Interview with Hannah Tunnicliffe, author of Season of Salt and Honey

Today, Hannah Tunnicliffe takes some time to answer some questions and let you readers know about another opportunity to win A SEASON OF SALT AND HONEY!

Let’s head right to that interview, shall we?

Interview with Hannah Tunnicliffe:

Hannah, the lovely Mia March praised SSH in an incredibly nice blurb. How does it feel to see fellow authors talking about your book?

Is it too short an answer to reply – “Awesome!”?

It feels wonderful to have the praise and support of fellow authors. Writing is an incredible vocation but it can feel lonely at times. Fellow authors really understand the endurance and passion involved and the feeling of vulnerability you experience when your book is ‘out there’ in the world. To have positive feedback from Mia March and other authors for Season of Salt and Honey gives me huge encouragement.

How involved were you with the cover of SSH?

Traditionally, authors aren’t very involved with cover design, as it is not our area of expertise! However, I adore a well-designed cover, and the team at Touchstone, Simon & Schuster were kind enough to consider my suggestions. For the cover of Season of Salt and Honey we trialed a color scheme that was more similar to the color scheme used for the Australian publication of the book but eventually went back to the original colors. The sunny, golden tones give a hint of the Mediterranean.

Can you tell us about your social media approach – have you been able to interact with readers of SSH?

Because I co-author a blog – http://www.forkandfiction.com – which explores my love of food and books – I have always been pretty active on social media. I think you can tell when an author or business owner genuinely enjoys social media and I love it; probably because of the isolated aspect of my work that I described above. Hearing from readers through the blog or my personal website is a real thrill and interacting with people on Instagram or Facebook makes my day. I am just about to launch an Instagram competition at my account – @forkandfiction – for those who fancy winning a copy of Season of Salt and Honey plus other lovely goodies and I regularly play a game of trying to find a cabin that looks like the one featured in the book with this hashtag – #frankiescabin. Come over and play!

Tell the readers of Traveling With T what a writing day is like for you?

I have two young children so I write three days a week and look after them on the other days. On my work days I have childcare that allows me to get out of the house around 9.30am, head to a café, procrastinate, eat, write, email, check Facebook and Instagram, procrastinate and eat some more, do a few chores, and then get home by 5pm. Thankfully I have a great local café that tolerates me using a little corner as my personal office space!

Let’s talk recipes – were any of the recipes family recipes?

Great question and the short answer is no, none of the recipes features in Season of Salt and Honey are personal family recipes. However, I did a lot of research on traditional Sicilian recipes including interviewing Italian-North American friends, reading a ton of cookbooks and testing many, many recipes. So, now, many of the recipes have become family recipes! The favourites that are currently on regular rotation in our household are the Spring Risotto and Banana bread recipes.

What’s next? Book tour? Writing a new book?

Always, always writing a new book!