Q&A with Tracy Clark

 

Photo by Bruno Passigatti

 

 

Tracy Clark is the author of the new novel Echo, the latest in her Detective Harriet Foster series. Clark is also an editor, and is a Chicago native.

 

Q: This is the third in your series about Detective Harriet Foster--what inspired the plot of Echo?

 

A: Echo was inspired by an empty field that looked just perfect for a body dump. Once I had the location, pieces began to fall into place. How'd the body get there? Who put it there? Why?

 

Then I began thinking about justice and vengeance and how they can mean different things to different people. I had my cast of cops already, so after the body, the justice/vengeance thing, I was ready to give it a go. 

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: Echo revolves around two similar deaths (same MO, same location, same method of death) separated by 30 years. So the current murder is literally an echo of the past murder. The title also fits with Det. Harriet Foster's personal situation, as she is struggling to survive past trauma and loss. 

 

Q: The novels are set in Chicago--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: Oh, setting is very important in my novels. The city of Chicago is literally another character in the stories, and I work as hard to make it as vivid, as unique, and as engaging as I can. I want readers to get a real good sense of the city. I want them to be able to feel it, smell it, hear it, get its flow.

 

Getting a sense of the city my cops work in helps the reader understand the cops themselves just a little bit better. These are Chicago cops, not Boise cops. These are cops as tough as the now-defunct steel mills used to be. They're as unrepentant and down to earth as the brash counter staff at The Wiener’s Circle. It's fun writing that.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: All I'm ever after is for the reader to enjoy the stories. I want them to find the characters and the books worthy of their time. I want them to like them so much they come back for the next installment, knowing they're going to have an equally good time then too. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm working on the last Det. Harriet novel before I switch over to a standalone.

 

Book four is tentatively titled Edge. Harri and team are back, this time faced with a new deadly drug that has hit the streets of Chicago. As bodies fall, Harri and Vera and the entire CPD must figure out who's putting the drug out on the streets and stop them before anyone else dies.

 

Edge asks the question, subtly, how far are some people willing to go to satisfy their own desires?

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Nothing earth shattering, really. I'm plugging away on Edge. I have until mid-March to deliver it.  I'm taking it one page at a time. Wish me luck!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Lisa Williamson Rosenberg

 

Photo by Deborah Copaken

 

 

Lisa Williamson Rosenberg is the author of the new novel Mirror Me. She also has written the novel Embers on the Wind. A former ballet dancer and a psychotherapist, she lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Mirror Me, and how did you create your cast of characters?

 

A: I could write a book on that question alone! *Takes big breath, pours glass of cabernet.* The seeds of the project that would become Mirror Me were extracted from my very first adult novel, called Birchwood Doll. That was a fairly autobiographical story about a biracial ballerina who would evolve into the character of Lucy.

 

I wrote Birchwood Doll when I was just figuring out craft—in many fitful, piecemeal lessons. It was the book I revised, reworked, tossed out, dusted off, hired a book coach for, submitted, got rejected, and loved with all my soul.

 

Though Birchwood Doll was a finalist for the Nilson Unpublished Novel prize, it never saw the light of publication—never even landed me an agent. It was sprawling and bulky, but full of good characters, passages, and descriptions of ballet culture that I’ve used elsewhere, including in pieces I’ve published.

 

Mirror Me began as a sequel to Birchwood Doll, originally called Acid Shabbat, in which Eddie trips on acid, then shows up at a Shabbat dinner hosted by his sister-in-law, the troubled ballerina from Birchwood Doll, and, well, antics ensue.

 

I became obsessed with Eddie’s character, his anxiety and sense of feeling other in the world, his relationships with his family and his neuroses. I knew I needed him to be Black and Jewish like I am, a bit of an outsider in each culture. He came to me male, as the brother-in-law of Lucy, and I left him that way. I like him as a young man buffeted by life.

 

The story itself and the character of Pär, who is essentially Eddie’s personal Greek Chorus, came gradually. I’ve been tinkering with this novel—mostly while on breaks from other projects—since 2009.

Q: The writer Nancy Johnson called the book “an exquisitely rendered meditation on race, family, and memory.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love that description so much, especially coming from Nancy Johnson, author of The Kindest Lie and the upcoming People of Means. She’s such a master at writing the juxtaposition of race and class.

 

As a biracial Black/white/Jewish author, I meditate a whole lot on race in my writing, especially in nonfiction essays about my parents’ long interracial marriage. Likewise, I get lots of material from memories of my biracial 1970s childhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Eddie grows up.

 

I’m also a former adoption caseworker and a psychotherapist with a post-Masters certification in family therapy. To me there is nothing more fascinating than how we are influenced by our family circumstances into the adults we ultimately become.

 

Q: Without giving anything away, did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I definitely did not. As noted, there were so many versions as I reworked the plot over the years. It evolved and surprised me.

 

The story was initially set in the present to correspond with Birchwood Doll. I was stumped on how to carry out the twists because one internet search by Eddie or any of the other characters would have wiped out the whole plot. Only when I set the book back in the pre-Google 1970s and 1990s did the ending come together.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: This was a process almost as grueling as writing the book itself! For months, my editor and I tossed titles back and forth before arriving at Mirror Me, which literally refers to the rendition of Eddie that he sees in the mirror.

 

For much of the time, we were hung up on the water theme, and then the adoption theme. I literally polled my social media followers and got a million suggestions. It was also very difficult to come up with a title that wasn’t a spoiler. Mirror Me was kind of a last minute, throw-it-all-out and look-at-it-anew effort.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Right now, I am working on a mother-son story that tackles the race/class continuum in the age of BLM and Covid-19 (it’s just a hair more political than my other work). Also in the hopper is a sequel/expansion of The Story of the Birthing Room, which is one of the stories in my debut novel, Embers on the Wind (Little A, 8/2022).

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I think that’s all for now! Thank you so much for these fantastic, thought-provoking questions. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Laura Gehl

 

 

Laura Gehl is the author of the new children's picture book Robot Shabbat. Her many other books include One Big Pair of Underwear. She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Robot Shabbat?

 

A: My four kids are all teenagers and young adults now, but when they were younger, they were always raiding the recycling bin to build fantastical creations. One year, we even had a recycling party, where lots of friends and neighbors brought over their own recycling to add to ours. Those memories, combined with my second son’s passion for building robots, inspired this story.

 

I dedicated Robot Shabbat to my robot-loving son. But I should add that in the years since I wrote this book, my daughter has developed a passion for robotics as well. This fall, she joined her high school robotics team!

 

Q: What do you think Dave Williams’ illustrations add to the story?

 

A: I think Dave’s illustrations give the story a delightful, Jetsons-style vibe. Details in the art, such as the dad arriving home in a flying car, really add an extra layer of enjoyment for the reader.

Q: School Library Journal called the book a “fun sci-fi take on the tradition of Shabbat, sure to have youngsters joining in with the sound effects.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love that description! I hope the sound effects in the book add to the read-aloud fun.

 

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?

 

A: If kids come away from this book wanting to build their own robot, or other creation, from stuff around the house, great! If kids come away from this book wanting to “power down” for Shabbat and spend time with friends and family, that’s great too. I also hope this book can give a window into Shabbat traditions for readers of any religion who don’t typically celebrate Shabbat.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on a few different projects, including a picture book inspired by an adult nature class I took this fall. But my next picture book, out in spring 2025, is called Orson and the World’s Loudest Library. It’s a story about how libraries not only help people find books…they also help people who love books find one another.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m working with the same editor and publisher of Robot Shabbat on another Jewish picture book called My Body Can. That book celebrates all the different things our bodies can do over the course of a year, with nods to each of the Jewish holidays along the way. Alexandra Colombo is currently working on the illustrations, and I’m excited to see them soon.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Laura Gehl.

Dec. 6

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Dec. 6, 1886: Joyce Kilmer born.

Q&A with Saul Golubcow

 

 

Saul Golubcow is the author of the new novel Who Killed the Rabbi's Wife?. He also has written the book The Cost of Living and Other Mysteries.

 

Q: Why did you return to your character Frank Wolf in this new novel?

 

A: Better than “return,” I believe the answer is because I never left him. About five years ago, I had intended to write “a” story about an elderly Holocaust survivor named Frank Wolf who becomes a private detective in Brooklyn and solves “a” case. It was to be part of a series of short stories about Holocaust survivors who come to the United States.

 

But after publishing the short story version of The Cost of Living, I discovered how much I enjoyed spending time with Frank and his family. And readers asked me when will Frank get a new case.

 

So I continued writing about how he, with his grandson Joel, solves additional mysteries in the 1970s New York Jewish communities. The result was a compilation of three novella-length stories in The Cost of Living and Other Mysteries, released in 2022.

 

Now, two years later, in my novel, Who Killed the Rabbi’s Wife?, Aliya, Joel’s wife, is part of the team.

 

I do, at times, find it difficult to extract myself from the world of Frank Wolf and the 1970s. Everyday life has multitudes of distractions. Added to them is my other life with Frank and Joel and their challenges to which I want to return as soon as possible, often to the disregard of some of those everyday demands. I am too often guilty of a version of daydreaming I call “lost in writing space.”

 

As an aside, in a conversation with a fellow mystery writer, she complimented me on the way I drew the characters of Frank Wolf and his grandson Joel. “But,” she added, “you don’t do much with female characters.”

 

My reaction in that moment was to be defensive, and I stumbled through a lame explanation. But then, I said, “I will give it some thought.” And I did.

 

I admitted to myself that I come out of the boys’ locker room, and I had been more comfortable drawing male characters. I committed myself to challenging myself to get out of that comfort zone and incorporate more central and more involved women. Thus, Aliya joined the team in investigating the murder of her best friend’s mother.

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: Always a hard question. Yes, because I knew who murdered Batya Flaum from the outset.

 

But since I wished to present, in addition to what I hope is a page-turner plot, reflections on how and why crimes are committed, delivering those thoughts made me change several times character description, interactions, and dialogue until I was satisfied. The novel was two years in the writing, principally due to these revisions.

 

Q: What inspired the plot of Who Killed the Rabbi's Wife?

 

A: As some readers have already asked me, was the 1994 real-life hiring by a New Jersey rabbi of two men to kill his wife the “inspiration” for my novel? 

 

Well, “inspiration” may not be the right word in this case, but yes, it precipitated my thoughts. I had that murder in mind, so I asked myself how could it play out differently if something similar occurred in the Brooklyn Orthodox community of 1975.

 

Because my intent with all of my Frank Wolf mysteries is to write a fully Jewish detective story with extrapolations to the universal, I changed the larger blueprint of the New Jersey murder to wrap clues in Jewish culture, teachings, and locale so, as Frank Wolf explains, the New York City police department is very competent, but there are some crimes that call on specialized knowledge and sensitivities for solving (the New York Jewish communities of the 1970s).

 

Frank makes the point that if a murder occurs in an Amish community, he would not be the right detective to investigate.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: I would like readers of all ages and backgrounds to take away an understanding of Jewish culture and lessons for living that are extracted from stories about crimes.

 

From a Jewish perspective, what forces within Batya Flaum’s killer led that person to commit the crime? What others in the killer’s community may have been complicit in the murder? What community interactions play in a murder?

 

I also want readers to understand and engage with Joel, the narrator of all of the Frank Wolf mysteries. After all, he is the storyteller from whose eyes everything is conveyed to the reader.

 

I want readers to see the progression of stories as a coming-of-age narrative in which Joel, with the tutelage of his grandfather and support of his wife, Aliya, is growing and better understanding himself. It may not happen, but if my stories take Joel into a much older age, there still will be growth.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on another Frank Wolf novel tentatively called The Holocaust Murder—Prelude and Aftermath. As the child of Holocaust survivors, a voice has been telling me to explore, fictionally, the darkest of forces during the Holocaust that contribute 30 years later to a homicide in Brooklyn.

 

After completing Who Killed the Rabbi’s Wife?, I said to myself: no more excuses. As hard as it’s going to be, write the story that’s been kicking around in my mind. I’m probably a year away from completion.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Only that I love reader comments because they help me improve my writing. So if I may ask, if someone reads my work, would you please write to me at essgees123@gmail.com?

 

Thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Saul Golubcow.

Q&A with Patricia Bonis

 

 

 

Patricia Bonis is the author of the new memoir Jeddah Bride. She also runs an interior design firm, and she lives in Florida and in New York.

 

Q: What inspired you to write this memoir?

 

A: From those first college days when I started dating Rahman (my ex-husband), people I met had unending questions about him and his country, probably because Saudi Arabia has always been so isolated, notorious and extreme. 

 

I quickly came to understand that I would be bombarded with curiosity and often hesitated to mention him and my relationship if I wasn't in the mood to answer questions. 

 

When my children were kidnapped by him, of course the curiousity increased and it seemed like that's all people wanted to know about me. Where did you meet? Why did you fall in love? What was it like in his country? How did his family treat you? Why can't you go over there and get your children back? And of course, Why don't you write a book? 

 

I toyed with the concept of writing a book, I certainly had enough stories, but it was way too painful to write anything about my children, my broken marriage and my current situation, complete alone and still fighting to see them.

 

When I was finally reunited with them, after 14 years, I realized that this story might make a good book with a happy ending and I started writing, chapter by chapter. 

 

My hope, with Jeddah Bride, is that I might shed some light on a very dark part of the world, and that I might give hope to others who find themselves in desperate and hopeless situations such as mine. 

 

I am in touch with various organizations, such as FIND MY PARENT, that work hard to help parents all over the world be reunited with their stolen children, but there is still much work to be done.

 

Q: Did you need to do additional research to write the book, or was most of it based on your memories?

 

A: I did absolutely no research to write Jeddah Bride. This story is 100 percent from my memories and personal experiences.  

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I wanted a short and strong title, one that people would wonder about. What exactly does that mean? What is a Jeddah Bride? 

 

I wrote down about 10 possible titles for consideration. Most were more about the kidnapping, like "taken"  or "gone." But I decided that I didn't want to put so much weight on the act of kidnapping. 

 

The book contained other rich and interesting information about the romance and the collapse of a marriage, the lifestyle in Jeddah, and being part of a Saudi family that, for me, was equally interesting and work considering. 

 

So "Jeddah Bride" fit the bill. I am the Jeddah Bride, kind of anonymous, the way most married women are in Saudi Arabia, very restricted and burdened by their cultural norms, and I could not escape without severe consequences and damage.  

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: By writing Jeddah Bride, I felt like I was finally out of the shadows. I am proud that I accomplished this, but often I cry, just thinking about my life during those years. 

 

I wondered whether writing the book would make me feel better about my choices and actions, which could be interpreted as both triumph and failure. It does not. The loss never goes away. 

 

So for readers, I hope they take away a message of hope, self-forgiveness, forgiveness of others and understanding that it is possible to survive and recover from Hell.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My publisher has suggested that I write a sequel to Jeddah Bride, answering all the questions that have arisen in the wake of the book. Many of those questions reflect people's curiosity about where and how everyone is now.

 

I am considering that, but for now, since the book is barely a few months old, I will concentrate on getting my message out to the public.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Just know that I appreciate your interest in Jeddah Bride and will always be happy to discuss it further. Thank you!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Megan Dowd Lambert

 

Photo by Jason Lamb Photography

 

 

Megan Dowd Lambert is the author of the new book Read It Again: 70 Whole Book Approach Plans to Help You Shake Up Storytime. Her other books include Reading Picture Books with Children. She is also the president of Modern Memoirs, Inc., a publishing company based in Massachusetts.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Read It Again?

 

A: I created the Whole Book Approach storytime model as an outgrowth of my graduate studies on the picture book at Simmons University. After completing my degree, I was hired at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, where I built on my storytime practice to develop Whole Book Approach workshops to train teachers, librarians, parents, and other caregivers over the next decade.

 

People who attended these trainings often asked me for recommended book lists and storytime plans, especially after I published Reading Picture Books with Children: How to Shake Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking About What They See (Charlesbridge 2015).

 

I resisted creating lists for many years because I thought the Whole Book Approach can work with any picture book, and my main advice for book selection was for storytime readers to share books they love so that their enthusiasm for a title is at the heart of the shared reading.

 

As for plans, I didn’t want to give people scripts. “The Whole Book Approach is an approach,” I would say. “There’s no one way to do it!”

 

With the fifth anniversary of RPBWC’s publication on the horizon, however, I decided to try my hand at creating lists and plans after all. By this time I had left The Carle and was teaching as a lecturer in children’s literature at Simmons.

 

Encouraged by my program director, Cathie Mercier, I’d been working on connections between the Whole Book Approach and critical literacy practices, and I was committed to diversifying reading lists and collection development through syllabus, lesson-plan, and bookshelf diversity audits.

 

In 2019 I signed on with an educational publisher for a project in which I would select 70 picture books (10 for each grade pre-k through 5) and write Whole Book Approach plans for each one.

 

Then they would create book bins for classrooms and libraries to purchase with each picture book title and a grade-level guide with the plans. I poured lots of time and my whole heart into this project, with the launch set for March 2020.

 

Of course, the timing could not have been worse! Just as we were launching the new book bins and plans, schools and libraries shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Storytimes ceased, or moved online, and it proved extremely challenging to get these new materials out to our target audiences.

 

To make a long story short, I ended up having all rights to the project revert to me so that I could come up with a new way of sharing the plans.

 

Q: What is the relationship between this book and your book Reading Picture Books with Children?

 

A: RPBWC  was published in 2015 by Charlesbridge, where I’ve also published several picture books and early-reader titles. It introduces the Whole Books Approach as a co-constructive (or interactive) storytime model in which children’s responses to story, art, and design are central to the shared reading. I like to say it’s a way of reading with children, as opposed to reading to children.

 

The storytime plans in Read It Again are a tool for people to use for integrating the Whole Book Approach into their storytime practice. I ended up collecting all of my plans into this single volume, which I published in 2023 under the White Poppy Press imprint of my business, Modern Memoirs, Inc.

 

My husband and I had purchased the company in 2019, and while we primarily publish memoirs and family histories in limited print runs for writers to share with family and friends, we had begun expanding into a hybrid publishing model that enables us to sell selected books we publish, too. Read It Again fits right into this part of our business.

 

And, in addition to offering the 70 storytime plans, this new volume opens with a piece I wrote connecting the Whole Book Approach with critical literacy practice, and each plan provides extension activities.

 

Also, if readers want digital versions of the plans, we have a full compendium edition of Read It Again available for purchase as a digital book, and we also broke up the full set into individual grade-level digital books.

Q: What role did the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art play in the creation of your model?

 

A: The Carle was the ideal place for me to build on my graduate studies at Simmons and to launch the Whole Book Approach. The museum’s use of Visual Thinking Strategies in its gallery programming was inspirational to my own work as I adopted open-ended questions, paraphrasing, and the linking of ideas as cornerstones of my storytime practice.

 

Founding Director Nick Clark and founding Education Department Director Rosemary Agoglia both afforded me a tremendous amount of latitude in my work, with opportunities to travel to hundreds of sites for storytimes and trainings, regular storytime sessions at The Carle, and encouragement to document my experiences.

 

That documentation was invaluable to my eventual writing of RPBWC, which was also aided by support I received when The Carle nominated me for recognition as a 2009 Massachusetts Literacy Champion by Mass Literacy.

 

My work gained credibility and exposure through The Carle’s platform, and I am proud to say that they use the Whole Book Approach in their own programing to this day.

 

Q: What do you see as the importance of reading picture books with kids, and do you think kids’ relationships to picture books have changed over the years?

 

A: Ideally, I see the picture book form as a meeting place where interdependent words and art invite children and adults to share feelings, ideas, and questions. I’ve learned so much through my conversations about picture books at storytime, especially when I get out of the way and let children share their insights.

 

I truly believe that storytime can be a place of transformation and growth in which we don’t just enjoy stories and art, but also learn to listen to one another and to share of ourselves.

 

When I was developing the Whole Book Approach in the first decade of the 2000s, there was a fair amount of handwringing over the anticipated death of the book in the digital age. Of course, the printed book is not dead at all, but continues to be valued for what it can uniquely afford us.

 

In a fast-paced society dominated by digital media, the codex (printed and bound) picture book affords us opportunities to slow down and engage with their materiality—their size and shape, and production elements like jackets, gatefold pages, endpapers, die-cuts, etc.—and how these physical features contribute to a reading experience. Book design, after all, is what transforms a manuscript into a book!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am just wrapping up work on an expanded edition of Reading Picture Books with Children, which Charlesbridge will publish in fall 2025 for the book’s 10th anniversary. It will include a sampling of Whole Book Approach plans from Read It Again, as well as new introductory content.

 

I also have notebooks and files filled with new story ideas for young readers. My seven-book early reader series Every Day with April & Mae are my most recent children’s books, and I am mulling over where to turn next to build on those books or to introduce entirely new stories.

 

In the meantime, I am feeling pulled to write about my family history and faith heritage. At Modern Memoirs, I am working on a collection about my Franco and Irish American heritage, with 10 pieces completed and plans for a few more.

 

And, for the past year or so I’ve immersed myself in reading feminist theology and wide-ranging work on the early Christ movement. This was all sparked by travels in southern France, where I was intrigued by references to les trois Maries de la mer (the three Marys of the sea) and decided to learn more.

 

At this point, if I could drop everything and go to divinity school, I would! That’s not in the cards right now, but although I quite don’t know where all of this learning and exploration will take me, I am profoundly grateful for the journey.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: For more information about my work, visit www.modernmemoirs.com and www.megandowdlambert.com. And, I encourage readers to also check out the following sites for information about resisting book bans and challenges across our nation:

American Library Association/United Against Book Bans

PEN America

School Library Journal

Every Library

National Coalition Against Censorship

The Authors Guild

 https://www.authorsagainstbookbans.com/

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb