Geraldine McCaughrean: Hello, my name is Geraldine McCaughrean, though people are so banjaxed by that that I answer to anything: rover, hey you, mummy. Anything. I blame my husband. It's his name. Well, not the Geraldine part, obviously. McCaughrean is Irish. My husband isn't, he's from Liverpool. It's just that at one time in history about half the Irish population moved to Liverpool and the other half to America. It's really rare, so distant relations like Uncle George in Illinois can easily track down other McCaughreans.

I was a Jones before I married. Geraldine Jones. I couldn't wait to get rid of boring, old, commonplace Jones. But I'm not sure it was the smartest move. The name thing I mean, not marrying my husband. If I had my time over, I'd choose myself a really irresistible nom de plume. Everyone should have a nom de plume. You should. Make it short so you can sign lots of books really quickly and so that it can be printed big on the cover and spine. And make it easily pronounceable and, of course, memorable. So that when people love your books, as of course they will when you've written any, they'll know exactly who to ask for in their local library. In the meantime, remember to look for the name Geraldine McCaughrean next time you're there, won't you, please?