May 29

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 29, 1917: John F. Kennedy born.

Q&A with Samuel J. Redman

 

Photo by Ashley Hawk Semrick

 

 

Samuel J. Redman is the author of the new book The Museum: A Short History of Crisis and Resilience. His other books include Prophets and Ghosts. He is associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Museum?

 

A: In January 2020, I had a meeting with an editor from NYU Press, Clara Platter. At the time, we spoke about a possible book about the present state of museums. It was an enjoyable meeting, but truthfully, I walked away from the conversation not knowing what the book might look like or if I should be the one to write it.

 

Just a few weeks later, however, coronavirus seemed to sweep around the world and extended lockdowns went into place. After the initial shock, I couldn't help but think about how museums had dealt with crisis moments in the past.

 

Once I started looking back on crisis moments in the past century or more, and how museums had faced these challenges, I realized there was an important book on the subject waiting to be written. 

 

Q: You begin the book with a description of a fire at the Smithsonian Institution in 1865. Why did you choose to start here?

 

A: At first glance, the Smithsonian fire in 1865 appears utterly devastating. The fire burns down much of the main building, destroys collections, and frightens many who see long-range preservation as a major goal.

 

In the next 20 or 30 years, however, something remarkable happens. The Smithsonian emerges from the fire to become even stronger than before. Congress infuses the Institution with additional funds. The building is rebuilt and improved. The museum hires additional professional staff. They work to clarify their goals for building collections.

 

What was surprising to me was how Smithsonian leaders used the disaster to successfully appeal for more support, clarify their mission, and address certain problems. The plan seemed to work as the museum expanded and started to break attendance records with visitors pouring in from across the country.    

 

Q: The scholar Raymond Silverman said of the book, “Redman deploys an innovative and provocative approach to considering the history of museums in the US during the twentieth century, framed in terms of how they responded to crises originating both within and outside the institution.” What do you think of that description, and how did you choose the crises on which you focused?

 

A: I'm honored by this comment as I have worked to bring out new perspectives on museum history for some time. Museums are almost always fascinating and complex, filled with stories speaking to histories of science, culture, and education as well as power, colonialism, race and racism.

 

As a historian interested in North American history and how the U.S. has evolved over time, museums become an important location to better understand these themes in our history.

 

What surprised me was that for how curious about museum history scholars have been for the last 30-40 years, very little has been written on crisis moments specifically. The literature on this is growing somewhat; several great new books are out about cultural institutions and World War II and on the subject of repatriation, for example.

 

But much less has been written on the 1918 influenza, Great Depression, the 1970 art strike, or how museums are wrestling with the multiple crises that they are facing now.

 

By looking more closely at these episodes, and reading what has been written about them against the grain, we can better understand what people's priorities have been and where the future of museums might be heading.

 

Q: What do you see looking ahead when it comes to the future of museums and their role in American society?

 

A: Historians are notoriously hesitant to predict the future, but in writing this book a few things became clear.

 

For one thing, future crises are impossible to predict exactly, which is what both makes them a crisis and impossible to fully prepare for. On the other hand, we repeatedly see museums facing some types of crises - for example, fires, floods, pandemics, and economic downturns.

 

These crises are often cojoined, for example, the 1918 influenza takes place as World War I is underway and just before the dramatic rise of ugly white supremacist violence and labor unrest taking place throughout 1919. The Art Strike in 1970 takes place as part of the growing tide of anti-Vietnam war protests.

 

Museums today face questions about the pandemic, but also major questions connected to the legacy of colonialism, racism, and economic inequality.

 

To me, a lesson that might be drawn from the book is that museums tend to fare better when they are honest about the challenges they face and confront them head-on, in a collaborative manner, and one that foregrounds the needs of the community, not just the needs of the institution. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Having just completed two new books, Prophets and Ghosts: The Story of Salvage Anthropology (Harvard, 2021) and The Museum: A Short History of Crisis and Resilience (NYU, 2022), my goal is to spend time with my family this summer.

 

I have also recently assumed the role of director of the UMass Amherst Public History program, an active and exciting nexus of scholars thinking about how to bring history to wider and more diverse audiences. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I hope anyone interested in U.S. history or museums will find this book to be valuable. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Monica Wellington

 

 

Monica Wellington is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book Eggs from Red Hen Farm. Her many other books include Apple Farmer Annie. She teaches at the School of Visual Arts, and she lives in New York City.

 

Q: What inspired you to create Eggs from Red Hen Farm?

 

A: I love maps. I love to travel and I love to carry maps with me. As I write this, I am in France, on a train up to Paris, and I have my favorite maps with me. I love keeping track of where I am, where I am going, and when I get lost, solving the puzzle of finding my way, all with the help of maps.

 

The idea for Eggs from Red Hen Farm started with my desire to make maps. I have several times included a map in previous books. I decided it was time to make a book with numerous maps - to have fun making a lot of maps!

 

One thing led to another… maps led to the idea of a journey. This book is about a day’s trip from country to city and back again. The idea of Ruby and Ned having a farm with chickens came later.

 

Q: Did you work on the text first or the illustrations - or both simultaneously?

 

A: For me a book always begins first with the pictures. I start with ideas of what I want to paint. When creating a picture book, so much more time is spent working on the illustrations.

 

It takes hours and hours, weeks, and months to plan out the pictures, with countless sketches and revisions, and then to paint the final pictures as perfectly as I can. I always want to make sure I am involved in a project that gives me the chance to work on pictures that will be totally absorbing during all that time.

 

Sometimes I have worked on writing a text first and then discover that it isn’t really giving me good opportunities to do pictures, and so I abandon that idea. Better for me to start with pictures first!

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book calls it a “winsome interactive picture book with STEM appeal.” What do you think of that description and what do you hope kids take away from the story?

 

A: I didn’t know the word “winsome” until it was used in a very positive review of one of my first books, All My Little Ducklings. Because of this, it is a special word for me and I am so happy when my books are described this way!

 

“Interactive” is another word that makes me happy because I do hope that reading my book is not a passive experience, that it does inspire a child to participate actively.

 

Recently I observed some kids together at school “reading” the map pages - they were pointing and tracing with their fingers, giggling, and saying, oops, the wrong way… let’s go this way instead…having fun figuring out the numerous routes.

 

It is great when a book connects with curriculum. I don’t start with that idea or goal, but if the book develops in that direction I am happy because it is how several of my books have found their way to so many children in schools (Apple Farmer Annie and Zinnia’s Flower Garden are two examples).

 

Q: How did you first get interested in creating picture books?

 

A: I went to art school and at that time I wanted to be a potter, which I pursued for several years after graduating. But then I was living in New York City, and it was a very difficult place to have a pottery studio.

 

I started making small-sized drawings about things I remembering from when I was a child in Switzerland. I started to think these might be good for a children’s book. I took some illustration classes at the School of Visual Arts, and then I was soon on my way. I have never looked back!

 

I love the interplay between words and pictures, creating a world that I am immersed in for a long time with each project, and then that the book goes out into the world to be shared with children and families.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Reem Faruqi

 

 

Reem Faruqi is the author of the children's picture book Amira's Picture Day. Her other books include Lailah's Lunchbox. She immigrated from the United Arab Emirates to Georgia as a teenager, and she lives in Atlanta.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Amira’s Picture Day, and how did you create your character Amira?

 

A: Years ago, my daughter was sick on Picture Day and devastated to miss her class photo. We actually took her to school late just for her photo (this was pre-covid times!) and then took her back home.

 

I remembered on Eid how we sometimes missed important days at school because we went to the masjid instead for the Eid prayer and celebration. I wanted to showcase the struggles a Muslim child might go through when a religious holiday falls on a school day. It can be hard wanting to be in two places at once!

 

I also have a niece called Amira so I used her name for the character.

 

Q: What do you think Fahmida Azim's illustrations add to the story?

 

A: I think her illustrations MAKE the story. Every time I read the book, I see something new and fun in there. The details are beautiful, colorful, and vibrant. She added humor to places where there wasn’t any humor before.

 

In the words of my parents who saw the book for the first time, “Fahmida is the real deal!”

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book says, “Faruqi effectively builds up the excitement to celebrate Eid and balances it with Amira’s distress at missing Picture Day—readers will see that both are important.” What do you think of that description, and what do you hope kids take away from the story?

 

A: I love that description as it captures my book and they gave us a starred review! I hope children will see that it is important for all children to get the opportunity to celebrate their religious holidays no matter what.

 

Q: How did you first get interested in writing for kids?

 

A: I’ve always loved working with children. Since I became an elementary school teacher, I remember the peaceful feeling I got when I pulled a book out at Read Aloud time.

 

When I gave up teaching to stay home to care for my children, I tried to write a children’s book. It took many tries and years before I finally got an offer on my first book, Lailah’s Lunchbox.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: A verse novel about a table tennis playing boy! I'm also reviewing the art for an upcoming chapter book of mine, Anisa’s International Day. Lastly, I'm reading as many books as I can because it's just so much fun and I call it my research.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: You can find me at www.ReemFaruqi.com – I’ve been photoblogging there since 2011! Thank you SO much for having me today Deborah!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

May 28

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 28, 1908: Ian Fleming born.

Q&A with Beatrice Hitchman

 

 

 

Beatrice Hitchman is the author of the new novel All Of You Every Single One. She also has written the novel Petite Mort. She is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Brighton in the UK.

 

Q: What inspired you to write All Of You Every Single One, and how did you create your cast of characters?

 

A: I was inspired by reading a story about the wife of renowned miserablist Swedish playwright August Strindberg, who allegedly had an affair with a woman during a crisis in their marriage. At the time, Strindberg and Mrs. Strindberg were living all around Europe.

 

I'm a big fan of his nihilistic, darkly romantic work, and I was drawn to this real-life question about his life, and the untold story of his wife's experience - we never get to hear from the women, do we?

 

At the same time, I was revisiting some of Freud's work, and was reminded of his case study Dora - another one where we seem to get to hear about the woman's experience only from the men around her. And so I thought: what if, what if, these two characters, Mrs. S. and Dora, somehow intersected?

 

The question of Europe was also in the mix. When I started writing the book, we were lucky enough to spend lots of time in Europe - this was pre-Brexit - and so I was thinking about the ways that this sense of Mitteleuropaischness (or Nordeuropaischness, I suppose) could be brought to life. 

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that particularly surprised you?

 

A: I spent some time in Vienna, but not as much as I'd have liked. Research-in-situ is important to get a sense of how the built environment and natural, social, cultural environments intermingle. But I really focused on literary representations of Vienna, which I think are what most people base their cultural understandings of a place on, anyway.

 

I have to say, I was surprised, and horrified, by the way the net closed so swiftly on Jewish people living in Vienna after the Anschluss in 1938.

 

I think one may sometimes think, when looking back at apocalyptic episodes in history: “Why didn't people run?” But now I understand that the systems seemed to close in throughout that year, in such a way that escape itself was foreclosed as an option. I had been naive to think otherwise. 

 

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

 

A: The book's title comes from a line in the book. Frau Berndt, everybody's favourite landlady and mother hen to the main characters, says expansively one evening that all of her tenants are her children, every single one. I was thinking a lot about what constitutes a family while writing, and I was drawn to this idea of non-biological ties.

 

The title also gestures to the interplay of the individual and mass populist moments, such as, unfortunately, the rise of Nazism that we see in the second half.

 

A title should be both a threat and a promise: so I like to think it's both an invitation to expansiveness and also, somehow, contains the seeds of something darker. 

 

Q: In a review of the novel for Women.com, Abby Cunningham says, “A touching and atmospheric ode to queer characters and their struggles during such a poignant time in history, we can guarantee you won’t put this one down until it's finished.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I'm delighted by her assessment. I wanted the book to be both a celebration of queer persistence and queer family, and hopefully a page-turner, so I'm thrilled. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm writing a novel set in France in three different times: 2005, 1940, and about 40,000 BC. My study is full of pictures of Neanderthals and books about pre-human art - it's on its way to becoming a cave, in fact. The novel promises to be either intricate and technically rewarding, or completely bananas. I just have to keep going so I can find out which. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely gorgeous cover. It's an adaptation of a design by Moser, but made far more inclusive and representative of the characters in the book. A career high. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Heather Chavez

 

 

Heather Chavez is the author of the new novel Blood Will Tell. She also has written the novel No Bad Deed. She lives in Santa Rosa, California.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Blood Will Tell, and how did you create your characters Frankie and Izzy?

 

A: As a younger sister myself, I always knew I wanted to explore this complicated dynamic, so this book evolved a little differently than my others. Usually, the premise comes to me first, but this time, Frankie and Izzy’s relationship was always going to be the heart of the book.

 

So, once I had that decided, I went to work figuring out how best to torture them—what event would put them most at odds with one another?

 

I also spent a lot of time in their heads, thinking about who they were, and how they interacted with one another, especially under stress. What drives them? What misconceptions lead them to make mistakes? What are their blind spots?

Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, “The author paints a moving portrait of sisters stumbling toward an adult relationship, perpetually driving one another crazy, but also loving each other deeply.” What do you think of that assessment, and how would you describe the relationship between the sisters?

 

A: I loved reading that because it captures the core of their relationship. Frankie loves Izzy, but she doesn’t always trust her. And Izzy has long relied on Frankie, but she also resents her for that interference. It’s often that way with people we love so deeply—the characteristics that draw us in can also frustrate us, especially if we see in them pieces of ourselves.

Q: The novel involves two different timelines--did you write it in the order in which it appears?

 

A: While I most often write the chapters in the order they appear, that wasn’t the case for Blood Will Tell. I knew the backstory as I wrote Frankie’s present-day timeline, of course, but when I got to the end of the book, I realized I’d limited myself by not having flashbacks. The resolution to one of the key mysteries, for instance, wasn’t fully realized.

 

So, once I was done with a draft of the book, I went back and created the Mercuryville chapters.

 

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

 

A: First, I hope readers are entertained. If I’ve accomplished that and nothing else, I’ve succeeded.

 

I love if someone finishes my book quickly. But I also hope it makes them feel something—maybe they reflect on their own relationships, or something in it makes them think. I had one reader tell me the relationship between the sisters touched her soul, and that’s the best kind of feedback.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently in edits on another standalone thriller with an entirely different but equally complicated relationship between two strong women at its core. While I can’t say more yet, I’m really excited to one day share these characters and their story with readers.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: I would love to give a shout-out to all the readers who leave reviews or tell their friends about books they love.

 

In that spirit, I would like to recommend four books I read and loved: For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing, The Family Plot by Megan Collins, Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson, and The Last Flight by Julie Clark.

 

I’ve been finding it a struggle to carve out time for reading, but I finished each of these books in a day.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Heather Chavez.