Like fingerprints, no two brains are exactly the same. Nottingham author Nick Emm's new book for young readers, Jude and the First of the Nine, is a fantastically realised tale that celebrates all the different ways in which we think. We sat down with the man himself to hear about his journey...
Hi Nick, lovely to chat! Your new chapter book aimed at young readers, Jude and the First of the Nine, opens with its titular hero waking up in a morgue with an alien reading the tag on his foot. Which, I have to say, is a heck of a beginning. Does your writing tend towards the imaginative?
The main character waking in a morgue is a metaphor for the rebirth that many neurodiverse people experience, especially those who have suffered a brain injury. Neurodiverse people tend to spend a lot of time in their heads. We create other worlds which we escape to. I am no exception, and they’re called ‘maladaptive daydreams’ by the neurotypicals who define and label us. They warn of the addictive nature of such daydreams, without acknowledging that we have no control over them, and why would we want to control them? For me they are magical places, and I write within them. I visit the worlds I imagine, and thankfully, they do tend to be fantastical and magical.
I notice that Jude and the First of the Nine is dedicated to neurodiverse readers, and as you say, you identify as a neurodiverse writer. What was your journey to describing yourself as such?
I contracted encephalitis when I was four in 1962. Which, against the prognosis, I survived. Nothing was known of autism back then, but I knew I was different from my peers. My disruptive behavioural patterns at home and school, coupled with my inability to focus on anything for a sustained period of time, and the juvenile epilepsy I suffered, defined me. I was a troublemaker, ‘thick’, or just a bad kid in the eyes of the adults unfortunate enough to have to deal with me.
In June 2022, I finally received the enlightenment I had spent 61 years searching for, when I reached out for support to the Encephalitis Society. I am a neurodiverse writer. Sixty one years of confusion followed by eighteen months of clarity has been my journey to describing myself thus.
I am a neurodiverse writer. Sixty one years of confusion followed by eighteen months of clarity has been my journey
There are several (fantastic) verse sections in Jude, and we’ve seen you perform one or two live! What do you make of Nottingham’s poetry scene?
I’m almost lost for words as to how best describe my feelings about Nottingham’s vibrant poetry scene. I had to really break free of my comfort zone to venture out one cold rainy night to attend the ‘Free Your Mind’ open mic at the King Billy, but the reception I received was like I had come home.
I was in a room with like minded people, a tribe of people who were there to express their souls through poetry. I felt everyone’s energy, it was tangible. The atmosphere was so warm, accepting and friendly, and I felt the same when I attended Notts Poetry open mic nights. The Nottingham poetry scene is simply magical.
I knew I was different from my peers...I was a troublemaker, in the eyes of the adults unfortunate enough to have to deal with me.
We heard rumour that you’ve written scripts before, what was the story there?
My computer is littered with partially completed writing projects. There are film and television scripts, short stories, treatments and outlines, just gathering dust. One script in particular The Green, White And Gold Canaries is about three young Irish women who travel from Dublin to Long Eaton to stay with their aunt in 1916 to escape the ‘troubles’. They all work at the munitions factory newly built by Viscount Chetwynd at Chilwell.
It is a story of life, love, death and tremendous courage spanning 1916 to 1918. I completed it as a film script about eighhteen years ago, deciding fairly recently to revisit it as a novel…
Do you have any recommendations for neurodiverse creatives, or people who think they might fit into this category but aren’t sure yet?
My only advice would be to just continue being ‘you’. The authentic you. There is no such thing as being a little bit neurodiverse. If you have ADHD you’ll know it, because behind closed doors, your world will be chaos. So with no apology: hyper focus, keep creating, and most importantly, be the authentic you.
Nick Emm's book 'Jude & The First of The Nine' is available to buy online
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