We spoke to Irish actress, Evanna Lynch who is best known for her work as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films on her dream day, her best holiday, her favourite smell and her just released memoir on overcoming her eating disorder and her battle for perfection.
I wrote this book while….trying to stay sane during the winter lockdown. I didn’t have much else going on at the time so having a deadline to stop me from wallowing and to keep me pressing on was a real blessing.
When I write I need to….be alone and quiet. I talk as I write so I can’t do it in public. And I can’t have distractions, no soft piano music or white noise. I can’t even have my hair down, I have to scrape it back into a tight bun. I’m convinced this book gave me a bald spot.
Every day I like to…move my body. Dance, aerial, running, walking, just something that requires me to connect with my body and feel gratitude for it.
What makes me scared is…that some day my therapist will die.
In school I was….over it. I didn’t particularly relate to the teenage experience. I just wanted to get out of there and live an independent life.
My family’s nickname for me is…my family don’t use my nickname! All my friends call me Evy and my family find that bizarre.
My favourite song/album is….Opposite Ways by The Do from the album Shake Shook Shaken.
The first book I read that really mattered/moved me was….Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. My mum got mixed up and brought the second one home from the library first so that was the first one I read. I immediately felt those characters were friends.
I am a night owl/early bird…night owl! And I wish society catered to us more. I like to go for a midnight walk and then get into bed and journal.
I cook a mean….pesto pasta!
I love the smell of….roses
I hate….that humans treat animals as food and property. And cancel culture. And doing emails.
My favourite time of the day is…the morning I think. There is so much potential and I’ve cleared out whatever anxieties I was wrestling with overnight.
As a child I was…creative and dreamy. I loved books and fairy tales and dressing up.
My best holiday ever was…in Arles in France with my family. I was having a Van Gogh phase so we went all over the region exploring his old haunts and imagining what he might have been feeling.
My dream day would be….rehearsing a play – I always love rehearsals, then going to a park and reading for a few hours, then meeting a friend to wander the streets of London and probably end up drinking mojitos in Camden.
This I know for sure…that your life is a reflection of your inner mind. The more you daydream, expect good things and consciously focus on the beauty in the world and people around you, the more beautiful things will manifest in your life.
In conversation with Bianca Luykx
The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up: A Memoir by Evanna Lynch is out now!
