Lauren on a Born Free dolphin rescue in Turkey.
Brought up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Lauren is an award-winning author for children and teenagers and an ambassador for the Born Free Foundation. Her upbringing on a farm close to a ‘game’ reserve, described in her memoir, Rainbow’s End, brought her close to iconic wild animals such as lions, elephants, leopards and giraffes. These early experiences have inspired her highly-acclaimed The White Giraffe and the series that follows, which combine thrilling adventures with a focus on the very real threats facing African wild animals. Lauren won a Blue Peter award with Dead Man’s Cove, the first of her Laura Marlin mystery series, and more recently has published horse stories including One Dollar Horse and her latest title, Finding Wonder. Find out more on Lauren’s website.
Linda: Your upbringing has given you wonderful experiences and insights to draw on in your books for young readers; I especially like the way Martine, newly-arrived, falls under the spell of the smells, sights and sounds of the African landscape, and of course the animals. How and when did you form the idea of writing The White Giraffe? Did you decide at once on the magical realism element of this and the stories that follow – Martine’s special gift and the sense that she is destined to save animals?
Lauren: The idea for The White Giraffe came to me completely out of the blue when I was walking through Greenwich in London, on my way to do Christmas shopping. An image of a girl riding a giraffe popped into my mind, instantly followed by the girl’s name: Martine. When I was growing up on a farm and game reserve in Africa, we actually had a pet giraffe called Jenny. I thought: Wouldn’t it be the coolest thing on earth if you could actually ride a giraffe? The whole story sort of poured into my mind. When I got home, I actually wrote it down and thought that one day I might write a book about it. When I was a child, my family were always rescuing and saving animals. One of the gifts I wanted most was the ability to heal animals from pain and suffering. I knew from the start that I wanted Martine to have that gift and that it would be her destiny.
Linda: On the Rhodesian farm of your childhood, you were encouraged to hunt wild animals and to see this as the norm, yet you turned against it (in a memorable episode in Rainbow’s End). At the time, was that seen as rebellious? Did you try to influence others to reject hunting?
Lauren: I only ever went out with my dad and a couple of other hunters once. In Zimbabwe, as in many other countries in the world, it’s seen as the norm and was always painted as something exciting. We’d only recently moved from a city suburb to the farm. The farmer’s son, who was about a year older than me (around nine), went along with the hunting party, so I went too. That night, I saw the reality of hunting in a way that has stayed with me all my life. This magnificent kudu, one of my favourite animals in the world, such a majestic, innocent, sacred being, went from being vividly alive to empty of life in the split second it took for one of the party to fire a shot. That was the last time I ever went with them.
In a strange way, I’m glad I saw it for myself and at such a young age. It made me determined to fight for animals in every way available to me. I began to do that pretty much straight away. When the owner of the farm refused to take his injured horse to the vet, and my dad insisted (possibly correctly) that it could be treated on the farm, I phoned the vet myself, aged about nine, and begged him to come to the farm and help the horse. Understandably, he wouldn’t come without the permission of the owner. From then on, I was determined to become a vet so that I could help animals on my own. I filled a wooden trunk with any veterinary supplies I could get my hands on and treated any animal I could. My proudest moment from living on that farm was saving a racehorse from colic. His name was Hemite. I recognised the symptoms from something I’d read in an Enid Blyton book!
Linda: I like the fact that in several of your stories the main characters, e.g. Roo and her aunt Joni in Finding Wonder, are vegetarian, something you mention without drawing attention to it. (I think this is very important in fiction, helping to shift from the idea of meat-eating as the expected norm.) When did you become vegetarian yourself? Like most of us, you were brought up to eat meat – was there anything in particular that compelled you to change?
Lauren: Incredibly, my junior school took us to a slaughterhouse as a school outing when I was about 11. It was beyond horrific. That’s another experience that never left me. I didn’t eat any meat at all for ages after that, but it was difficult to become entirely vegetarian then because I was at boarding school from when I was seven until I was 15. They were government boarding schools, not posh ones, and the choice was extremely limited. I ended up eating piles of bread. I stopped eating meat entirely when I was about 22 because I was living in the UK by then and it was possible for me to make that choice. My book characters are purely fictional, obviously, but I always make the main character or two main characters, vegetarian. It’s incredibly important to me.
Linda: The Last Leopard includes an episode of ‘canned hunting’ (releasing a captured wild animal into an enclosure to be shot by someone who’s paid for the experience), horrifying Martine and her friend Ben. On social media we often see gut-wrenching photographs of people posing with wild animals they’ve killed – lions, zebras, bears, giraffes etc – and obviously feeling very proud of themselves. Sometimes it’s argued that trophy hunting (not necessarily canned hunting) has a conservation value, protecting habitats for many animals while allowing a few to be shot. What’s your view on this? Would you like to see laws strengthened, e.g. about the import of animal parts as trophies?
Lauren: Trophy hunters across the world like to position themselves as saviours of the wild to justify killing and maiming rare and precious creatures. However, in Africa statistics consistently prove that keystone species such as elephants, leopards and lions are worth considerably more alive – in terms of tourism, biodiversity and a thousand other things – than they are dead.
Since trophy hunting, by definition, is largely about ego, money, power and social media posturing, the hunters tend to want the special creatures – the elephants with the longest tusks, or the biggest lions or lionesses. If they kill the oldest elephants, they eradicate the experience that is critical for the survival of the herd. With all wild animals, survival knowledge is passed down. If they eradicate the biggest lions and lionesses, then frequently the remaining mate is not able to raise the cubs to adulthood because they can’t both hunt for food and keep them safe.
New laws are desperately needed to ban the import of animal trophies, but what is more desperately needed is the political will and police numbers to actually enforce even the existing laws. Look at fox and stag hunting in the UK, for instance. Theoretically banned, yet hunts across the country are killing and mutilating foxes and stags with impunity.
Linda: I absolutely agree about that, Lauren - hunts continue to commit wildlife crime, often in plain view. I hope we'll see an effective ban introduced to the UK in 2025.
Linda: You've mentioned you wish to help animals as a child, and that you usually had a collection of animals you were nurturing; your first job was as animal nurse at a vet’s. Was there a time when you seemed more likely to become a vet than a writer?
Lauren: I would have loved to be a vet but my high school wouldn’t allow me to take Physics and Chemistry, an essential entry requirement for veterinary school. I’m also hopeless at maths, so I’m not sure I’d have made the grade anyway. I did spend a year working as a veterinary nurse in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and that helped enormously when I came to write Kat Wolfe Investigates, because Kat’s mum is a vet. I think everything worked out for the best. I love writing so much.
Linda: I’m intrigued to read that your career as an author began with writing about golf and music (which seems an unusual combination!) How did that come about, and what prompted the change to writing for children?
Lauren: I left school when I was 16 and, as I've mentioned, started working as a trainee veterinary nurse when I was 17 in the UK. A year later, I returned to Zimbabwe and studied journalism. I got into golf while I was at college. After I graduated, I decided I wanted to be a sportswriter. Somehow, I ended up becoming The Sunday Times’ golf correspondent and following the men’s golf tour around the world for a few years. I’ve always been hugely into music, so when I left the tour, I spent a couple of years in and around Nashville and wrote a couple of books about American music. I had the best time, but I always longed to write fiction. I made a few attempts to write a novel, but they didn’t really work. The first idea I ever truly believed in was The White Giraffe. It was hard finding a publisher who felt the same way. It was rejected by numerous publishers over the course of nearly two years before it was published.
Linda: In your horse stories you combine elements of the traditional pony story with awareness of the exploitation of horses for money, selective breeding and competition success – Finding Wonder, another page-turning adventure, in some ways subverts reader expectations (no spoilers). Did your research for this story reveal elements of the ‘horse world’ that made you uneasy about the treatment of horses, and in particular of those that don’t make the grade?
Lauren: I’m a huge advocate of natural horsemanship and I’m deeply uneasy about many aspects of horse racing, showjumping and eventing, as well as the way some ordinary individuals treat their horses. Across the world, horses get a raw deal in millions of ways. At the same time, within all of those fields, there are many people who care passionately about the welfare, wellbeing and happiness of their horses. I don’t agree with all aspects of Monty Roberts’ methods, but I do think that Roberts began a conversation about horsemanship that has helped countless horses. In my writing, I try to reflect both sides of that and attempt to show small ways that might help make horses’ lives better.
Lauren with an orphaned rhinoceros in Zimbabwe, researching her book Operation Rhino.
Linda: Can you tell us about your role as ambassador for the Born Free Foundation?
Lauren: Working with Born Free is an honour and a joy. I’ve been with them on two major rescues. One involved relocating three leopards from a zoo in Cyprus to Born Free’s sanctuary in Shamwari. The other was to rescue two dolphins from a bankrupt dolphinarium in Turkey. Both rescues had a profound impact on me. It’s been amazing to witness their work firsthand over the years. Because so many of my books have conservation or animals as themes, we often work together on campaigns or projects. I’m doing a special World Book Day event with them in 2026.
Linda: You’re also a patron of Mane Chance, a sanctuary and charity founded by the actor Jenny Seagrove. How did you become involved, and what do you admire about its aims?
Lauren: Jenny Seagrove is a patron of Born Free, so we’d met a few times over the years. When I was writing my One Dollar Horse series, she asked me to give a talk at Mane Chance’s annual Christmas dinner. After that, she kindly invited me to be a patron, a huge honour. Mane Chance is the most incredible sanctuary. The way they transform traumatised and desperate horses, and give them happy, carefree lives, while at the same time helping those horses to help troubled young people, is truly inspirational.
Lauren with her childhood horse, Morning Star.
Linda: You started the campaigning organisation Authors for Oceans (of which I’m a supporter). What inspired this, and how did you set about starting up a campaign of your own?
Lauren: I was inspired to start Authors4Oceans after I ordered a soft drink in a book shop and it arrived with a plastic straw in it. Two things struck me. One was that, although I spent a lot of time talking to children about conservation, I hadn’t really considered the impact of the book industry – from book store cafes to book covers – on the plastic crisis worldwide. The second was that every single children’s author and illustrator I knew, yourself included, was extremely committed to saving our planet. I thought that if I contacted everyone we could maybe make a difference. It was astonishing how Authors4Oceans took off and how many publishers and bookstores changed their policy around plastic because of the campaign.
Lauren with a giraffe at a Harare sanctuary, Wild is Life.
Linda: I assume that as a highly-regarded author for children, you have many chances to talk to young people in schools and at festivals. Do you see this as an important part of your campaigning work?
Lauren: One of the best things about writing for young people is that children are so open-hearted. I enjoy visiting schools and going to festivals and seeing how fired up children are about saving our planet and about being better stewards of our earth than previous generations have been. I have high hopes for young people growing up now.
Linda: You’ve had the chance to see many magnificent animals in the wild. What would you say is one of your most memorable encounters?
Lauren: I feel incredibly fortunate to have seen some of the rarest and most special creatures on Earth in the wild. One of my favourite experiences ever was at a tented camp close to a huge waterhole in Hwange Game Reserve in Zimbabwe. Soon after I arrived, one of the guides came to say that four young bull elephants were close to the hide. We went into an underground hide and came up almost at their feet. I could see them silhouetted above me against the twilight sky. It was totally silent, and I could hear them breathing and drinking water. The entire time, they were affectionately wrapping their trunks around one another. At one point, they stopped and the four of them just leaned together and breathed. It was a bonding ritual. It was an unforgettable, almost spiritual moment and one that will stay with me all my life.
Linda: I know that your own companion animals are very important to you. Can you introduce them to us?
Lauren: Ever since I was a child, my animals have been my best friends. I adore my human friends, obviously, but the bond I’ve had with my closest companion animals over the years, starting with my Siamese kitten, Kim, when I was seven, has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. As a child, my Siamese Kim, my dog Tiger and my horses, Morning Star and Cassandra, brought my so much love and happiness.
Since I became a writer at 20, my cats have been just amazing, loving company. I adore my job, but as you know writing can be quite isolating at times, and it’s so incredible to have a cat on my desk all day and every day. My beloved rescue Bengal, Max, passed away last year at 17, after spending 15 years by my side. Now I have Skye, who is an Ocicat, and Teddy, another Bengal. They’re both very affectionate, but Skye sort of appointed herself as Max’s replacement. She’s incredibly sweet and loyal and follows me around the house like a shadow all day, every day.
Linda: Finally: anyone campaigning for animals and the environment has to find a balance between despair and optimism. How do you keep yourself motivated?
Lauren: I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time working with two of my animal heroes, Virginia McKenna and Jenny Seagrove. They had to bear witness to some of the worst examples of cruelty and destruction to nature and animals over the years, and yet they’ve remained hopeful and passionate throughout. They’ve inspired me to try to be the same way. The fight to save animals and nature is too important to give up on. Every single life – from the tiniest bee, ladybird, hedgehog and dunnock, to the largest whale or elephant is worth saving. Virginia McKenna believes passionately that every individual creature matters. I believe that too.
Linda: Thanks, Lauren, for sharing your views and experiences. I'm very envious of that elephant encounter! I hope you'll go on inspiring young readers, and adults too, for a long time to come.
