Author Natasha Rendell talks about her current project: the novel Imagining Jesus.
• Was it daunting to approach such a well-known personality – and one so many people worldwide have varied and often very definite ideas about?
Natasha: I have to admit that, at first, it was daunting, but I cast aside such thoughts, for it would have blocked the flow. Especially as people can be intolerant.
Then after some research, I began and let my imagination take over.
• What is one message you hope readers will take from your version of the life of Jesus?
Natasha: That he was a man who was compassionate and forgiving and tolerant of other beliefs, never having a closed mind.
I also hope that people understand it is only a novel and was never intended to insult anyone’s personal beliefs.
• How do you approach recreating the thinking of people who lived so long ago in times so different from ours?
Natasha: I first researched what the world was like at the time, at least the accounts that we have. Though I do believe that, basically, people today are the same with their behaviour (greed, jealousy, ambitions and prejudices). Issues and problems were relative to the times, as they will be when future generations look back on us.
• Did you always want to be a writer?
Natasha: When I was younger, I did, but that was put aside when life became busy with living.
• What authors have inspired you?
Natasha: That is hard to say, as I have read many books over time. Still, a few that stand out are
Ursula Le Guin. Barbara Wood, Pauline Gedge, Juliet Marillier, Wilbur Smith’s Egyptian series and The Assyrian by Nicholas Guild.
• What are you working on next?
Natasha: I am continuing my imagining series, starting with Nefertiti.
• Jesus is quite the traveller in Imagining Jesus. Have you also travelled, and if so, what were your favourite locations? What location are you eager to visit next?
Natasha: I have travelled to Australia many times, as well as the USA and Canada. Also, France, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.
I would love to visit southern Spain, particularly Seville and the Alhambra in Granada. And would very much like to revisit Greece and Egypt, along with Italy and France.
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Renwulf Author: Natasha Rendell
Natasha Rendell is currently working on her Imagining Series of novels vividly re-imagining people of history who continue to influence our thinking and our world today.
The series begins with Jesus of Nazareth and continues with Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt.
Writing that enlivens your heart, mind and soul
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[Lotus photograph by Michael Joiner on Unsplash]
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