Q&A with Jennifer Chiaverini

  

 

Jennifer Chiaverini is the author of the new novel The Patchwork Players, the latest in her Elm Creek Quilts series. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Patchwork Players, and how did you create your character Julia?

 

A: Julia Merchaud debuted in 2001 in my third Elm Creek Quilts novel, The Cross-Country Quilters, as a Hollywood actress who reluctantly attends quilt camp to prepare for a movie role.

 

When readers first meet her, it’s fair to say that she is somewhat self-centered and defensive, but over the course of the series, she becomes wiser, more generous, and more at peace with herself, thanks in no small part to the enduring friendships kindled at Elm Creek Manor.

 

In The Patchwork Players, I revisit Julia when she is at the height of her artistic achievement but is facing the end of the long-running series that rejuvenated her career. It’s a story of creativity, community, resilience, and the courage to embrace change.

 

Q: Was Julia's series A Patchwork Life based on a particular TV show?

 

A: Julia’s popular, award-winning television series is entirely fictional, which is unfortunate, because I think it would be a big hit! I enjoyed writing about Julia, her colleagues, and their show in Hollywood in the early aughts, especially the scenes in which my fictional characters celebrate their fictional show at the very real 2004 Emmys.

 

Q: What do you think the novel says about balancing ambition and friendship?

 

A: Julia’s drive, discipline, and hunger to excel are what enabled her to build a remarkable career. Yet there have been moments when that same ambition narrowed her vision, making it difficult for her to see how her choices affected the people who cared about her.

 

In The Patchwork Players, I wanted to explore the idea that success isn’t inherently at odds with friendship or love—but if we define success too narrowly, we may begin to measure our worth only in professional terms.

 

Julia gradually comes to understand that accolades and achievements, while gratifying, cannot replace the sustaining power of genuine connection.

 

The novel suggests that the question isn’t how to “balance” ambition and friendship as if they sit on opposite sides of a scale, but how to ensure that our ambitions remain aligned with our values.

 

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

 

A: I hope readers will be reminded that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself, to open your heart to change, and to recognize the true sources of meaning in your life. Julia’s story is stitched together from joy and sorrow, ambition and humility, endings and new beginnings. I hope readers see reflections of their own journeys in hers.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently writing The Rational Dress Society, a historical novel William Morrow will publish in 2027.

 

Set in England in 1881-1882, the story follows 19-year-old Josephine “Jo” Mayberry, the ambitious daughter of a Windsor solicitor, whose growing friendship with Florence, Viscountess Harberton, draws her into the spirited and controversial movement for rational dress reform.

 

What begins as a question of clothing—whether a woman may dress sensibly for her health and comfort and still expect to be treated with civility—soon unfolds into a much larger examination of women’s legal rights, public reputation, family loyalty, and the courage to claim one’s place in the world without apology.

 

Jo experiences political activism, social intrigue, courtroom drama, romance, and female friendship as she comes of age in Victorian England. I can’t wait to share her journey with readers.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m fascinated and inspired by women’s creativity, resilience, and community. In my own career, I’ve been privileged to see how stories about quilters resonate with readers from all walks of life.

 

In The Patchwork Players, Hollywood may seem worlds away from Elm Creek Quilt Camp—and in many ways it definitely is—but in both places, collaboration, creativity, and trust are essential.

 

Julia realizes that the lessons she learned with the Cross-Country Quilters apply just as strongly in her professional life, even in a glamorous industry that often values competition over connection.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Jennifer Chiaverini. 

Q&A with Yevgenia Nayberg

  

 

 

 

Yevgenia Nayberg is the author and illustrator of Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters, a new graphic memoir for older kids. Her other books include I Hate Borsch!. She lives in New York City. 

 

Q: Why did you decide to create Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters?

 

A: A friend gave me the idea to write about what happened to my braid in 1986. At first, it was meant as a picture book, since that’s what I usually write.

 

But when I began to think about it, I felt that it had to be a longer story. I had always seen the braid episode as important and transformative, yet still a single event. Then it became clear it could serve as a larger metaphor, connecting many historical and personal moments.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book says, “Nayberg’s depictions of her mother...and of friend dynamics feel wholly authentic, while the portrayal of Soviet-era antisemitism, environmental catastrophe, and casual cruelties never overwhelms the intimate story of a girl finding her voice through art amid chaos.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I think Kirkus nailed it. There’s so much going on in our lives that is worthy of attention, but as a writer I feel I have to choose my focus.

 

I wrote the book in the present tense as an 11-year-old, so I had to forget that I knew the future. In the 1986 Soviet Union, no one knew the full truth about what was happening in Chernobyl. Perhaps we still don’t have the whole picture. I had to replicate an atmosphere of uncertainty, not unlike how we felt in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit us.

 

I also had to keep the child’s point of view in mind. For her, everything is drama and adventure, and her intimate life moments could weigh as much as a global catastrophe.

 

As to antisemitism, it is such a huge, bottomless theme that affected me in a major way growing up. As I was writing my book, I gave it a lot of thought. How much do I show? I deliberately chose to show just a glimpse of how mundane, matter-of-fact antisemitism was part of the lives of Soviet Jews.

 

The best way for me to approach a tough subject is with humor. As I was writing, I kept the first sentence of Sholem Aleichem's Motl, the Cantor’s Son, in mind. It goes like this: Lucky me — I'm an orphan! I think it’s the best opening line in the world, and in many ways, my guiding writing principle.

 

Q: What do you think the book says about the role art has played in your life?

 

A: Growing up, this obsessive, perpetual drawing was the only thing I knew. I never thought of it as something unusual. In fact, I thought everyone who went to Art School with me was just as consumed by art.

 

When I reflect on it now, I realize that wasn’t the case. Not everyone was so dramatic. Many of my classmates did not become artists after graduation and did just fine. But for me, it never changed.

 

I usually don’t talk about “the role of art in my life” because it sounds too profound, but there’s no safer, happier, more intimate space for me than paper and pencil.

 

Q: Especially given the current situation in Ukraine, what do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I hope that by learning about the Soviet Ukraine of my childhood, readers will realize how far today’s Ukraine has come as an independent democratic country, and also how dangerously similar Russia has lately become to what used to be the USSR.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have two picture books on the way. The first one, Another Tongue, is out this summer. It’s my take on what it feels like to learn a second language when moving to a new country. Even after years in the US, I still have a love-hate relationship with English; Another Tongue is my attempt to come to terms with it.

 

The second one, Not So Super Hero, was inspired by my public art project — a New York Superhero poster for the MTA. It’s the story of a reluctant superhero who goes on an adventure to please his immigrant parents.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I want to give a shout-out to Taylor Norman, the incredible editor of Chernobyl, Life and Other Disasters. Without her trust, her sensitivity, her bravery, this book would have never happened. And to the leading star of my book, my mother, Maria Cherkasskaya, who never let me be banal, no matter how much I begged!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Yevgenia Nayberg. 

Q&A with Ashanté M. Reese

  

Photo by Michael T. Davis Photography

 

 

Ashanté M. Reese is the author of the new book Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness. Her other books include Black Food Geographies. She is an associate professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Gather?

 

A: I’ve been working in and around food justice for a while now—over 15 years. A lot of my earlier work was focused on diagnosing what isn’t working in the food system, theorizing what race and racism has to do with access, and how urban residents in particular navigate inequality.

 

With Gather, I wanted to think about food from a different angle. Not diagnosing a problem. Not rehashing debates on what counts as food justice. I wanted to think and write about how Black people, who are often framed by deficit models when it comes to food, are gathering around food and what food justice movements might learn from those gatherings.

 

I wanted to think less about particular food items and whether or not they’re healthy and more about the sometimes-unspoken values and practices that we need to grow in order to create more equitable food systems all around. To find that, I looked closely at practices that I had some sense of being integral to sustaining communities.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I decided pretty early that I wanted this project to be multimodal, meaning – I wanted people to be able to share things with me that they selected or narrated on their own terms alongside me doing traditional anthropological research like interviewing and participant observation (hanging out with folks in their normal, everyday lives).

 

I also did what some called autoethnography, which was the process of me mining relevant experiences from my own life as “data” to be examined alongside other artifacts. I created an online database where people could submit recipes, memories/stories, photos, and videos.

 

I also let people indicate if they’d like to sit for an oral history interview with me. For those, I recorded them on Zoom. Once the recordings were complete, I sent the video, audio, and transcripts to the people who were interviewed. I wanted them to know that even though they contributed to my research, their stories were first and foremost their own. I hoped that it would add to their family archives.

 

I also put out a call to people to invite me to a family reunion. I got tons of family reunion invitations, which was a surprise. I didn’t think so many people would want a stranger/anthropologist tagging along with them at their family function. But over three dozen people invited me!

 

And you know what was so cool? For the ones I attended, no one thought it was weird at all. I introduced myself as an anthropologist who was studying Black food traditions.

 

People were intrigued. They asked questions. And then they left me along to eat, play with people’s kids, fix plates, etc. just like I was a family member. Those by far are my favorite memories of this process.

 

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

 

A: Before I started the research for this project, I was playing around with the word “scraps.” I was thinking about how so many narratives about Black food rehearse the idea that Black folks were always given the scraps and made do with them.

 

So I was thinking – what if I sort of reclaim that word? I liked the idea of creating something out of nothing or the role of ingenuity in making a meal or a life. But it really wasn’t working for me.

 

The word scraps gestures toward something incomplete. But then I thought: it isn’t the scraps as much as how you bring them together. That is how I got to Gather, which was perfect because I already knew that I wanted to select specific sites/experiences that bring people together.

 

I am not religious, though I guess I would say I am culturally Christian because that is how I grew up. But I am moved by the idea of gathering that comes up in the scripture that reads, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them."

 

When I started thinking about the book, I simply replaced "there I am among them" with "magic happens." I really do think that anything worth doing has to be done with others, so I let that be a guiding mantra.

 

Q: The author Spring Council said of the book, “This work is more than a book--it is a powerful and urgent call to remember, to gather, and to nourish our future.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: Oh, man. These are beautiful words from an author who wrote a beautiful book. I actually got a chance to interview Spring for Gather! I didn’t include it in the book, but I interviewed her about her work with planning and hosting community dinners in Durham. She’s an amazing gatherer who is deeply committed to nourishing people, so seeing her generous read of my book means a lot to me.

 

When I was writing it, I wasn’t sure if the underlying message that how we gather food and each other is just as important as what we actually choose to consume was coming through. Spring’s words suggest that it did, and I am so glad!

 

I want us to take the work of being together seriously. It’s a practice that is grounded in many things: interdependence, traditions, rituals, a desire to work across lines of difference. I think that’s all part of remembering, gathering, and nourishing.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: For several years now I have been researching and writing about agriculture in Texas state prisons. I’ve pretty much narrowed that down to trying to understand sugar production in the early 20th century.

 

What I am really interested in untangling in this project is the role sugar production played in stabilizing the state and catapulting a regional sugar powerhouse. It is historical in nature. But it also has a lot to teach us about how private-public partnerships shape institutions, yes; but also our daily lives through what we consume.

 

I’ve been calling that project the Carceral Life of Sugar. It might end up being called something else as I continue to refine it.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I don’t think so! Thank you for being interested in my writing. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Jean Burgess

  

 

Jean Burgess is the author of the new novel Navigating Her Next Chapter. It's a sequel to her novel That Summer She Found Her Voice. Burgess is also an educator, playwright, and workshop presenter, and she lives in Maryland. 

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this sequel to your novel That Summer She Found Her Voice?

 

A: I decided to continue the story of Margie Stevens's development as a woman for two reasons.

 

First, I realized that as I completed the first book in the Retro series, That Summer She Found Her Voice, that Margie's life and experiences and career had just begun. As a 20-something, she had so many discoveries to make, so many avenues to explore, so many mistakes to make and rectify...like all of us.

Second, I had many requests from readers who asked, "What happens to Margie after she leaves the King Vido's Swing Band?" As an author, you never want to leave your readers empty-handed, right?

 

Q: Was the story based primarily on your own experiences in New York in the 1980s?

 

A: Great question. As I mention in my Author Notes, I do pull from personal experience in my Retro series as well as weave in a lot of period research to enhance and authenticate my fictions.

 

In the case of Navigating Her Next Chapter: A Retro Novel, I actually lived in New York City in the early 1980s – not to pursue a writing career like my protagonist, Margie, but rather as a “starving actor.”

 

I was inspired to draw from many of my personal experiences, my love of the city, my creative highs and lows, my self-doubts, etc. and apply these to this fictional story.

 

Another fun fact is that during my time in NYC in the early 1980s, I worked as a receptionist at Radio City Music Hall so I thought it would be cool to give Margie that position as well. It was a way to offer readers an insider's glimpse into the workings of that iconic NYC treasure.

 

Q: Did you need to do much research to write the book, and if so, what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: As I mentioned, I do a lot of period/historical research for my Retro series (books set in the 1970s and 1980s) because I want readers to trust in the stories' authenticity. (If any plot point stray, I always justify why in my Author Notes.)

For Navigating Her Next Chapter: A Retro Novel, I wanted to research the socio-economic-political climate of New York City in the early 1980s.

This was important for weaving in the themes of the cocaine epidemic, the emerging AIDS crisis (before it had a name), and the anti-nuclear protests. I used the New York Times archives for much of my background work in this area.

 

In addition, I needed specific arts and music information to plug in Margie's music review story line. In that case, I used images from the SoHo Weekly News, The Village Voice, and other alternative music venues of the time period.

 

I interviewed a person from Puerto Rico and read books about El Barrio (the East Harlem Puerto Rican neighborhood) to better understand the background of Miguel, the love interest of Margie.

Sometimes, in my research, I come across a strange detail and I think to myself, "So cool. How can I weave that into my story without seeming imposed?" That was the case with the freak snowstorm of April 1982 that hit Manhattan. You'll have to read the book to see how I used that fun fact in the book!

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

 

A: Titles, titles, titles. Always a struggle for this author. Perhaps for many authors. I chose the word "Navigating" because I wanted to relate to that sense of Margie's career aimlessness, her self-doubts, as she cautiously inches ahead. I liked "Next Chapter" because it relates to writing and Margie's writing career.

For book clubs, I provide a Topics of Discussion list. I include a question about the title and how it relates to our own "Next Chapters" in life. For some folks, there may have been many; for others, their lives many have been a straight shot -- not much "navigating" needed.

 

A follow up question is: Who has assisted navigating your next chapters in your lives? In Margie's case, she has a menagerie of unlikely NYC friends -- a punk waitress from the neighborhood diner, a gay couple from her apartment building, a dreamy Hispanic man from her writing group, and her fashion-crazed roommate.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My Retro readers are asking: Will there be more to this Retro series? Will there be a Book #3? The answer is yes. I’m in the research and outlining stage now. No spoilers at this point, though.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: I simply want to thank your readers for learning more about me and my writing journey today. If you feel inclined, hop over to my website at www.jeanburgessauthor.com, sign up for my fun newsletter, “Jean’s Writerly News,” and stay in touch.

And, of course, Navigating Her Next Chapter: A Retro Novel is available at
https://www.amazon.com/Navigating-Her-Next-Chapter-Retro/dp/1627206264

 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Jean Burgess. 

April 14

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
April 14, 1921: Thomas Schelling born.

Q&A with Melanie Dale

  

 

 

Melanie Dale is the author of the new middle grade novel Girl of Lore. Her other books include Calm the H*ck Down. She lives in the Atlanta area.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Girl of Lore, and how did you create your character Mina?

 

A: I remember when my son was in middle school I gave him a boxed set of some of my favorite horror classics, books like Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Call of Cthulhu, etc., and he gamely tried to plow through Dracula but petered off when Jonathan Harker was still trapped in that castle and I thought, “What if I could make this story more accessible for him? What if these characters were teens living in Georgia?”

 

Girl of Lore is a love letter to my favorite genre and the stories that have shaped me. I love gothic literature! My favorite novel is Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mina Murray is my favorite gothic character. She’s so smart and underestimated by the men.

 

My Mina is smart like her namesake, but underestimates and doubts herself. I’m really excited about the journey she goes on in Girl of Lore, within her own brain and with her family and friends. Navigating high school is hard, even without paranormal challenges.

 

Q: How did you create the world in which the novel is set?

 

A: Give me all the haunted houses and monsters and creeping dread! When I went to create my London, I brought it home to where I live, combining elements from several small Georgia towns around me into the perfect Southern gothic setting for lore to come to life!

 

Mina spends a lot of time in the graveyard, so I visited graveyards around where I live and also toured them in fun places like New Orleans and Edinburgh.

 

One of my beta readers early on said the book felt like it could be anywhere, so I really started focusing on what makes it Georgia.

 

For starters, I looked at the critters around me. My backyard is basically a swamp. I live in a town bursting with flora and fauna, and I brought a lot of that world into the book, huge spiders, armadillos lumbering around like rubbery dinosaurs, things that go bump in the night, even an alligator.

 

I wanted to create the feeling of the kudzu vines choking everything and how the summer humidity hangs on around here well into the fall.

 

Q: Why did you decide to focus on OCD and mental health in the book?

 

A: I’ve struggled with OCD since I was a kid and am only just now as an adult starting to unpack the way my brain works and learning how to separate truth from OCD thoughts.

 

I really wanted to invite readers into Mina’s brain and let them feel what she feels, the constant doubt. It can be really scary inside an OCD brain!

 

I hope by highlighting OCD through Mina’s character and the ways she learns to deal with it will help others struggling with it, and for readers who don’t have OCD, to understand a little more of what it’s like, rather than the stereotype of people who like to clean and organize.

 

I remember talking to my agent about wanting to explore Mina’s OCD but worrying that it would be too scary. She told me to go for it, and then when Jessi Smith – my editor at Aladdin, who also has OCD – got hold of it, she helped me continue to flesh out Mina’s inner thoughts.

 

I’m really excited for readers to have a character they can root for and maybe identify with who struggles against these scary intrusive thoughts but keeps working and doesn’t give up.

 

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

 

A: Jessi Smith, my editor, gets the credit on that one! I originally called it Mina Murray’s Compendium of Monsters. We loved the word “lore” and Lore Club plays a huge part in the book, so Jessi came up with Girl of Lore. I love it so much.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m back in the world of London, Georgia, having grand adventures with Mina and Lore Club! After Girl of Lore ends, there are so many new…ummmm…developments to explore, so much lore to investigate.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Ooh, well, I don’t want to give anything away, but there are a couple relationships in the book that I’m really excited for readers to discover.

 

One is a beautiful friendship, the kind of love and loyalty you fight for, that grows with you, and one is maybe more of a romantic relationship, with all those pulse-pounding feelings of getting to know someone new. I’m grinning just thinking about these two different people in Mina’s life.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Jim O'Connell

  

 

 

Jim O'Connell is the author of the new memoir Incurable Gifts: My Weepy, Wobbly, Wonderful Life with Parkinson's. He is a longtime journalist, and he lives in Alexandria, Virginia. 

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this book?

 

A: I love to write, so before I went on disability with Parkinson's Disease I was writing about things that happened to me and I don't know why but I sent a few essays to Mark Willen.

 

I didn't know him well but we had both worked at Bloomberg and I knew he had written a book or two, but I hadn't even had a conversation with him so he was probably surprised to receive my email.

 

He responded with  a note every writer dreams of, saying it made him think about his life and his relationships with friends and family, and how these essays deserved a wide audience. I wrote a few more  essays and Mark virtually demanded I produce a book.

 

He is the reason there's a book with my name on it and he knows how grateful I am.

 

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

 

A: I think it indicates that it’s a book about finding fulfillment and even joy in tragic circumstances. My wife came up with the title. You’re probably starting to realize how little I had to do with producing this book.

 

Q: What do you think are some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions about Parkinson's?

 

A: Most people have no clue, not the smallest inkling of a clue, what it is to have this disease. It steals your identity and makes you hate yourself. It has about 30 symptoms ranging from the merely embarrassing to the deadly, which is why finding joy is a challenge.

 

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

 

A: I hope readers, especially caregivers, understand better how diabolical this disease is. I want patients to share this with their families so caregivers understand what the patients are going through and why it’s so difficult to help them.

 

You know when you're holding a toddler and they twist and push to make you release them even though it would cause them to fall? That's a bit like Parkinson’s, except the toddler’s a grown person.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I work every day at being more grateful for my friends and family. and to stop trying to twist away from those trying to help me.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: This book is funny. I know it doesn’t sound like it here but it is. It's sweet and thoughtful and romantic and I really hope it helps someone sustain. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb