Zizou Corder

In a house in Shepherd’s Bush, a novelist mum, a teenager and a host of fictional characters jostle for attention. Alistair Duncan meets bestselling writing partnership, Zizou Corder

Above: Isabel & Louisa Young

A few years ago Louisa Young, the elder half of the Shepherd’s Bush-based mother-and-daughter writing duo Zizou Corder, was summoned to a Hollywood studio. Inside a giant hanger dedicated to film-making she was introduced to a small, sharp-eyed man. ‘He was about this tall,’ she recalls, jutting out her hand to waist height. ‘And then – perhaps because I was in his studio – I suddenly thought: ‘Oh my God, you made all those films!’’’ It was Steven Spielberg.

Following the huge global success of Zizou Corder’s Lionboy trilogy, which chronicled the epic adventures of Charlie Ashanti, a circus boy who can speak the language of cats, American movie moguls had come sniffing. In the end Spielberg didn’t take up an option (the film rights are now the property of Warner Brothers) but it was a powerful confirmation of how far Louisa and her co-author and daughter, Isabel, had come since they began dreaming up fictional adventures together when Isabel was three years-old.

When I ask about the genesis of Zizou Corder (the joint nom de plume is partly due to the fact that Louisa once had a lizard called Zizu), Louisa provides a pithily succinct summary: ‘Bedtime stories. Knackered mum. Kid is full of beans. Yes, all right I will give you a story. You must tell me what it’s about. She gives me the ideas and I develop them. Then, we start writing them down.’  The resulting Lionboy book proved a massive bestseller and was translated into 36 languages. Isabel is now 15 and the duo’s latest novel, Lee Raven: Boy Thief, has just been published. Set in a futuristic London, it tells the story of a mischievous street urchin who finds himself in trouble after stealing a book with magical qualities. It hasn’t yet become the subject of a fierce Hollywood bidding war but, sitting opposite the authors in a Lebanese café in Shepherd’s Bush, I can’t help wondering whether they were tempted to incorporate elements that might make the story irresistible for adaptation. After all, the fortunes of writers are transformed when Hollywood comes knocking.

‘Some people do work that way,’ nods Louisa. ‘If I could, I might, but I’m just not that efficient. We have met writers who say: “we’re going to reel the filmmakers in with this ploy,”’ adds Isabel, who is a remarkably eloquent teenager. ‘It’s a different way of writing.   But it’s not our way.’ So what is their way? It’s certainly not a typical one. The fact that Louisa, a seasoned novelist who has written several books for adults, and her daughter collaborate at all makes it unique. In a previous newspaper article Louisa acknowledged that the media was initially dubious about Zizou Corder, suggesting that either Isabel ‘dictates the books’ and that Louisa is ‘a mere stenographer’ or that Isabel was ‘a marketing device dreamt up by an evil mother desperate for press attention’. 

As it turns out, the reality is much more simple. Louisa is the professional writer and she spends her days slaving away behind the computer while Isabel goes to school. Their collaboration happens when they casually chat about the stories in the evenings and at weekends: how a character should develop, what language is appropriate, where a narrative should go and so on. ‘Basically, I always tell mum when she’s getting it wrong,’ laughs Isabel. And what about artistic differences – who usually wins the arguments? Louisa pokes a finger at Isabel, who smiles angelically. ‘I’m a very talented debater! But generally we work well as a team. It doesn’t come to fisticuffs.’

Louisa and Isabel are both West Londoners born and bred. Louisa grew up in Notting Hill, an area which she now candidly describes as ‘a swanky hotel for people who stay for five minutes…’, while Isabel has lived with her mother in Shepherd’s Bush all her life. ‘I love the variety of languages and cultures here,’ Isabel enthuses. ‘You go to some parts of London and it’s just not that diverse.’ ‘Actually, I think the key reason we still live in Shepherd’s Bush is the food,’ Louisa tells me. ‘For example, we’ve got this wonderful Syrian grocer at the end of our road called Damas Gate. They sell pomegranates, spices, fresh, hot falafel, fantastic sweets and cakes and loads of nuts and baklava. The other day someone was describing the neighbourhood and used the phrase ‘resolutely ungentrifiable’. I love that. That’s what Shepherd’s Bush is.’

Given their extraordinary success, I ask Louisa if she has any good tips for aspiring children’s writers. ‘The main reason that people don’t write is that they don’t read. The only way to know how to write is through reading – and then by getting the words down on paper.’ 

Lee Raven: Boy Thief is published by Puffin (£6.99)