Q&A with Susan Shapiro Barash

 

 

 

Susan Shapiro Barash is the author of the new book Estranged: How Strained Female Friendships Are Mended or Ended. Her many other books include Tripping the Prom Queen. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Estranged?

 

A: I began researching this book six years ago, and felt it was an important topic that had not been addressed. I kept hearing stories about women - of all ages - struggling with their friends, sisters who no longer got along and had become estranged. And how disturbing this was and how it felt like failure.

 

I wanted to interview a diverse group of women from across the country to hear their experiences and as a way to let other women know they were not alone.

 

Q: You write, “What is notable is how women of all ages are cutting their losses—and this is a departure from the recent past. Rather than avoid the decline of an important friendship, they are facing it and acting on it. They are assessing the pros and cons of what it would be like to never see the friend again. Even if it is their only recourse, there is a sense of liberation.” Can you say more about that? What accounts for this change?  

 

A: As women have more power, live longer, reinvent themselves, and become more self-aware, their ability to leave a suboptimal friendship or sisterhood is a choice. This is about waking up and owning our decisions and seeking healthy friendships.

 

Q: What would you say to women who, rather than feeling liberated, mourn the loss of important friendships?

 

A: There is definitely loss associated with a break-up with an important friend. But there is also honesty and self-actualization. Some interviewees spoke of their grief and loss but also realized how much better off they would be without this unhappy connection. It is a process to move on, no question about that. 

 

Q: What impact do you see the pandemic having on female friendships and estrangements?

 

A: The pandemic was a wake-up call; people reassessed their lives and their choices. This included their friendships. And so it had an effect indeed.

 

There were also issues -- did you and your friend agree on vaxxing, on masks, did you and your friend want the same thing after the pandemic -- or had such a profound experience changed each person and they were no longer in two step?

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on my next novel. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: The experience of researching, interviewing, and writing Estranged was very meaningful to me personally. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

April 2

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
April 2, 1805: Hans Christian Andersen born.

Q&A with Jennifer Chiaverini

 

 

 

Jennifer Chiaverini is the author of the new novel The World's Fair Quilt, the latest in her Elm Creek Quilts series. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The World’s Fair Quilt?

 

A: In my previous novel, The Museum of Lost Quilts, the Elm Creek Quilters encounter unexpected financial difficulties that put the future of their beloved business in doubt. (Who could’ve foreseen that running the nation’s most renowned quilters’ retreat at a 19th-century manor in rural central Pennsylvania would be so wildly expensive?)

 

I knew my readers would worry about the fate of their beloved favorite characters if I didn’t resolve those issues promptly, so I decided that my next book would feature Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, octogenarian quilter and cofounder of Elm Creek Quilts, as she enlists the help of her friends to confront the calamity.

 

Sylvia often finds courage in lessons from history, so I began by sifting through her past, hoping to rediscover a significant event that might influence her newly uncertain present.

 

That’s when I remembered an incident I had included in the sixth Elm Creek Quilts novel, The Master Quilter.

 

When Sylvia’s friend and colleague, Gwen, a professor of American Studies, struggled to find a new research topic that would unite her twin passions of women’s history and quilting, Sylvia reminisced about a time decades before when she and her elder sister participated in the Sears National Quilt Contest for the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition.

 

Intrigued, Gwen plunged into historical research, and what she discovered convinced her that the extraordinary quilt contest should be the subject of her next book.

 

Although I shared Gwen’s fascination, the Sears National Quilt Contest appeared only briefly in The Master Quilter—but it definitely made an impression.

 

Wherever I traveled on book tour, curious readers would ask me whether the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair really had hosted such a magnificent quilt exhibit, or if I’d simply made it up. It was always very clear from their expressions that they hoped it was historical fact and not mere fiction.

 

One evening, at a library event in Wisconsin, a reader in the signing line passed me her copy of The Master Quilter and regarded me speculatively. “Gwen believes that there’s a whole book to be written about the Sears National Quilt Contest,” she remarked. “I hope you agree.”

 

I laughed and replied that I hoped it was true, for Gwen’s sake, and that seemed to satisfy the reader. Yet her comment lingered in my imagination ever after.

 

Perhaps I should write a novel focused on the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair quilt contest. Its cultural significance definitely merited a fuller depiction than the few pages I’d devoted to it in The Master Quilter.

 

The Bergstrom sisters had perfected the art of sibling rivalry, so it would be fun to show them overcoming their differences, or persevering in spite of them, as they collaborate on a quilt.

 

And since the contest had taken place during the Great Depression, an older, wiser Sylvia could draw courage and resilience from memories of that earlier time when the residents of Elm Creek Manor had come together to overcome uncertainty and financial hardship.

 

I’m so happy that all these years later, I’ve been able to weave the loose threads from an earlier novel into the continuing story of the Elm Creek Quilters—thanks to a timely observation from a clever reader.

 

Q: You’ve said that you do extensive research for your novels—can you say more about that, and about what you learned that especially surprised you?

 

A: I usually turn to primary sources such as memoirs, letters, newspapers, and government documents, as well as secondary sources such as biographies and historical accounts.

 

For The World’s Fair Quilt, newspaper articles about the Sears National Quilt Contest and the Chicago World’s Fair were absolutely essential.

 

As for secondary sources, the book Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World’s Fair by Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman was very helpful, and I highly recommend it for readers who want to learn more about the contest.

 

When I’m preparing to write an Elm Creek Quilts novel, I refer to my master timeline for the series to remind myself about important, fixed events in the lives of the established characters.

 

Often I’ll reread entire novels to make sure I haven’t overlooked anything that didn’t seem significant enough to add to my master timeline at the time, but might be rather important for the new story I want to tell.

 

For a historical Elm Creek Quilts novel like The World’s Fair Quilt, I need to do all of the above!

 

My historical research for The World’s Fair Quilt unearthed many details that surprised and impressed me.

 

The first was the astonishing size and breadth of the quilt contest itself. 25,000 quilters—roughly one of every 2,000 American women given the population at the time—submitted their finest handiwork to their local Sears, Roebuck and Company stores, where the top finishers advanced to regional competitions and then onto the finals in Chicago.

 

The tantalizing $1,200 grand prize was an enormous sum in those days, more than the average per capita income.

 

In honor of Chicago’s centennial, the theme of the World’s Fair was “A Century of Progress”; many savvy participants made sure to incorporate this theme into their designs, forever capturing their understanding of “progress” during the Great Depression and reflecting the nation’s mood during an extremely challenging era.

 

I was also surprised to learn that the grand prize-winning quilt, “Star of the Blue Grass,” was presented to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt a few days before Christmas 1933. It was kept at the White House for a time, but at some point it was moved, lost, or stolen. Nothing in the historical record remains to explain what became of it. That’s a mystery I’d love for someone to solve.

 

Q: The Library Journal review of the novel says, “It’s been 25 years since Chiaverini introduced readers to the Elm Creek Quilts series, and she shows no signs of slowing down, deftly stitching two storylines together in this offering…” What do you think of that description?

 

A: That’s very gratifying to hear. I must be doing something right if it all seems so swift and effortless! I still love writing as much as I did when my first novel, The Quilter’s Apprentice, was published in 1999, and I hope to continue writing as long as readers still want to hear from me.

 

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

 

A: I hope that readers will be inspired to emulate Sylvia when they face difficult times, that they’ll find strength in community and in remembering the many courageous people who overcame great challenges in the past. Find your community, take heart, and be undaunted.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My next novel, The Patchwork Players, stars a favorite character first introduced in my third novel, The Cross-Country Quilters—Julia Merchaud, an acclaimed, Emmy-winning actress and star of the enormously popular historical drama series A Patchwork Life.

 

When several members of the cast decide not to return for a seventh season, Julia concocts a brilliant scheme to convince them to stay.

 

Five years before, her visit to Elm Creek Quilt Camp had been a truly life-changing experience. Not only had she learned to quilt, but she’d also formed profound, lasting friendships with several of her fellow campers.

 

She’s absolutely certain that if her castmates can share a similar bonding experience, they’ll happily abandon their other plans and remain with the series indefinitely. Unfortunately, Julia’s scheme is not quite as brilliant as she thinks it is, and things go badly awry.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Since I’m so fascinated by historical events and courageous historical figures, sometimes readers ask me why I write historical fiction rather than biography or another form of nonfiction. If knowing our history is so important, shouldn’t we rely upon historic fact as recorded in memoirs, biographies, official records, and history textbooks?

 

Certainly these are valuable resources—I use them myself—but I believe that works of fiction, poetry, and drama are also essential for all that they offer the reader.

 

Historical fiction in particular engages the imagination in a way that a list of facts and dates does not. It allows us to immerse ourselves in a character’s perspective, making their experiences more immediate and real and relatable.

 

Historical fiction perhaps more than any other genre evokes the reader’s empathy for people quite different from themselves, developing an emotional intelligence that ideally extends beyond the printed page into the reader’s own life.

 

The practice of seeing the world from someone else’s perspective develops one’s empathy. In learning to understand fictional characters, their richly complex lives, their times, and the challenges they faced, we learn to understand real people better. I believe—I hope—that this can lead to a more peaceful, more just world.

 

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

Q&A with Elise Hooper

 

Photo by Chris Landry Photography

 

 

Elise Hooper is the author of the new novel The Library of Lost Dollhouses. Her other books include Angels of the Pacific. Also an educator, she lives in Seattle.

 

Q: You write in your new novel’s Author’s Note that the idea came from your own family dollhouse. Can you say more about that?

 

A: When I was 7, I received a dollhouse for Christmas that had been built in the late 1800s for my great-grandmother and passed down to my grandmother, then my mother, then me.

 

As a girl, I played with that dollhouse for hours and learned many creative skills—like sewing, knitting, painting, and basic woodworking—to make tiny furnishings for the dollhouse. It taught me to view at the world as a place of possibility, where anything could be adapted for the dollhouse.

 

During that time I spent playing, I also learned how to tell stories, and this turned out to be a skill that shaped my interest in writing.

 

Decades later when I finished my fourth novel and was considering what to write next, I thought about how much my old dollhouse charted the course for my creative life and decided to write about it.

 

But the dollhouse was a mess. Peeling and stained wallpaper, broken pieces, decrepit furniture—everything needed help, so as I brought it back to life, I developed ideas for my book’s characters and plot.

 

Q: How did you create your character Tildy, and how did you choose the historical figures to include in the novel?

 

A: For Tildy, I knew I wanted a character whose life had grown very small. I imagined a woman who had experienced loss and grown isolated. Her work at the library would be her only outlet to a wider world, but discovering a hidden pair of dollhouses would disrupt this narrow existence and set her on a journey to rediscover herself and create new relationships.

 

As for the historical figures, I’ve always been interested in Isabella Stewart Gardner and her museum, so I imagined a Californian version of her, complete with library. The other real-life women crept into the story organically as my dollhouse maker found new clients.

Q: The novel covers a lengthy period of time--how did you research it, and what did you learn that especially intrigued you?

 

A: Of all my books, this one required the least amount of “traditional” historical research, meaning I didn’t need to sit down and read big books about world wars, the Great Depression, and other heavy topics, because world events remain in the background of this novel.

 

I already knew most of what I needed from those periods, although I did search out very specific aspects of how illusions have been used in wars—that’s how I uncovered the history of Fake Paris during World War I and Boeing’s Wonderland during World War II.

 

Instead, I focused most of my research on the history of dollhouses and the miniaturists who crafted them. I learned how women throughout Europe used dollhouses as status symbols to show off their wealth, and in Germany, young women used dollhouses to learn how to run a home. It wasn’t until mass manufacturing after World War II that dollhouses as toys became widespread.

 

After I discovered Frances Glessner Lee (1978-1962), a woman who built tiny dioramas of crime scenes to help train law enforcement agents, I knew the dollhouses in my story would also hold clues that would reveal the hidden truths about the women who had once owned them.

 

I was also fascinated by how Walt Disney initially envisioned Disneyland as a traveling miniatures show and knew he’d need to be a figure in the book.

 

As I delved deeper and deeper into the history of dollhouses, I noticed that miniatures tend to grow in popularity during difficult times.

 

For example, at the end of World War I Queen Mary commissioned a grand dollhouse from England’s leading artisans as a way of lifting the nation’s spirits. After the dollhouse was finished, over a million and half people showed up to see it exhibited.

 

In the United States, the Art Institute of Chicago’s well-known Thorne Rooms and Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle were created and exhibited during the Great Depression to raise money for charitable causes.

 

And then in 2020, while people were stuck in their homes during the pandemic, another flourishing of modern miniatures took hold once again and captured people’s imaginations on social media. I love this proof of how art plays an important and positive role in our lives.

 

Q: The writer Marie Benedict said of the book, “As Tildy solves the dollhouses' mysteries, she also answers long-standing questions about herself in this compelling tale.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love it! I believe good art challenges us to be more reflective and thoughtful about ourselves and the world around us, so it’s my hope that Tildy grows and changes as she spends more and more time with the dollhouses.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently at work on a novel set in 1950s Seattle, which is fun because this is the first time I’ve written about where I live. At the moment, that’s all I can say!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: If you want more adventures in dollhousing, follow me on Instagram at @elisehooper. In June I’ll be heading to a week-long school on the coast of Maine run by the International Guild of Miniaturist Artisans to learn more about making miniatures. I can’t wait!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Elise Hooper.

Q&A with Sharon G. Flake

 

 

 

 

Sharon G. Flake is the author of the new young adult novel The Family I'm In. Her other books include the YA novel The Skin I'm In. She worked as a youth counselor and also worked for the University of Pittsburgh in public relations, and she lives in Pittsburgh.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Family I’m In?

 

A: Young men. I meet them all over the nation. They share bits of their lives with me, and unabashedly admit to loving my books and seeing themselves in my characters.   

 

In this novel, I wanted to delve into friendships between young men, as well as their relationships with their fathers.  As a novelist, I want to give male readers the space to feel seen, heard, and valued; to be vulnerable. A good book can do that and more.

 

Q: What do you see as the relationship between this new novel and your previous books The Skin I’m In and The Life I’m In, and how do you think your characters have changed from one book to the next?

 

A: From the minute The Skin I'm In hit bookshelves in 1998, readers clamored for more. And frankly, that love and appreciation for the characters, storyline, and author are equally as strong today. 

 

That is also one reason I think The Life I'm In, the second novel, became a finalist for one of the biggest literary prizes in the world. In this novel, readers get to see Maleeka in a whole new light--self-sufficient and independent, establishing clear boundaries, and speaking her truth. In the first novel she was bullied; afraid of her own shadow.  

 

Maleeka's tormentor,  Char, evolves in the second novel as well. Truth is, many readers despised Char in the first novel. But they were curious about her background, and wanted a better life for her.

 

I am happy to report that Char becomes an overcomer, who learns forgiveness, the value of second chances, and empathy. But it's a long road for her, one that also involves Human Trafficking.

 

The boys tell their own story in The Family I'm In. Any questions readers may have had about John-John and his feelings for Maleeka are answered in this novel.  

 

All four main characters from the first novel are weaved in through the others. Maleeka, John-John, and Char get to narrate one novel each: The Skin I'm In, The Life I'm In and The Family I'm In.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of The Family I'm In called it a “thought-provoking portrayal of growing up and defining yourself as a young man.” What do you think of that description? 

 

A: I think they got it right, in part. I wanted male readers to explore for themselves what it meant to be a young man, a Black one especially. 

 

I want them to feel vulnerable enough as readers to have a multitude of conversations with themselves and their peers about what it means to be a young man today, how beautiful and how tough it might be, how understood and misunderstood they think they are. 

 

In other words, I want my book to be one of the pathways that young boys take on the road to expressing and better understanding themselves and their world. 

 

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

 

A: As an author, I know very little at the start of a novel. With The Family I'm In, I  knew I wanted to write about young men from The Skin I'm In, but not much more. I like to follow my characters, to trust them on the journey. 

 

Of course at times I have to tell them they are headed in the wrong direction or about to make more work for me. But I am a good follower, and I like to trust my gut as an author. 

 

As a result, readers feel that element of surprise on every page and tell me so. They like how bold and honest my characters are. And that they are not perfect, but telling relatable stories that have long-lasting impact. I love what I do!

 

Q: What are you working on now? Will you return to these characters again?

 

A: Currently, I am writing a follow up to my middle grade novel Once In a Blue Moon.  

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Readers can reach out to me on Facebook, and twitter, along with Instagram and Tik Tok.  I love to hear from them.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Matt Forrest Esenwine

 

 

 

Matt Forrest Esenwine is the creator of the new anthology of children's poetry A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World. His many other books include Flashlight Night. He lives in New Hampshire.

 

Q: What inspired you to create A Universe of Rainbows, and how did you choose the poems to include?

 

A: As someone who writes a lot of children’s poetry, I'm always trying to think of new ideas for poetry collections.

 

It was near the end of January 2019 as Tara Lazar's idea-creating event Storystorm was winding down, and the concept of rainbows came to me. And not just normal “rainbows” that we think of - I mean, everything from prisms to rainbow scarabs to the Morning Glory Pool at Yellowstone!

 

So I spent a couple of weeks just researching all the rainbow-type things I could find and settled on 22 potential subjects. And the more I thought about how rainbows are symbolic of hope and diversity, the more I realized it might work better as a poetry anthology than simply a collection.

 

So I began reaching out to a number of poet friends like Charles Ghigna, David Harrison, Jane Yolen, Charles Waters, and others just to see if they'd be interested or willing to contribute a poem, should I manage to sell it - and if possible, if they'd be willing to write a poem in advance, that I could use in my proposal.

 

This way, when I approached a potential publisher, the editor would know (or at least assume, ha!) that I knew what I was doing and that I could assemble a substantial, esteemed contributor list. Sure enough, it worked!

 

Once I signed the contract and got the go-ahead from my editor Kathleen Merz at Eerdmans, I began contacting everyone to let them know the good news, and to ask if they would begin working on their poems.

 

Rather than use an open submission process with folks from all over submitting random poems, I organized it the way my friend and mentor, Lee Bennett Hopkins did: I offered each poet a specific subject, and if they agreed to it, they would write a poem about that specific subject.

 

That way, I knew who was writing about what, and honestly, with the level of talent I was working with, I never had to worry about the quality of a poem!

Q: What do you think Jamey Christoph’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: Oh, they add SO MUCH! Rainbows are, by their very nature, utterly visual phenomena - so having someone like Jamey come in and bring color and life to each subject (and poem) was just a beautiful thing.

 

Some of his illustrations include human interaction; others do not, but each one places the emphasis on the beauty of the subject, and he did a simply fantastic job. 

 

What's even cooler is that he recently moved to New Hampshire, so we're planning on doing some dual bookstore events, which should be a lot of fun!

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book says, “Appealing poetry and cogent science writing combine for a unique take on the ever-captivating rainbow.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Well, I think it's pretty darn accurate!

 

But there's really so much more to the book. For a first-ever poetry anthology, I am amazed at its scope: this is a 48-page collection of 22 poems with sidebars for each poem, brilliant illustrations, and back matter that includes a glossary and a list of places to find additional information on the subjects.

 

It is literally a one-stop shop about rainbows and the poetic language they deserve. 

 

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

 

A: I hope they find something new about rainbows they didn't know before!

 

Perhaps a young child will read my poem about the Fly Geyser in Nevada, which is located on land owned by the Burning Man Foundation. Geothermal digging back in the '60s opened up a vent that began spewing water and minerals in the air and we now have an amazing tribute to Nature's ability to create beauty from of mankind's mistakes.

 

Or maybe someone fascinated with science will see the rainbows secretly hidden in the wings of fruit flies - which can only be seen with a microscope - and will want to learn more after having read Lee Wardlaw’s “The Fruit Fly’s Secret.” (They might even learn a new poem, if they investigate which famous poems Lee references in her own poem!)

 

With each and every page, there are so many things to learn - a scientific fact, a new poetry form, an unusual place, animal, or plant!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have another poetry anthology with Eerdmans that will likely not be out for another couple of years, and many other proposals I'm submitting (along with multiple picture book manuscripts). I'm also about two-thirds of the way through my first middle grade verse novel!

 

Working without an agent, it takes longer to sell my manuscripts because I'm submitting everything directly to publishers, but I love the relationships I've been able to develop with so many editors.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I want everyone to know how helpful Kathleen was in balancing art with text! We worked closely in making sure the poems were as perfect as could be, as well as revising all the sidebars and back matter. It was a tremendous amount of work, but so rewarding.

 

Beyond that, I think authors who are trying to get traditionally-published should know it can be done - and be done without an agent - but it requires a lot of time, work, and craft-honing. It also takes networking and being willing to make connections.

 

As for readers, I'd like them to know how much I appreciate them, whether they are the ones buying my books, reading the books, or both. Every book sold, reviewed, shared - or simply enjoyed - is another reason why I love what I do. And I couldn't do this without buyers and readers!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Matt Forrest Esenwine.

April 1

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
April 1, 1929: Milan Kundera born.