A Q&A interview with Will Hamilton-Davies

Bristol-based Will Hamilton-Davies is a poet and now author of picture book The Mole and the Mound (and the House Underground) illustrated by Kasia Fryza, published by Post Wave Children’s Books. It’s a funny story about empathy, kindness and the importance of not judging on appearances. Will answers our questions about his book here.

Can you tell us how the idea for The Mole and the Mound came about?

I’d hope the origin story for The Mole and the Mound will be relatable for many creatives: when I realised how enjoyable I found writing children’s picture books, I spent countless hours writing and visiting bookshops and reading with my younger siblings.

I felt very much like I was deep underground, working away on something important and special but something mostly invisible for the people around me! And that’s when it clicked…

I was just like Mole from The Mole And The Mound, digging a magnificent underground shelter for him and his friends – Bird, Beaver and Bee – but all they can see is an ordinary, unimpressive mound; only in this story, a storm WOOSHES in and helps the other animals realise just how special Mole’s hidden creation is.

You are a poet as well as a picture book author. Aside from the fact that you write in rhyme, how does being a poet feed into your picture book writing?

For me, poetry is all about analogies to help me understand a thought or a concept. The line between a future book or a simple poem is a bit of a grey area, as many poems sprout into books at a later date

I tend to find my brain takes the scenic route to understanding the world – and this means thinking about one thing through its relationship to something else – which often feels poetic and rhythmic and story-like. It just so happens that this way of thinking applies well to picture books and to helping young people also understand the world, and that makes me feel so utterly privileged to get to do what I do! 😊

You self-published a successful picture book before The Mole and the Mound was acquired by Post Wave. What do you enjoy about working with the team there? How does traditional publishing compare to self-publishing?

Wow – a BIG question, really.

Well, in self-publishing you kind of have to work off the assumption that you – as the publisher – know NOTHING, you – as the publisher – will have to do EVERYTHING, and if you – as the publisher – want what you create to be good then you’ll have to assume the WORST until you have evidence to figure out what GOOD looks like. It’s really a case of knocking on EVERY door you can think to knock on, questioning if what’s behind each door is something useful or something disguised as something useful, then taking your best educated guess as to whether you should keep knocking on that door, walk through it if it opens, or move onto another one you’ve potentially not even found yet. If it sounds like a confusing or anxiety inducing process, it is! But you figure out lots of stuff about publishing along the way!

So, meeting the Post Wave Children’s Books team, I immediately knew I was working with a first-class team of Editors, Designers, Foreign Rights, Sales, Publicity and Marketing professionals – almost all of which have HEAPS of experience working across the international publishing landscape – so I found (and continue to find) great joy in listening to their expertise, understanding what good looks like for them, and feeling like we have a whole group of people kicking down doors they KNOW exist, and asking better questions of what’s on the other side.

I can’t lie: I’ll always want to take the initiative to make a book the GREAT experience it can be for young people, but feeling like I’m working with other people that also want that and know better than me in certain places is inspiring.

Do you have favourite picture book texts and what marks out the best picture books in your opinion?

I Talk Like A River, This Is Not My Hat, The Bear And The Piano, The Suitcase … I enjoy lots of picture books but very few make the shortlist for what I think is superb. For me, the best picture books feel familiar and comfortable and homely, yet push us to consider the world in a way that is challenging or imaginative or inspiring. They have an indescribable magic to them, and feel well intended for young people that are learning how to simultaneously shape and process the world around them.

Do you test your texts out on children before you publish?

I suppose so! When I read my work, I’m speaking to my inner child and to the memories of how my younger brother and sisters were when they were 4/5/6. Very few texts feel like they are written for me, but more the child I was, or the children my siblings were, the class I’ve read to during an author visit or the child I’ve seen but perhaps not quite connected with or understood, or even the parent or friend that’s told me something about parenting or education or youth development that’s stirred my mind. I think about all of these people before I share an idea with my agent or a publisher.

Are there more picture books from you to look forward to?

My next book with Post Wave Children’s Books comes out in Spring 2027 and will have a similar rhyming style to The Mole and the Mound and be called The Shrew with The Flu – it will be MESSY and CHAOTIC and FUN, but full of morality and kindness and understanding.

The Mole and the Mound (and the House Underground), by Will Hamilton-Davies, illustrated by Kasia Fryza, is published by Post Wave Children’s Books, 978-1836271215, £7.99 pbk.