HLN Meets: Vick Hope

Do you miss the North East?

The North East is the coolest place in the world. You get this feeling when you’re on the train and you’re crossing the river, you can see the Tyne Bridge and I just get a jolt in my stomach. It’s the best feeling in the world, it’s so exciting. That sense of being home. You step off the train and you breathe the air, and it tastes different. It’s a whole mood. I love being home, I love the vibe, I love the people. My mum and dad are in Northumberland. We grew up in Heaton and moved when I was 10 or 11 to Minsteracres in Northumberland. I did get to come back up when restrictions relaxed a bit last summer. We had a couple of really nice nights out in the garden barbecuing, it was just nice to be together.

When you can visit, what are your favourite North East haunts?

Being in Northumberland. We absolutely love walking to Derwent Reservoir, it’s a really nice walk all the way around the reservoir. It’s so stunning, especially at sunset in the winter. The light looks like something from a cartoon, it’s vivid. I could look at that view forever. We like Corbridge for a nice day out and I used to work as a cleaner at Slaley Hall so we might go for a fancy lunch there, or Matfen Hall. I also used to work as a waitress at the Punch Bowl in Edmundbyers – I worked there for ages and I got to know my bosses pretty well, so now I always go back and see them. Sometimes we get freebies too! They do great food and drink.

Your heroine in the books, Grace, is mixed race. Was it important for you to represent this group?

I remember all the insecurities I had growing up and all the ways I had to work to overcome them, and if I had seen myself represented, for example, in a book, like I have tried to do with Grace, I think I would have gained a lot of confidence. It’s not just books – it’s TV, magazines and all parts of the media where you don’t feel represented. And when you’re a kid, all you want to do is fit in and as soon as you realise you don’t, which is exacerbated by the lack of representation, you just feel a bit rubbish! You want to hide the things that make you different. I straightened my hair until the age of 27, from as soon as I was allowed to use straightening irons.

Shout Out: use your voice, save the day feels hugely timely when we’ve seen so many protests these last 12 months.

We didn’t see it coming, but last year saw a lot of uprising and our voices and the voices of younger generations were heard – whether it was Black Lives Matter or the voting in the American election changing the course of history. We want kids to think they can do anything, that they are important, they are valued and that their voices matter. We see that in the plot, they realise that by protesting, their voices together have the capacity to incite change. Our characters in Shout Out have all got different things to offer and that’s how they solve the mysteries. If we collaborate, we’re much, much stronger.

Shout Out: use your voice, save the day is out now. Click here to order from Waterstones. 

 Vick is judging this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction and the winner will be announced on 16 June 2021.

And for anyone looking for a little kids education inspo, check out Vick’s guest slots on BBC Bitesize and BBC Celebrity Supply Teacher.