Q&A with Carol Plum-Ucci

 

 

 

Carol Plum-Ucci is the author of the new young adult novel Insane Possibilities. Her other books include The Body of Christopher Creed. She lives in New Jersey.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Insane Possibilities, and how did you create your character Toby?

 

A: I had a friend who had to be in a rotating Stryker bed once, and it's always stuck with me as being particularly scary!

 

When I visited her, I kept my questions to myself, though my writer's imagination was going wild. “What if there’s a fire?” and “What if an immobilized person started seeing drawers open and close by themselves and things skirting across the floor?”

 

It took me some years but I finally used the immobilization creepy factor. That was the inspiration for the concept.

 

For the plot, the inspiration was political. Those looking can see it pretty clearly in the subplot.

 

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

 

A: I'm not sure how I pick titles. Some I have to work at; some just come to me while walking from one room to the other. But oftentimes, I get a feeling like this is the perfect title.

 

I had that feeling this time. Toby has to figure out who pushed him down a well and put him in immobilization for seven weeks in the height of summer. All the possible suspects look like insane choices in one way or another.

 

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

 

A: This time, I did know how the story would end, but often, I don't know until around chapter 10. I'm not bothered by my not-knowing because I feel like if I don't know, the reader definitely can't know. Some quick minds could guess ahead of time, I suppose, but it's still a page-turner.

 

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

 

A: Two things. First, I love to weave the natural and the supernatural together as seamlessly as possible. To me, they share the same reality and I like to get others thinking like that, too. It's cathartic.

 

Second, in the subplot, Toby's father keeps warning, thanks to his social media involvement, that we have turned into a nation of liars and how this has happened.

 

I'd like to influence people to be very careful today, in this age of deception, what they believe and why. We all need to remember that we don't know the complete argument until we've faced down the counterargument.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: While not writing fiction, I write Biblical studies for a company on the West Coast, and I'm busy with that.

 

Per fiction, I've been working on a book for the read-aloud age group about a K9 dog who protected the White House. If I get a green light (I haven't yet!) I'd like to write about many police dogs for young readers.

 

I got interested while feeling a bit unsafe in our ever-changing nation and wanted to view things that made me feel safe. It was a joy to find many videos of police dogs! I feel it will be of interest to very young children that we are being helped and protected by animals who have talents that we don't.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: One of the reasons I chose suspense writing in fiction is that I was raised in a funeral home on a barrier island. It was windy! Our house was very musical and sunny during the day, but I have ADHD and was constantly waking up in the middle of the night as a child.

 

So, when people say "how did you become a writer?" I answer, "In the middle of nights between third and sixth grades." If I could determine that there was a "guest" down in the funeral home, I would stare at my doorframe, afraid to blink.

 

It set me on a spiritual journey to discover where these people go after death, what with their families being so sad and all. That positive note probably affected my fiction writing as much as anything.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Dec. 21

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Dec. 21, 1892: Rebecca West born.

Q&A with Gail Jarrow

 

 

 

Gail Jarrow is the author of the new young adult book Spirit Sleuths: How Magicians and Detectives Exposed the Ghost Hoaxes. Her other books include American Murderer. She lives in Ithaca, New York.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Spirit Sleuths?

 

A: My research for two other books brought me to ghost hoaxes and psychic frauds. 

 

An earlier book, Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcastand The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America (Calkins Creek, 2018), highlighted what can happen when people are not sufficiently skeptical.

 

In that case, radio listeners jumped to the conclusion that Martians were invading New Jersey.  I wanted to find another example from American history that illustrated the dangers of being gullible.

 

I discovered the subject in my research notes for The Amazing Harry Kellar, Great American Magician (Calkins Creek, 2012). Nineteenth-century magicians like Kellar incorporated séance tricks into their stage performances.

 

Part of their motivation was to take advantage of the public’s interest in spiritualism and communication with the dead. The other part was to educate their audiences so that people realized how mediums, who claimed to have supernatural power, used conjuror’s tricks to deceive séance visitors. 

 

This fascinating tension between magicians  and mediums was the story I’d been looking for.

 

Q: The Shelf Awareness review of the book said, “Jarrow’s remarkable ability to transform meticulous research into a gripping narrative once again results in a nonfiction work that will transfix readers of all ages...” What do you think of that description, and how did you research this book?

 

A: Of course, I was quite pleased by that review. My goal was to grab and entertain readers while basing the story on a solid foundation of accurate information. 

 

To get a broad picture of spiritualism, I used primary documents to find out what believers and critics said about it.

 

Those sources included the writings of mediums, magicians, and investigators as well as first-person accounts of séances from the mid-19th century to the present. I even visited a famous spiritualism community to see mediums at work.

 

Through interviews with practicing magicians, I learned more about the séance tricks and supposedly supernatural phenomena performed by fraudsters who are active in today’s $2 billion U.S. psychic services industry. I shared some of these methods with my readers in sections called “How did they do it?” 

 

Q: What do you see as Harry Houdini’s role in the story?

 

A: Houdini was part of the generation of magicians that came after the Great Harry Kellar. Like his friend Kellar, Houdini used séance tricks in his act.

 

In the years following World War I and the influenza pandemic, spiritualism enjoyed renewed popularity because so many people had died.  

 

Houdini thought that mediums were cruelly deceiving and swindling the grieving survivors who were desperate to communicate with dead loved ones. He set out to expose these dishonest mediums by revealing how they produced ghostly appearances at their séances. 

 

Houdini’s campaign included publishing books and articles, giving public lectures, testifying before Congress, working with the police to identify and arrest scam artists, and incorporating medium exposures into his stage show.

 

He hired a young female detective named Rose Mackenberg to help him in this work. After Houdini’s sudden death in 1926, she carried on his mission and spent nearly 40 years uncovering ghost hoaxes.

 

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

 

A: I hope they’re entertained by the magic and engaged by the conflict between conjurors and mediums.

 

Besides that, I hope this true story shows them the importance of questioning and  analyzing what they hear and see. If young people develop critical thinking skills, they will be less likely to be swayed by anyone who tries to manipulate their beliefs and behavior.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My next nonfiction book will be released in Fall 2025. Called White House Secrets: Medical Lies and Cover-Ups (Calkins Creek/Astra), this book examines nine presidents whose serious illnesses were intentionally hidden from the public.  

 

Many of these medical conditions had negative consequences for the country, yet they remained secret, sometimes for decades. 

 

This will be the fourth book in my Medical Fiascoes series. The others are Blood and Germs (about Civil War medicine); Ambushed! (about the assassination and slow death of President James Garfield), and American Murderer (about the South’s hookworm epidemic and how it ended). 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Gail Jarrow.

Q&A with Timothy Jay Smith

 

 

 

Timothy Jay Smith is the author of the new novel Istanbul Crossing. His other books include Fire on the Island. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Istanbul Crossing, and how did you create your character Ahdaf?

 

A: My partner and I have been going to the same Greek island village at least once a year for the last 20 years. By sheer chance, Molyvos on the island of Lesvos became Ground Zero for the refugee crisis that peaked in 2015-2017. In a 12-month period, an estimated 500,000 refugees landed on the beach behind our village of 1,500 year-round residents.

 

We aided the refugees in many ways and had a lot of personal contact with them, which inspired me to write their story.

 

That was my intention when I started to write my last novel, Fire on the Island, but instead it evolved into a story of how the Greek villagers coped with the humanitarian crisis that had crashed over them like a tsunami.

 

In essence, it also became my homage to Greece, a country I fell in love with when I was 21 years old, and returned to it often, cumulatively spending some seven years of my life there.

 

But I still had my refugee story to write. Once a refugee landed on a Greek beach, I could pretty well predict what his or her steps would be to get to their ultimate destination in Europe.

 

What I didn’t know was how they got to the Turkish coast and onto rafts to cross the narrow but treacherous channel to Greece. I decided to find out, and that’s what led me to Istanbul Crossing, which is my refugee story.

 

How did I find Ahdaf? I went to Istanbul, hired a guy who worked for an NGO helping other Syrian refugees, and asked him to show me the city from the refugees’ perspective.

 

He had been a smuggler himself until he realized his high school French was good enough for him to give guided tours to French tourists. That – and working for the NGO – was what he was doing when I met him. He was enormously compassionate and eventually became the inspiration for my main character in Istanbul Crossing.

 

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

 

A: I mentioned that I went to Istanbul, but it wasn’t my first time. I’d been there a half dozen times, crossed Turkey twice, and traveled the length of Syria – so I felt I could set a story in those places with reasonable authenticity. Of course, my “research” also included my first-hand experience with the refugees in Greece.

 

What surprised me the most was how openly the people smugglers operated in Istanbul and also Izmir, another coastal town where refugees congregated, waiting to make the crossing to Greece. It was common knowledge in which public squares or cafés refugees could hook up with a smuggler.

 

Nevertheless, it was a situation fraught with danger and uncertainty. There were many stories of smugglers cheating refugees, or worse, endangering them by providing fake lifejackets, vastly overcrowded rafts, or insufficient fuel that left them stranded in the middle of the rough channel.    

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

 

A: With my prior four novels, I had opening and closing scenes in mind when I started writing them, which gave me a good sense of the emotional arc of the story I wanted to tell.

 

Of course, stories evolve. I always welcome those “Aha!” moments when, in the course of writing, something is revealed to me that I hadn’t foreseen, perhaps a character trait or plot point that nudges the story in a different direction or simply opens up new possibilities.

 

With Istanbul Crossing, I hadn’t envisioned its start or end. In fact, after my first research trip to Istanbul, I felt I had no idea what my story was going to be. That haunted me for a couple of days. I even avoided my desk.

 

On the third day, when I did finally sit at my desk, suddenly I was flooded with ideas. I knew who my main character was going to be, and what were his internal and external struggles.

 

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

 

A: I wrote Istanbul Crossing to give a human face to refugees. Not only those who arrived in Greece, but refugees everywhere who are fleeing wars, persecution or climate change. Unhappily, I think their numbers worldwide are going to increase exponentially.

 

Too often refugees are dehumanized and we lose sight of our shared humanity. That happened in Greece. That’s happening along America’s southern border, and in the foreseeable future will happen internally as our coastal cities become uninhabitable.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have the distinction of being 16th generation American; or as I’ve often described it, my ancestors arrived in the tailwinds of the Mayflower. I grew up with stories of distant relatives who were heroes and others who made sacrifices – all for America and her founding principles.

 

Given how divided Americans are today, and the negativity that’s been unleashed, it begs the question: what’s the real legacy of my ancestors’ sacrifices? I’m working on a new suspenseful novel that, in part, endeavors to answer that question.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: A couple of things.

 

A new edition paperback of my novel Fire on the Island will be published by Leapfrog Press at the end of April.

 

I also have a message for young people who are trying to figure out what to do with their lives. I started my career during the War on Poverty and spent the next decades working on programs to aid the poor. It was incredibly satisfying work.

 

While anti-poverty programs are less robust today, there is definitely a future in refugee aid, which would be equally satisfying with endless job opportunities.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Full disclosure: I judged a competition involving this novel.

Dec. 20

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Dec. 20, 1954: Sandra Cisneros born.

Q&A with Christa Kuljian

 

 

Christa Kuljian is the author of the new book Our Science, Ourselves: How Gender, Race, and Social Movements Shaped the Study of Science. Her other books include Darwin's Hunch. She lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Our Science, Ourselves, and how did you choose the scientists you focused on in the book?

 

A: I grew up in the Boston area in the 1970s, and in high school, I had a copy of the revolutionary guide to women’s health, Our Bodies, Ourselves, which was published by the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective.

 

In the early 1980s, I studied the history of science at Harvard and took a course with Ruth Hubbard called Bio 109: Biology and Women’s Issues. Hubbard was the first woman to achieve tenure in biology at Harvard in 1974, and she features in the book.

 

Her course taught about how scientists, including Charles Darwin, have upheld stereotypes and myths about women’s biology. The idea for Our Science, Ourselves grew from that formative experience in Hubbard’s course.

 

But it also had roots in another era. In 2016, I published Darwin’s Hunch: Science, Race and the Search for Human Origins about the history of paleoanthropology and scientific racism in South Africa.

 

The book explored questions that some of my history of science professors -- like Hubbard, Stephen Jay Gould, and Everett Mendelsohn -- might have asked. What influence did the social and political context have on the search for human origins? I immersed myself in research about the impact of racism and sexism in science in the 20th century.

 

After Darwin’s Hunch was published, I was struck by several stories that brought science and sexism into the popular media.

 

In July 2017, James Damore at Google wrote that “the gender gap in tech” likely exists because of biological differences between men and women.

 

In September 2018, Italian physicist Alessandro Strumia said that the low number of women in physics was proof that women were innately less capable than men and he suggested that male scientists were being discriminated against to give opportunities to women.  

 

Why were these myths about women’s biology still having an impact in the 21st century? I decided to go back to my class notes and look more closely at Ruth Hubbard’s research. Who had she worked with at the time? What were other scientists with a feminist awareness saying in the 1970s and ‘80s? I discovered a fascinating network of women.

 

Our Science, Ourselves follows the lives of Ruth Hubbard, Rita Arditti, Evelyn Fox Keller, Evelynn Hammonds, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Banu Subramaniam, and Nancy Hopkins.

 

None of these women scientists were born in Boston, but they all moved there to take a job, conduct research, or network with other scientists. And they all were shaped by the women’s movement and began developing feminist critiques of their science.

 

There was something about what was happening in Boston that was interesting to me. Part of that was the critical mass of colleges, universities, and scientists, but also the presence of social movements including Science for the People, the Combahee River Collective, and others.

 

Q: Author and professor Jenna Tonn said of the book, “Writing in lucid and accessible prose, and with a primary source base that is extensive and offers a strong background for understanding the personal dimensions of this history, Kuljian has something important to tell us about the origins of feminist science studies.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: “Lucid and accessible prose” is what I’m striving for! Although the University of Massachusetts Press is an academic publisher, they are interested in narrative nonfiction, which is what I write.

 

While the book can be a resource for faculty and students, the life stories of a network of women are accessible to a broader audience. The stories are based on many interviews and research in the archives, with the hope of better understanding the origins of feminist science studies.

 

Shirley Malcom, who has worked at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for 50 years, and is the coauthor of the important report The Double Bind: The Price of Being a Minority Woman in Science(1976), says, “This is a remarkable book about a remarkable time when remarkable women began to change the landscape of science, as community and as field of study.”

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

 

A: I have lived in South Africa for the past 32 years and I’ve written two other books of nonfiction that take place in South Africa.

 

Writing Our Science, Ourselves about a group of women in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s in the greater Boston area, where I grew up, was a wonderful project for me. It has been an honor to get to know each of the women in the book, and to pay tribute to them and their contributions.

 

One of the things I realized while researching this book is how many scientific contributions by women have been erased. I hope that the book will delight readers with the story of a particular time and place, and pique the readers’ interest about the existence of so many “hidden figures.”

 

Q: What do you see looking forward when it comes to feminist science studies?

 

A: I am a historian of science, so I tend to look back at history rather than forward.

 

Feminist science studies has made important contributions by exploring how scientific institutions became exclusionary and how scientific research questions and analysis can be biased (rather than always neutral or objective), thereby affecting the knowledge they produce.

 

These contributions will continue to be important in the future. The tools that feminist science studies have developed are critical to the sciences because they bring in marginalized perspectives, ask new questions, and develop new methodologies that help science account for gender and racial bias.

 

The questions that feminist science studies asks are important for the future: Who is doing science? Who decides on the research questions? What language are we using? Who is paying for the scientific research, and who does it benefit?

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I will continue to look for stories to tell about science and society, always considering issues of race and gender.

 

However, at the moment, I am working on a writing project about my Armenian family history focusing on my great-grandmother Semma Marachlian. I am expanding on an article I wrote for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.  https://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-29-armenian-genocide-relived/

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Our Science, Ourselves would make a great holiday gift, and the University of Massachusetts Press is having a holiday sale, offering 40 percent off Our Science, Ourselves if you use the code HOLIDAY at check out. https://www.umasspress.com/9781625348197/our-science-ourselves/ After the holidays, you can use the code UMASS20 to save 20%.

 

Thanks so much for your interest!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Anita McBride and Giovanna McBride

Anita McBride

 

 

Anita McBride and Giovanna McBride are the mother-daughter authors of the new children's picture book First Ladies Make History. Anita McBride's other books include Remember the First Ladies. She is the director of the First Ladies Initiative at American University. Giovanna McBride has also written the picture book Gigi at the White House!. She is a student at Texas Christian University.

 

Q: What inspired you to collaborate on First Ladies Make History?

 

Gigi: The success of my children’s book for early readers, Gigi at the White House, published by the White House Historical Association, encouraged me to propose writing another children’s book.  

 

My mom and I proposed collaborating together on doing the book about first ladies drawing from her recently published books, including a college level textbook, on the legacies of America’s first ladies. We had wonderful material to draw from in those books and adapt it for children. 

Gigi McBride

Q: How did you choose the topics to include in the book?

 

Anita and Gigi: The role of the first lady is so multi-faceted. We wanted to focus on how First Ladies have used their platform to address national and global challenges.

 

From Eleanor Roosevelt’s work on civil rights to Michelle Obama’s efforts to tackle childhood obesity, the book highlights issues where first ladies have made contributions like education, health, conservation, women’s rights, support for our military, and diplomacy. Our goal was to demonstrate the many ways First Ladies have influenced our society.

 

We also made sure the topics would resonate with children, showing how leadership takes many forms. We also wanted to show that through our history there are  common trends of the work that first ladies have engaged in and how they have built upon each other’s work. 

 

Q: Do you have a favorite First Lady, and how do you think the role of the first lady has changed over time?

 

Anita: It’s too hard to pick just one favorite! Each First Lady brings her own personality, interests, and strengths to the role.

 

What’s fascinating is how the role has evolved alongside society’s changing views on women and leadership and also how first ladies have communicated with the public over time.

 

From Martha Washington avoiding the press to modern first ladies using social media to connect directly with people, their public platform has grown significantly.

 

There are some aspects of the role that have not changed, especially the important role of White House hostess, but we have also seen how first ladies have expanded the role to be leaders on critical issues like education, health, and human rights.

 

Gigi: Jacqueline Kennedy is a first lady I admire because of her vision to establish the White House Historical Association to preserve the White House history and make it accessible to the all the American people. 

Q: What do you think John Hutton’s illustrations add to the book?

 

Anita and Gigi: John’s vibrant and engaging illustrations bring the stories of first ladies to life for young readers. His artwork captures key moments in history with a sense of energy and warmth.

 

Young children and developing readers use illustrations to help inform the words on the page and John does an incredible job of conveying stories in history in an attractive and engaging way. 

 

His illustrations show how multi-faceted the role is, from supporting our military and veterans to advocating for children’s health and education to representing our nation abroad.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

Gigi: I am going into my final semester of study to earn my Bachelor of Science in Education and will be student-teaching in the 4th grade up until my graduation in May 2025. 

 

Anita: I continue to do events  to promote my book Remember the First Ladies but am also excited to be working with the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, known as America250, established by the Congress to plan the celebrations of America’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Giovanna McBride.

Dec. 19

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Dec. 19, 1861: Italo Svevo born.

Q&A with Caitlin DeLems

 

Photo by Zweigle Ratiner Studios

 

Caitlin DeLems is the author of the new children's picture book Bea Breaks Barriers!: How Florence Beatrice Price's Music Triumphed Over Prejudice. She also has written the book Pitch Perfect and Persistent!.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write a picture book biography of composer Florence Beatrice Price?

 

A: Hands down, Bea (1887-1953) was a trailblazer! A trailblazer of perseverance for all women – especially female composers of classical music. Time and again throughout my research, I found women composers, each with a story of unwavering determination and complete dedication. And Bea stood out.

 

In the late 19th century, many women longed to have a career. Bea, like Amy Beach in my debut biography, was no exception. But society believed women musicians belonged in the parlor of their home playing short, simple songs, not on stage performing larger works. Many believed women were not smart enough to compose an entire symphony. Bea proved these naysayers wrong.

 

Florence B. Price broke barriers of racism, prejudice, and injustice to pursue her musical dream. She stood steadfast and eventually became the first Black American woman to have her symphony played by a major American orchestra. Bea later integrated several all-white music organizations and kept on going.

 

I wrote Bea’s story to share her quest as a woman composer who just wanted her music to be heard.

 

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

 

A: Research on Bea was not easy. There were minimal sources initially. But through close contact with renowned experts, Price scholars, and historians – who graciously gave of their time – I gathered a wealth of information to begin Bea’s story.

 

Later, with the release of the highly anticipated Dr. Rae Linda Brown’s masterful biography, The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price, I eagerly filled in the missing gaps.

 

During the historical period in which Bea lived, the extent of societal strictures and lack of acknowledgment and respect for women was abominable. My research brought me far more awareness into the complex struggles and obstacles female composer/musicians faced, including systemic racism and sexism, in a male-dominated music world.

 

I hope young readers will begin to understand what women like Bea overcame to pursue their lifelong dreams.

Q: School Library Journal called the book “an engaging introduction to an important, often overlooked figure in Black history.” What do you think of that description, and, if you agree, why do you think Price was overlooked?

 

A: I agree, Price was “often overlooked” by classical music circles dominated by White musicians during this period. But it’s important to remember that many Black musicians, composers, and artists, especially in Chicago where Bea resided, did not forget about Price. They continued to gather, play, and enjoy her music, even across the radio waves.

 

In my opinion, Bea was most certainly overlooked due to rampant racism and prejudice, as well as her gender.

 

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

 

A: Bea Breaks Barriers! is not just about music. Her story is all about perseverance! After reading Bea’s story I hope young readers will take away that they, too, can pursue their dreams and never, NEVER give up.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I recently finished the final passes of my third book in the trilogy of women composers in music. I’m honored that my manuscript is now in the hands of an amazing illustrator! It will be out in Spring 2027 with Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers.

 

Like many authors, I have several projects going on at once. Currently, I’m completing the revisions on my next biography and final revisions on a middle grade fiction novel (which I’m thrilled about).

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Yes! It is a privilege and honor to share this book with illustrator Tonya Engel who marvelously captures the essence of Bea! Her attention to detail and soft, pastel palette presents the emotional depth of the historical period. Tonya delights the reader with her ability to show movement and musicality through her art.

 

As a former classroom teacher, to have a second picture book biography (ages 7-10) in the hands of young readers is beyond my wildest dreams – and a life-long desire I’ve dared to only whisper. I am humbled by all who supported me on this writing journey, and ever-so-grateful to my editor, Carolyn Yoder, Calkins Creek and the Astra Team.

 

How immensely appreciative I am to have this splendid opportunity to share with your readers about Bea Breaks Barriers! How Florence Beatrice Price’s Music Triumphed Over Prejudice. Thank you.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Caitlin DeLems.

Q&A with Michael Hogan

 

 

 

Michael Hogan is the author of the new book Walking Each Other Home: Intimate Conversations on Writing and Life by Notable Poets of the 20th Century. His many other books include Abraham Lincoln and Mexico. He lives in Guadalajara, Mexico.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Walking Each Other Home?

 

A: The death in recent years of poets who were also friends with whom I had worked and shared the stage with: Sam Hamill, Richard Shelton, Reg Saner, Ray Bradbury. I realized that I should write my memories which included intimate conversations with them and others before they passed as well.

 

I especially wanted to include Marge Piercy who was ill and had been a special friend, along with Bill Merwin, and Bill Stafford, both of whom were unfamiliar to many of my students.

 

Q: Are there any stories that especially stand out for you?

 

A: Oh, yes! Reciting poetry on the back of a flatbed truck in Commerce City, Colorado with Charles Bukowski stands out. Being kissed by Allen Ginsberg on live TV (no, I am not gay) was another. Teaching a class with Ray Bradbury when he was in his 80s at Claremont College in California was yet another.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from this new book?

 

A: William Carlos Williams once wrote, “You can’t get the news from poetry, but people die every day from lack of what is found there.”

 

I hope that when people read this book, they will see something in the interviews, in the excerpts of poems offered by various poets, as well as their personal observations on life, that entice them to come back to poetry in a fresh way, and read some of these authors’ works, and maybe even write their own poems.

 

For teachers, (especially AP Lit teachers and creative writing professors), my hope is that they will find ways of helping students appreciate poetry written by masters, such as Nobel Prize laureates Seamus Heaney and Joseph Brodsky, as well as National Book Award recipients Jane Hirshfield and Naomi Shihab Nye, and seeing them as excellent models as they craft their own verse.

 

Q: You are an incredibly prolific author and editor--how do you do it?

 

A: I once missed a deadline for an MFA class assignment while on a fellowship and my professor at the time, Steve Orlen, gave me a low grade. He said, “Michael you’re a good writer, quite talented. But most writers fail, not from lack of talent, but lack of character.”

 

That stuck with me. I decided then to always turn in assignments on time, to become disciplined in my writing habits, to edit carefully, to seek advice, and to treat writing as a vocation, just as my teaching was.

 

I write every day and once I begin a project I set my word count, and don’t retire for the night until my quota for that day is realized.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: My two mentors, Richard Shelton and William Stafford, really helped with my writing.

 

Shelton suggested that if I was going to write about the Southwest, I should learn a bit about the biology and ecology of the Sonoran Desert and other locales. So, to him I owe my knowledge of the flora and fauna of Arizona, my friendship with the environmental activist Ed Abbey, and my love of the outdoors.

 

William Stafford’s suggestion that I work on syllables as well as words in the process of revision was immensely helpful because it gave my own free verse a rhythm and musicality that it would not have otherwise had. He also taught me to walk the edge of sentimentality without falling in its pit.

 

My recovery from alcoholism with the help of Tess Gallagher and Richard Hugo was, and still is, especially important. It reminds me each day of the importance of fellowship and service and being willing to surrender to a spiritual experience which is so crucial for recovery from addiction.

 

And, finally, I am forever grateful to those that helped me get through terrible days of grief following the death of my son, especially Jaime Sabines, the Mexican poet.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Michael Hogan.