Alice Roberts: Archaeology can create a world for stories to unfold in

Alice Roberts has a lot on her plate: she is a biological anthropologist, an author and a broadcaster, as well as professor of public engagement in science at the University of Birmingham, UK. But she has also found time to write her first children’s book, Wolf Road. Set during the ice age 30,000 years ago, it follows the story of Tuuli, a prehistoric girl on a journey to her tribe’s summer camp who meets a strange boy on the way.

Roberts joins New Scientist culture editor Alison Flood to talk about how she found writing fiction, the research she did for the novel and why she thinks it is important for children to know more about their past. “I wanted to write about the ice age,” she says. “I wanted to immerse people in that kind of ancient environment, in that ancient time, and use archaeology to build a world that then a story could unfold in.”

Alice Roberts will be speaking at New Scientist Live in October. Tickets on sale now.