2019 Best Book Awards Finalist in Fiction (Multicultural)
“This powerful tale offers a beacon of hope that individuals can inspire change.”
―Library Journal
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Q: What
made you write a book about school integration?
A: Ten
years ago, I was at a professional educational conference in New Orleans, LA.
After a long day of presentations, we went out to Pat O’Brien’s, a great bar in
the French Quarter. If you ever visit NOLA be sure to go there to have a Hurricane
and request your favorite song to be played by the dueling pianos. In between
the drinks and entertainment, I surprised the people I was with when I told
them I had taught in a small rural town in Louisiana that closed the black
school overnight on November 4, 1969. I always knew the impact it had on my
personal history, but that revelation made me realize how significant the event
was in the history of our country. I was a witness and felt a responsibility to
share it. At the time, our first grandchild, who is bi-racial, was two years
old and a friend challenged me to write about my life during that year so that
all my grandchildren would learn about it.
town in 1969?
A: The biggest challenge was that the story was
forty years old when I started to write it. It started out as a memoir but as I
wrote it I realized that I wasn’t telling the complete story and I wanted to
know the facts, the history of the time and the area. I also wasn’t a writer, a
story teller and I decided to take a workshop on writing. The teacher of the
workshop asked us to write a scene we had already written from another point of
view. I chose to write in the voice of a high school student experiencing the
same sudden school closure. After that the memoir developed into historical
fiction from three points of view.
Q: How did you write
in the voice of Black characters?
A: The voices of the
Black characters came from a tremendous amount of research, fiction and
non-fiction books, newspapers and magazines of the time, headlines from
national and local papers, and several dissertations but most importantly one
titled “Even the Books Were Separate”. Related to the challenge of writing in
the voice of “other”, I asked two Black authors to read and edit the story.
They made some suggestions and I made changes but mainly they felt that I
captured the Black perspective fairly.
Q: Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
A: Everywhere! Life, friends, and acquaintances will give a writer
inspiration but then the writer needs to take the time to create. A friend of
mine says, “It’s all about the story.” Everyone has a story – if you see
someone stuck on the side of the road you can imagine and create a story of how
that happened. Did they run out of gas? Get a flat? Who helps them? Why?
Newspaper headlines can give us hundreds of prompts for stories. Good stories
will have a universal theme or a moral, or a mystery solved, a lesson to learn.
Q:
How do you make sure to
draw readers into your stories?
A: The
first pages must draw the reader in. Pacing is important, relatable characters,
building characters that readers care about, all of these are the parts of the
story that I focus on. But one thing to keep in mind is that every book will
find its readers but not every book is for every reader.
Q:
What have you learned about yourself since you became an author?
A: That
you are never too old to try something new and perhaps find a new career. I’m a
debut author in my seventh decade and I have expanded my writing community from
one writing group to a vast community of authors and readers.
Thrilled to be on this blog tour! Thanks for featuring me Jazzy Book Reviews! This is a great way to meet readers as we socially- distance. I wish all good health. Stay safe. Visit me on Facebook! Eileen
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! :)
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