral history. Lyn is also a lecturer in International Politics and International Affairs, and teaches at Regents College in London and at Webster University in St Louis, USA. She lives in Lewes, East Sussex. Her latest book is Young Voices: British Children Remember The Second World War. Mark Thwaite: What first gave you the idea for writing Young Voices Lyn? Lyn Smith: This came from the Imperial War Museum and Penguin. I had written earlier books based on original interviews, including one on the Holocaust in the Forgotten Voices (Ebury) series. I jumped at the chance, knowing the wealth of good interview material in the Sound Archive, as well as the Documents archive. MT: How long did it take you to write your book Lyn? Is this the usual frame for you? LS: About two years from start to publication. Yes, this is my usual time-frame. MT:How do you write? Longhand or directly onto a computer, straight off or with lots and lots of editing? LS: A book of this nature involves hours and hours of listening and transcribing recordings. I usually do this on a laptop, and print out far more than I actually use as one needs to have a good basis for selecting extracts that seem just right for giving the narrative. The selected pieces then go on the PC, within the relevant chapters, and are edited, re-edited until the narrative satisfies, giving the interest and the complexity of the story. I write the historical contexts initially by hand. Once on the PC, there is much editing. I maybe do five or six drafts, as they need be historically correct and useful to the reader, but very concise as the voices are the most important part. MT: How long did all the research for Young Voices take? LS: This was ongoing throughout the writing process as gaps would be revealed and attended to wherever possible from both the Sound and Document archives. Once the original selection is made, then the two – research and writing - tend to go in tandem. MT: Do you enjoy the research or are you itching to get to the actual writing? LS: Yes, listening to other interviewers recordings, and re-listening to the many recordings I have done for the museum, was interesting and often very moving – the whole gamut of experiences and emotions covered by them. I do, however, enjoy the process of fitting it all together to make an organic whole: discovering the narrative from the voices themselves and fitting this with the relevant historical context. MT: What was the most difficult aspect of writing your book Lyn? How did you overcome it? LS: This genre of book is extremely time-consuming – it was taking up my life! I always transcribe far too much, but can’t think of a short cut as one really does have to know many different accounts in order to make the best possible selection giving the complexity of wartime childhood for British children at home and overseas. But I did have other claims on my time, which gave opportunity for a break from the book and time for the old sub-conscious to work. MT: You’ve written an extraordinary history of WW11 as seen through a child’s eyes – as you yourself looked through those eyes what were you most surprised to learn? LS: Although I had done most of the interviews myself, I had not had chance to consider them as a story. Doing this made me aware of the sheer complexity of experiences, based on factors such as: age of children at the time, social class, the importance of chance and luck. Also the wisdom, maturity and tolerance of many impressed me, especially those who came under enemy occupation or were interned by the Japanese. MT: You work at the Imperial War Museum – tell us about your work there Lyn. LS: I’ve worked as a freelance interviewer now for thirty years. We interview those who have been, or are, involved in all aspects of conflict in the 20th and 21st centuries. I’ve dealt with most topics during this time and did the bulk of Holocaust interviews, still ongoing, for the Holocaust exhibition. MT: Do you read the critics? Have you been pleased with the responses to your book? Have you learned anything from them? LS: Actually I don’t get many papers, the Guardian now and then. I think the hardback was well received, but I’m waiting to hear about the paperback. The impression I gain is that few reviewers read the book thoroughly, and tend to pick on a particular aspect – in this case those older children who decided to be conscientious objectors when their call-up came as teenagers. Or else they pick on well-known names. MT: What do you do when you are not writing? LS: Interviewing for the IWM. I also lecture, part-time, for Webster University (USA) in International Politics, so have to keep abreast of current events. But I do find it easy to relax and enjoy reading, walking and music. MT: Did you have an idea in your mind of your ‘ideal’ reader? Do you write specifically for them? LS: I try to make my book accessible to the general public not a specific readership. But I did have those who would have been children in the Second World War very much in mind when writing this, trying to be as comprehensive as possible, to do justice to them all, and determined to go beyond the evacuation story – important though this was. MT: What are you working on now Lyn? LS: I am currently researching/writing a book on the anti-war movement from the First World War throughout the 20th century, until the present war with Afghanistan and Iraq. Again, it is based on interview material which has been gathered over the past thirty years, and ongoing, and it traces the continuity and changes in the movement alongside the evolving world situation. It’s extremely challenging but fascinating. MT: Who is your favourite writer? What is/are your favourite book(s)? LS: There are so many. Writers and books I have recently enjoyed would be: The Yacoubian Building by Alaa al Aswany; The Night in Question by Tobias Woolff; Persian Fire by Tom Holland; The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak; The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Anything by Justin Cartwright and many many more... MT: Do you have any tips for the aspiring writer? LS: Stick at it and don’t be disheartened by rejections. MT: Anything else you would like to say? LS: Just how satisfying it has been to receive so many supportive and appreciative letters from those who were children in the Second World War, with many saying how they had no idea of the breadth and complexity of that experience.