Happy Birthday, Birdman

Today Birdman, aka Mark Norton, would have been gleefully observing his birthday.

In September, one of the tales of his childhood will be available as a new picture book, NIGHT JOB, published by Candlewick Press and beautifully illustrated by Brian Karas. I hope some of you will have a chance to look at it. It’s really quite lovely, just as Mark was.

“What, if anything, in your life has influenced your writing the most?”

                                                     editor, agent, inspiration, muse, beloved friend, Brenda Bowen

Reading and writing provided me escape when I was young. Writing, even when I was a fledgling author, supplied me with an identity and a network of wonderful people from whom I could learn. It filled a deep hole in my soul and gave me a multitude of reasons to embrace each day, the good and the bad of it. So I suppose it could be said that no one single thing, but, instead, everything, my entire unique and particular life, has influenced my writing the most. Perhaps that’s a very broad answer but it’s an honest one and one I suspect holds true for most writers.

for additional information: http://www.childlitassn.org/phoenix-award

“Do you ever team up with any other authors to write a book?”

There have been a couple of projects in which I’ve attempted to team up with other authors. Once, Ann M. Martin and I dipped our toes into a two-voice novel, but neither of us loved the direction the book was taking and so we agreed to jump ship together. Another time I was part of a group of authors attempting to create a single story. Though some of the book sparkled (I’m sorry to say not my part), the project failed to realize its full potential and was mercifully put out of its misery.

“Did any of your friends or family help you write THE MUSIC OF DOLPHINS?”

 

My friends and family help me with every book project, from listening to me blather on about my subject as I go deeper and deeper into the research, to critically reading the manuscript, sometimes repeatedly, as I do revisions. In the case of THE MUSIC OF DOLPHINS, my parents and my aunt were particularly helpful in connecting me with the Florida Coast Guard, who agreed to take me up in a helicopter and fly me over the Florida straits. Unfortunately, because of weather conditions, we were unable to go through with our plans. The other connection my family made for me on that same research trip went a good deal more successfully. I visited a dolphin research center in the Tampa area and spent time with a remarkable male dolphin named Sunset Sam. What I learned from my time with this highly intelligent cetacean unquestionably informed my portrayal of Mila in the book.

“What inspired you to write OUT OF THE DUST?”

Feedback from my friend and colleague Eileen Christelow on a picture book manuscript (an early draft of COME ON, RAIN!) set me on the path to OUT OF THE DUST. As soon as I turned my attention to dust, agriculture, the country’s bread belt, and the impact of the Dirty Thirties on our country, I was hooked.

“Do you know any famous people?”

I suppose that all depends on how you define “famous”. I do know people whose names are familiar to you and count them among my dearest friends.

Here is one small group of writers and artists with Vermont connections assembling for a summer meal.

“Are you working on a book at the moment?”

 

Thank you for asking! This year I have been writing a poem each day. The project, inspired by Julie Reimer, a dear librarian friend from Minnesota, has led me to some fascinating and surprising places in my work. So far, one book, a picture book with the working title of THUMB, has come out of this year-long project. We’re nearly at the end of our year now and I’m not certain whether I’ll continue into the coming year, though it has been such a revelation for me I suspect I might indeed continue. I also intend to look at the 365 poems I’ve produced and see whether I might like to publish the best of them. What do you think?

“Where do ideas come from?”

Ideas come from so many places. Sometimes, when I’m reading the work of other writers, I feel a finger of inspiration tickle my brain. I’ve transformed magazine and newspaper articles into novels and picture books. Concerts, lectures, documentaries, television and radio interviews can also become story catalysts. Occasionally a fan letter will open up a possible avenue to a story, or an overheard conversation in the doctor’s office, or someone sitting across the aisle from me in the theater. I trawl my own life, both my childhood and my adult years, for story ideas, too. Not every experience leads directly to a book, but every experience holds that potential within it.

“What do you do for fun?”

I love to knit, hike, take photographs, read, watch movies, attend lectures and concerts,

I love listening to  National Public Radio. I love  cooking and eating good food.

I love spending time with friends and family. I love going on adventures. I love painting watercolors.

I love meeting new people and discussing the world both large and small.

And so much more, so, so much more.

“In SAFEKEEPING, an orphanage in Haiti is an important memory for Radley. You visited a real Haitian orphanage. Was that the inspiration for this book?”

In fact I have never visited a Haitian orphanage. When I was in the process of creating Radley’s character I decided I wanted her out of the country when the U.S. began to unravel. Ever since I read a beautiful book by Frances Temple called TASTE OF SALT and the exquisite MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS by Tracy Kidder and the extraordinary work of Edwidge Danticat, I have been more than a little interested in Haiti. I decided to place my protagonist there at the beginning of SAFEKEEPING. By coincidence, a young Brattleboro woman, Mariam Diallo, was recognized in our local newspaper (the Brattleboro Reformer) for her volunteer work in Haiti. I contacted Mariam and she became an indispensable resource for creating Haiti with authenticity and power.