Maz Evans Interview with our Polka GRADS

Two of our Polka Grads sat down with Maz Evans, author of Who Let The Gods Out, to talk all about the book and the musical! 

Elijah: How did it feel to create a book like Who Let the Gods Out?

Maz: So, I actually first wrote it many years ago. I wrote it 17 years ago, I had three very little ones in 2009. And babies are miraculous; they are nature’s greatest gift, quite boring sometimes. So, I needed to do something to use my brain. So, I just started to write this sort of strange book about the boy who goes on adventures with the gods of Greek mythology. And I thought it was brilliant. Frankly thought I’d absolutely nailed it. Didn’t feel the need to edit it or, you know, check the spelling,  I just nailed it. Publishing didn’t agree with me. So, it went away for a very long time and then was eventually published in 2017. So, it’s had a long, long journey. And then, of course, this latest very exciting chapter here at Polka. So, it’s been an odyssey of its own.

Elijah: I really enjoyed the play on words of the title like “Who Let The Gods Out” and “Beyond the Odyssey”. What inspired you to use the play on words for that?

Maz: It was actually the father of my children, Ian, to whom Who Let the Gods Out is dedicated, who came up with it because originally the book was called Elliot and the Immortals, which Ian quite rightly recognised was thunderingly dull as a title. So I sort of came up with some other things. He went, “Well, I’ve got an idea.” And we were in a cafe at the time and he wrote on a napkin, “Who let the gods out?” The only problem was that we needed to come up with three more mythological song puns.

Sophia: What was your inspiration for the book?

Maz: All of my books are a combination of something that I know about and something that I love a lot. So, the thing that I love a lot is Greek mythology. Always have done ever since I was a child and studied it through school and uni and it’s always been a great passion of mine, so when you write your first book, it obviously makes a lot of sense to write in a world that you’re very comfortable and familiar with. But the thing I know is about being a young carer for somebody living with dementia. I was actually a young carer to my grandmother. I was older than Elliot was, I was in my late teens, but I went to live with her and my grandfather for a while when they were struggling. So I was incredibly close to my grandmother, and a lot of Elliot and Josie’s story is my relationship with my grandma, who actually passed away the day I got the book deal for Who Let the Gods Out, and I just know she had something to do with it. This book is very much a sort of statue of my kind of love for her.

Sophia: What sort of advice would you give to someone who wants to write a fantasy book?

Maz: Ooh, I would give the same advice I give to anybody who wants to write or indeed do anything, read. Read and read and read and read! And when you’re done reading, read some more. 2026 is the national year of reading and if you want to do one thing to improve your life chances, anybody, pick up a book because the curious thing about reading is that it grows your brain in ways that we still don’t really understand and this isn’t me talking, this is actual science from people who do know what they’re talking about! So, reading a book makes you better at maths, it makes you better at sport, it makes you more empathetic, and it makes you better at making decisions, it makes you think more creatively… It grows your brain in this extraordinary way. So, if you have a particular genre that you would like to write for, then read as widely as you can in that.

Elijah: Did you always want to be an author?

Maz: Always. I mean, I’ve always written, always wanted to be a writer. I always say if you snap me in half, you’d find pencil lead running through me. All my jobs have involved writing. I’ve been a journalist, I’ve written for stage and screen before, and I’m obviously a novelist now. There’s a great saying: “Do the job that you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” And it’s so true, what I do doesn’t feel like work because I really love it.

Sophia: What scene in the show did you think was exactly how you’d written it?

Maz: I got very emotional when I first saw the set, Katy Lias’s beautiful set design, and I saw Home Farm for the first time. We’ve got this little home farm set and that really got to me because that was just like literally seeing the thing lifted out of my head. This whole process has been full of gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous moments. All the wonderful people, Ria (Parry), our director, Luke (Bateman), who did the music, Katie (Bingham) and Africa (Blagrove), the stage managers, Nic (Farman) and Martin (Wiggins), who did the light and sound. I mean, everybody who has touched this production has brought love and joy and talent.

Elijah: Was your passion always in fantasy novels?

Maz: The key thing with all of my books is I always write books I would want to read myself. As a children’s author, I write books that the child Maz would have enjoyed, as an adult author, I write the books I would read now. My 20th book, which will be a book for children, is out this time next year, and I’m writing a murder mystery series for children. I write murder mysteries for adults because I love murder mysteries. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to draw on in my own life for that. Thankfully, I’ve managed to remain very un-murdered for 46 years.

Who Let The Gods Out runs in the Y C Chan Theatre until 22 March. 

Our Polka GRADS are one strand of our young ambassador scheme, working with all the different departments of Polka, including watching preview productions, judging our playwriting award, and meeting creatives for interviews. Read more about the scheme here.