Yulia Tseytlin

What was your favorite book as a child?

Since I learnt to read, I couldn’t get enough of it. I gulped down the books we had at home, mainly Russian classics, such as Pushkin and Lermontov. But the novel that impressed me the most was Scarlet Sails by Alexander Grin. This book imprinted on me the yearning to travel and the enchanted atmosphere of a miracle about to happen.

Do you remember the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

As a child, I wanted to become a writer: I was writing some poems and stories (stuff about aliens I believe). However, my life took another course in the direction of economics and math; creative writing had been completely forgotten until several years ago. I began writing and, by the way I got immersed in it, immediately understood that this was what I really wanted to do. However, I was in the middle of my doctorate studies, then my second child came… Only recently I was able to focus more on my dream occupation.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

Diving. Perhaps some other things I did are considered more adventurous (skydiving, for example), but my first diving experience was a miracle. After two hours on a small boat in the Great Barrier Reef, I felt sick and didn’t have any will for anything. But then I submerged into the silence and those wonderful colors, felt the warmth of the sun through the water, saw the bubbles from my breath hurry through the water layer above me to the surface, and then a turtle passed at my arm’s length… Later I did a diving course and was lucky to experience more amazing dives.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

No, I can’t concentrate on reading/writing with any music in the background. I enjoy listening to music when driving, running, or cooking, and usually sing along (when no one objects).