The author of the much-loved children’s book Skellig, who is appearing this month at The Tablet Literary Festival, talks to Joanna Moorhead about what inspires his work A trinity of values suffuses David Almond’s writing, makes it distinctive, allows it to breathe. One is his rich north-eastern heritage; another is his family, which has battled bravely with catastrophe and loss; the third is the colourful and visceral Catholicism of his childhood. But the irony is that for many years Almond beavered away at his typewriter without reference to his roots or to his relatives, still less the faith in which he was raised. It was only when he finally let them on to the page that his literary fortunes changed: he wrote his massively successful children’s bestseller, Skellig, w