Anthony Horowitz CBE, an award-winning novelist, playwright and screenwriter was recently invited to Malta for the occasion of the 2024 Malta Book Festival, by the National Book Council - Malta, where he gave workshops and talks, as well as an interview to The Malta Independent.

Horowitz is the brains behind the highly-popular, Alex Rider young adult spy series, which is still ongoing and was recently adapted into a hit series on Amazon Prime, aside from a past feature film adaptation. Apart from being a celebrated writer, Horowitz also received prestigious permission from the estates of Ian Fleming and Arthur Conan Doyle to carry on the James Bond and Sherlock Holmes legacies, respectively.

Technology and its misuse is a prominent theme in your works, including your horror, spy and even detective novels. Would you say you are a pessimist when it comes to the way technology and society are progressing?

Technology is the hope for our future. As the world becomes a worse place, I live in the belief that technology and science is all that stands between us and Armageddon. Hope for the planet comes in the new technology and, more generally, if I were to get cancer, today's technology will save me whereas 10 years ago I would be dead. So, I am not a Luddite.

The world has changed radically and the phone is a very good example of this, everybody has one. The amount of damage that a phone can do is huge and yet, where would we be without them? They're wonderful, brilliant devices. I use a phone, I love my phone, I need my phone. But technology, like everything else in the world, has a dark side to it. So, the essential mobile phone is also one of the most destructive things a young person can put in their pocket. It's a portal to violence, conspiracy theories, pornography, you name it; that two-edged sword interests me.

However, it is really the people behind the technology who are good or evil. For example, you could argue that Elon Musk is behind some of the most brilliant technology, but he often seems to be a scary individual, especially if you look at what has happened to Twitter.

The short answer is that I embrace technology, and I'm optimistic about it; I merely worry about the people who are using technology. But when it comes to my novels, there's no adventure in the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is what we fear and what we fight against, that's what makes a good story. So, I made antagonists use technology and capitalise on their ubiquity.

How do you conceive such strong antagonists, particularly in children's books?

It is worth noting that the worst people on this planet are human beings who all started as children. And in a children's book, I think it is reasonable to look at them as humans and what made them that way.

For example, in Stormbreaker, the antagonist was based on Mohamed Al-Fayed who was subject to enormous racism all his life in England. No matter how hard he tried to be accepted by the British establishment, he was treated disgracefully. When Dodi Fayed died, with Princess Diana, he lost a son and not one single person in Britain gave a damn about him. It now turns out that he is accused of being a serial abuser of women and a disgusting, horrible man and, if I'd known that, I'd never have written about him. Nonetheless, it is still worth noting that the worst people on this planet are human beings with a story.

I've always believed if you simply vilify these people in that simplistic way, as "monsters" or "evil" and are to be killed, you're missing the point of what made them that way. Just like those people who said, "What a shame it wasn't three inches to the right" when Donald Trump was shot. They don't understand that they are committing themselves to having many more "monsters" following their path.

I'm most proud of my novel Russian Roulette because it tackles, to me, one of the most interesting questions in the world: "Why is it that one child will choose to become Nelson Mandela, for example, and another person will choose to become Adolf Hitler?" Russian Roulette asks that question head on. Everybody was a child and every child makes decisions. There's nature, there's nurture, but there's also the child's own conscious decisions to choose a path in life.

My response to this is to write books to try and stop it happening again, because it's the world and education that needs to change to try to prevent more future "monsters".

Could you comment on the recent upsurge of 'cancel culture' and, perhaps, its implications for free speech?

I am very supportive of what we call "political correctness" now, and even "woke culture". I think everyone should be careful not to be offensive and I don't think it's a change for the worse, but for the better. However, I am against the punishments that come if somebody makes a mistake, such as making a joke that perhaps shouldn't have been made.

I don't like the idea of people lining up to give them a kicking and stop them from ever writing, performing, whatever, again. This is because I don't believe that you need to be a perfect human being to create works of art. You could be flawed. Look at Roald Dahl; we now realize at the end of his life he became a disgusting anti-Semite. Does that mean that we should never read a Roald Dahl book again? No, that's crazy! The books are wonderful! And "cancelling" does no one any favours because it removes the record of how far we have come in our perception of right and wrong.

An important event in the 'Alex Rider' series unexpectedly happens in Mdina, which is given a detailed description, including an explanation of the traditional Devil's Clock. In light of this, what is your link to Malta?

I've been to Malta three times in my life, and about three years ago we filmed the third season of Alex Rider here. When I travel, I take notes, I write about everything I see, and take photographs. Wherever I go, I'm always thinking of a book I might write. I remember very well visiting Mdina the first time, it was a long time ago, but I still remember thinking of a chase that would happen there, which eventually was put into the Alex Rider series.

This is an island with a thousand stories, in its history and everywhere you look. The Second World War is extraordinary and every element of Malta and its connection with British history is a source of wonderment to me and I've made notes on it. I can assure you that, if I am spared and continue to write for another five or 10 years, this visit will crop up again because of some of the experiences I've had, even if it's only the extraordinary thunderstorm that I slept through last night, or rather didn't sleep through, it will turn up in a future book.