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 Featuring author & illustrator
Erin Hourigan Email interview by John Repplinger February 12th, 2024 Erin Hourigan is an award-winning author and illustrator who lives in Portland, Oregon. She grew up in Southern California, playing in the waves and dreaming up stories everywhere she went. She studied illustration at Cal State Fullerton before moving to Oregon, where she has learned to trade the waves for pine trees and rivers. She loves to travel and whether she is out on a hike, or people watching in a coffee shop, you will almost always find her with a sketchpad and pencil in hand. Erin’s picture books range from families finding joy in some of her favorite landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, to a personal story about a daughter learning about her father’s depression. Thank you Erin for taking the time to do this interview. It is always fun to start out with an icebreaker question, so your first question... If you had to swap your legs with any animal, which animal would you choose and why? I really want to be a seagull so I guess I’d trade my legs for wings. The way they float around the rocks at sunset looks like they are doing it for no purpose other than having fun and it looks like a blast. Thank you! You are an author and illustrator of four children’s books: When Winter Comes, When Summer Comes, When Fall Comes, and In the Blue. In the Blue was your debut as an author–congratulations on this major accomplishment by the way. Can you tell us about how you got involved with illustrating and writing children’s books? I always wanted to be an artist of some kind but didn’t know exactly what I would do for a career. When it was time to choose a college, I lucked out that my sister was going somewhere with a strong illustration/animation department so I went there. A couple of my professors were passionate about picture books and had started a masters program focused on that. One of them introduced me to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and I started going to events. I learned a ton about the industry, had some really valuable critiques at conferences, and met my critique group and other Portland author/illustrators through the SCBWI. I had an online portfolio and would submit where I could. One or all of those things eventually led to me working a few freelance jobs here and there, and getting my first agent (who I parted ways with after over a year of not getting any work-turns out she was a fraud, eek). I kept submitting and going to conferences until I got an email from Little Bigfoot asking if I would like to illustrate a book about a family exploring nature in the winter. That couldn’t have appealed any more to me! That book did well enough that they decided to do a series. Meanwhile, I met my second/current agent while attending an SCBWI retreat, we hit it off and she loved and believed in a story I had written about depression. Several months later, we had sold In the Blue. :) I feel like that doesn’t fully explain the years long gaps of not working, rejections, and crushing self doubt, so know that all that is in there… a lot! From your website, Erinhourigan.com, you say that you studied illustration at Cal State in college. Were there any specific classes that helped hone your artistic style and skills? I think more than anything, my two professors that became my mentors (Cliff Cramp and Christian Hill) had a huge impact on me. Class wise, Sequential Art and Narrative Illustration were huge. I learned about composition, adding story telling details, page turns, avoiding the gutter, character and background design, and even writing concepts like the Hero’ Journey and plot structure. Style wise, it took me years after school to figure out what my style was. Also, lots of critiques at conferences telling me over and over that my sketches in my book dummies were way more compelling than the digital art I had in my portfolio. Finally, I remembered I love drawing with pencils so I should use them! I still try new ideas and materials out to see if they work. It took a lot of that to figure out how I wanted to make the art for In the Blue. You are also a fifth grade teacher. How has working as a teacher influenced your illustrations and stories? Do you have examples of how children provide inspiration in your stories? It’s my first year teaching fifth grade. [My students] all have told me I need to write a story about fifth graders (specifically them) now, but I don’t know what that would be yet. I did my student teaching with second graders and a couple of them have come to mind when I’m writing. My nieces and nephews spark lots of ideas, and they provide great references for my art (how kids move and sit, what they choose to wear, their proportions, etc.). But ultimately, I think I do my best writing when it speaks to and about little me. So those kids from my 2nd grade class who popped up in stories I was writing were going through something and feeling something that I could still remember very freshly feeling or I had been through. Otherwise, I’m too tempted to focus on all the adorable, weird, or silly things kids say/do and that’s not really that appealing to them as readers. On your website, you claim to “almost always have a sketchpad and pencil in hand.” What kinds of things do you sketch? What is the illustration process like for you? And what other mediums do you use? Going back to my college professors, we were required to fill a sketchbook in a couple of classes each semester. I was AWFUL at that! But it made me have to start drawing random stuff from life just to try to get those pages filled, and wouldn’t you know it, it worked. So, when I’m sketching now, I draw what’s around me. I take a sketchbook on hikes, when I travel, when I get coffee... and I draw people, the environment, plants, animals, anything really. I think that ends up helping a lot with my illustration process. I don’t do a ton of character sketching or lots of different thumbnails. I probably should! But I think, especially when I am illustrating things I have already spent a lot of time sketching at random, I have a reference for it already and can jump right in. Like a lot of artists, I also like my sketches more than my final art when it comes to the gesture or pose of a character, so I try to keep my sketch to final drawing as close to each other as possible. That might mean I scan my sketch, blow it up in photoshop and print it out to trace onto my paper, or a lot of times I do a super messy thumbnail and then do a final sketch on the paper directly so hopefully it keeps the looseness. I use watercolor, color pencil, gouache, and graphite in my illustrations (same things I use when I sketch, but I sketch in pen a lot too). I keep trying to like digital mediums. I have friends that make gorgeous things in ProCreate but I can’t seem to like anything I do with that. Your beautiful illustrations are filled with small details. When Winter Comes, for example, there is a two-page spread with a cougar stalking after a herd of deer, the deer are prancing away, there is a fox in mid-leap into the snow, mice are asleep in their burrow, there is a spray of snow as a rabbit dashes madly to its hole, and all of this takes place in a scene that is snowing (white on white is challenging). How do you decide on the small details? I feel like I keep referencing college, but one of my professors (Cliff) noticed the projects I turned in all used a very narrow level of contrast. And it’s something I keep doing. I have to really push myself to add things that are high contrast (value or intensity), so I think working on snowy scenes pairs well with that tendency in me to want to use a narrow subtle value and color range. With the season books like, When Winter Comes, we had talked about needing to make sure we showed a wide variety of wildlife so the reader can see how there are so many animals that are active in every season even when we can’t see them. So that, combined with thinking about what would have made me get super excited to point out to the grown up reading to me when I was little, or what could a parent/teacher/caretaker ask a child about to see if they could find it so they can spend time with the images on each spread, led me to want to add lots of detail. Basically, what would make a kid go “Oooh!” (Hopefully) There appear to be several Pacific Northwest references in your work. Mount Hood seems to make a few cameos, with more or less snow depending on the time of year. A Portland-like background with children walking under a bridge. Are those intentional Northwest references or are they coincidentally similar? Those are 100% Portland and Pacific Northwest references. The kids walking under a bridge was something I drew when I got back from a run and I saw some pre-K kids all holding onto their rope with their teacher walking along the water front. I thought, a, that’s adorable, and b, how cool would it have been to be a tiny human walking under the Hawthorne bridge and hearing all those cars rumbling up above you. For “When Winter Comes,” I worked with a local publisher and the focus was on including scenes of the Pacific Northwest, so I chose Mt Hood as my inspiration. It’s not exact, but HEAVILY implied. Glad you caught it. Rainier is my inspiration for When Summer Comes and touches of the Oregon Coast and the North Cascades are what I was thinking about for When Fall Comes. It’s really hard to not naturally start making art and stories about the area you’re living or somewhere you love. In the Blue, published by Little Brown Book, is about a girl who learns about her father’s depression. It was a 2023 Schneider Family Book Award honoree. Can you talk about how your choice of colors in this book adds value to the story? And why did you choose this particular age for the main character? Illustrating this book [In the Blue] was the biggest challenge. I had it written for a while but could not figure out how I could show the emotions and not have it feel too heavy or like an after school special, which is what would have happened if I illustrated it more literally as I did on previous books. I wrote the story in first person so I needed it to sound like how a child would talk about emotions. It’s nothing new to use colors to talk with kids about emotion, so I used that same language in my writing. I knew that would make sense to a lot of kids. I went back and forth for a while over should I use color more or the idea of waves and storms so then it became a matter of what makes the most sense visually. My editor got a very different version of the art (maybe a halfway realized version) but she still got it and with her and my art director’s encouragement, I started experimenting more. I chose a few gouache colors that felt like they expressed the different emotions I needed and then made a few pages where I mixed the colors mostly on the paper. Then I laid tracing paper over the painted paper and drew the characters and scene. After transferring that drawing I went straight in with color pencil. My art director encouraged me to fill in the characters more and add more color to the outline, and then we had our formula, which I love and never thought would be something I would make. I think one of the first things people say when they flip through it, is “Wow, it’s so colorful.” And that makes me so happy because it is a heavy book, and it end ups being filed on a back shelf under “emotional health and other issues,” but it’s also a beautiful book and I think pretty unique looking in its little corner of the bookstore. I don’t know if I was super conscious of the age I chose the character to be, but she is the same age as I was when I was closest with my dad and when he was the most involved in my life. I think that’s why. It felt true. She is me as a little girl, not understanding how we could be having so much fun and he could be so vibrant one day and then scream at me or lay in bed all day, the next. If someone had read me this book when I was the main character’s age, I don’t know if I could express how I would have felt, but that’s why I wrote it. I feel really lucky and honored that other people saw the value in it too. Do you have any projects or books that you’re working on that you would like to mention? I am working with Little Bigfoot Books again on a picture book called, A Home for Chocolate: The Real Life Story of an Orphaned Moose, that will be coming out next summer (2025). So I get to paint moose and the PNW again. Other than that, first year teaching is no joke and it takes a ton of my creative, emotional, mental, and physical energy so I am putting bits and pieces of some stories I’ve been working on for a while together. One of those is a follow up to In the Blue, that is about overly optimistic vs acceptance. Others are inspired by my current surroundings in Bandon, OR, think Rachel Carson and of course seagulls. We’ll see what comes of them. Thanks again Erin for your time and for the wonderful interview. Good luck with your upcoming book, A Home for Chocolate. To learn more about Erin or her online portfolio, please visit https://www.erinhourigan.com.  Beyond the Cuckoo’s Nest: Oregon Author Ken Kesey
(Previously published on Oct 29, 2018) Most American readers are familiar with Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which was first published in 1962, and more people still know the title through the 1975 film that won five Academy Awards. Beyond that familiar narrative, though, less is known about the trendsetting figure responsible for this classic novel. Let's dive into what makes Kesey one of Oregon's most provocative authors. Born in Colorado in 1935, young Kesey settled with his family in the small town of Springfield, Oregon, near Eugene. His childhood was a rugged one, involving a great deal of time spent outdoors fishing, hunting, and otherwise exploring the rural surroundings. This rustic setting contributed to the hardnose, individualistic streak that would later define his perspective as a writer. When Kesey first enrolled in college at the University of Oregon, he was more focused on playwriting and screenwriting than in penning the next Great American Novel. Eventually, however, he shifted his focus from communications to literature, leading to his enrollment in Stanford University's Creative Writing Center after graduation. There, he studied under Wallace Stegner, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian known as "The Dean of Western Writers," and Malcolm Cowley, an influential writer, editor, poet, and literary critic. His professors were not the only source of inspiration, though; Stanford also connected Kesey with notable fellow students including Larry McMurtry, Ken Babbs, Ed McClanahan, Robert Stone, and Wendell Berry. This was a formative period in Kesey's life in two primary ways. One, he developed a sense of how he compared to his contemporaries as a writer. He did not fit in seamlessly amongst his cohorts at Stanford; on the contrary, director Stegner reportedly saw Kesey "as a threat to civilization and intellectualism and sobriety." Fellow student Nancy Parker described their seminars as being divided between "the intellectuals who had read some stuff and the barbarians who had never read anything [and] they were proud of it; [they] thought you sullied your style if you read anybody else." Kesey would not accept the status quo and challenged conventional wisdom. To him, individual expression was paramount. A second essential development for Kesey in this time was drug experimentation. For $75 a day, he volunteered for experiments at a veteran's hospital where doctors monitored reactions to psychoactive drugs. Kesey began to believe that hallucinogens were the key to understanding oneself, others, and society at large. He noted, "It's such a good drug in that I am suddenly filled with this great loving and understanding of people. [The drug] seems to give you more observation and more insight, and it makes you question things that you ordinarily don't question." Kesey pursued psychedelic drugs in everyday life outside the hospital as well; his "Acid Test" gatherings LSD experimentation parties became famous. In the summer of 1960, Kesey acquired employment at the hospital as an orderly. Slow work on his overnight shifts allowed him to work on a project that became "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," his first and most famous novel. Set in Salem, Oregon, it details the lives of patients in a mental institution and raises questions around the conflict between individuals and modern society, or individual expression versus conformity. It was commentary on American consciousness at the time, on the emerging clash between generations as young people rebelled against the stoicism of the fifties and embraced the potential revolution of a new decade. With help from Cowley at Stanford, Viking Press published the book in February 1962 to immediate success. Kesey's second title, an experiment in narration called “Sometimes a Great Notion,” was again set in Oregon. While it did not achieve the name recognition of Cuckoo's Nest, many critics argue it's better. Barry H. Leeds, author of Ken Kesey, states, "In terms of structure, point of view, and theme, Great Notion is more ambitious, more experimental, and ultimately more successful." The book features rich, evocative prose highlighting its Pacific Northwest setting: "Oregon October, when the fields of timothy and rye-grass stubble are being burned, the sky itself catches fire. Flocks of wrens rush up from the red alder thickets like sparks kicked from a campfire, the salmon jumps again, and the river rolls molten and slow. Down river, from Andys Landing, a burned-off cedar snag held the sun spitted like an apple, hissing and dripping juices against a grill of Indian Summer clouds. All the hillside, all the drying Himalaya vine that lined the big river, and the sugar-maple trees farther up, burned a dark brick and over-lit red. The river split for the jump of a red-gilled silver salmon, then circled to mark the spot where it fell. Spoonbills shoveled at the crimson mud in the shallows, and dowitchers jumped from cattail to cattail, frantically crying “Kleek! Kleek!” as though the thin reeds were as hot as the pokers they resembled. Canvasback and brant flew south in small, fiery, faraway flocks. And in the shabby ruin of broken cornfields rooster ringnecks clashed together in battle so bright, so gleaming polished-copper bright, that the fields seemed to ring with their fighting. This is Hanks bell." Kesey went on to publish more books, including essays collections, short stories, other novels, poetry, and a children's book before his death in Eugene at age sixty-six, but these first two titles define his strongest legacy as a writer and thinker. They also perhaps not coincidentally correspond with the period of his strongest influence on American society and in contributing to the 1960s counterculture. Writer Tom Wolfe detailed Kesey's life, particularly a 1964 drug-fueled, cross-country road trip he took with friends in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (published 1968). The book, which helped pioneer the New Journalism literary style, established Kesey as a cult figure connecting the 1950s Beat Generation and the next decade's hippies. In addition to his status as a psychedelic icon and influential Oregonian, Kesey also left a legacy as an author who lived as he wrote. To him, developing yourself as an author paralleled how you interacted with the world around you, not just how you wrote. He saw writing more than an experience of words on a page; it was something that reflected all aspects of life. From his childhood in Springfield to his time in California and back to Oregon, Ken Kesey lived a lifestyle authentic to his sense of self, whether it was exploring his rural surroundings in Springfield, taking acid and writing in Palo Alto, or volunteering at the Eugene library to engage with the local community in his senior years. This authenticity is what gives Kesey his place in history as a renowned Oregon author. These authors were interviewed in 2023 through the Oregon Authors Project:
 Featuring author Jenn Reese
Interviewed by John Repplinger December 1st, 2023 Jenn Reese (they/she) writes speculative fiction for readers of all ages. Jenn is the author of the middle grade novel Every Bird a Prince, A Game of Fox & Squirrels, and the Above World trilogy. Puzzleheart, their next, will be out in 2024. They also write short stories for teens and adults. Jenn lives in Portland, Oregon where they make art, play video games, and talk to the birds. Icebreaker: If you could choose to be an animal, what would you choose to be and why? Your icebreaker is one of the hardest questions possible! Ever since I was young, “shape-changing into animals” has been my most wished for superpower. However, since you’re making me choose and birds feature in almost all my work, I’ll pick a songbird. Perhaps a jaunty little nuthatch that darts with total confidence through the trees and often pauses to sing. I’m envious of their freedom and vocal talents, as well as the unwavering sense of purpose they display with each and every movement. The writing process varies a lot between authors. Can you explain what the average writing time is like for you? Do you have any unique writing customs such as a must-have favorite beverage on hand or time of the day to write? First, I’ll have to instantly dispel the idea that I have an “average writing time.” When I was starting out, people said “Real writers write every day,” and that faulty adage hurt me far more than it helped. Some days I want to luxuriate in new words early in the morning, or late at night. Some days I fall into the trap of revising what I’ve already written over and over. Some days I have to do freelance work to pay the bills, or deal with life stuff, or I simply want to finish a book I’ve been reading and then tell everyone about it. I also practice other art forms, such as drawing and linocut and ceramics, and I try not to minimize how much all forms of creativity are connected when I spend a three-day burst doing nothing but hunching over my sketchbook. So no, sorry, no consistency at all, I’m afraid. Having been recently diagnosed with ADHD, I can see how I arrived at this place. My task now is to not feel guilty if I wake up and want to sketch instead of write, or if I decide I have to rearrange all my art supplies. I tell myself I’m fighting capitalism and the idea that our worth is tied to our productivity, which helps a little. Most people are unaware that you are also an accomplished graphic designer with your own company that specializes in book cover design. Do you ever sketch concepts or schemes from your writing? And do your illustrations ever influence your stories? What I love about graphic design is how we can draw the eye across an image, how simplicity can imply complexity, how we can tap into common emotions and ideas with color and font choice and composition. I think distilling complex ideas into something understandable by more people is one of the through lines of my life as a creator. As an illustrator, I have tremendous imposter syndrome. As recently as last year, I would never show someone a piece of art without tacking on “I’m only an amateur artist” or “I’m just learning” or “I know it’s not any good.” When I started writing, I had the hubris of not knowing how bad I was. (I got better.) As an artist, I’ve leaped straight into the self-doubt portion of the journey. But I’m working on this. One of my goals for 2023 was to pursue art (not just graphic design) more intentionally. And, amazingly, I was asked to illustrate one of my stories for an anthology, and my book editor at Henry Holt asked me to draw the interior illustrations for my middle grade novel, Puzzleheart. In short, I’m extremely excited to start integrating my art and writing more. I feel like there are whole new pathways opening up in my brain when I think in both words and pictures. Many of your characters are animals that talk such as Ashander from A Game of Fox & Squirrels. Do you have any specific authors that you turn to for drawing inspiration about animal characters? And what do you do when you hit a scene where you’re not sure how an animal character might react/behave/interact with other characters? T.H. White’s The Once and Future King was certainly one of my early influences — young Wart changes into different animals and learns from them, and that’s the dream, right? That book reinforces the idea that humans and animals are inseparable, and I’ve been writing them both ever since. Even so, I was nervous to write a book with talking animals, as many readers hate them, especially adults. And then I read the most brilliant essay by the legend herself, Ursula K. Le Guin. “Cheek by Jowl: Animals in Children’s Literature” has so many brilliant insights that I urge everyone to read it for themself. Here is one of them: “Children have to be persuaded, convinced, that animals don’t talk. They have to be informed that there is an impassable gulf between Man and Beast, and taught not to look across it. But so long as they disobey orders and go on looking, they know better.” I love that so much! And in terms of writing, my one trick is this: do not allow your human characters to be astonished that animals can talk for very long. When they accept this reality, the reader will too. Because we have always lived and communicated with animals, and giving them actual words requires only the smallest of leaps. Do you base any of your characters on people you know? I think almost all writers are collectors. Our brains house scraps of dialogue and interesting character traits and Polaroids of fun locations paper clipped to index cards and shoved into a massive card catalog, willy-nilly. All my characters have something of me in them, whether I want them to or not, but none of them are entirely me. Even in A Game of Fox & Squirrels, which is my most personal work to date, the characters only have pieces inspired by real people. The fun is creating something fresh from little bits of truth. What is the most challenging aspect of writing middle-grade and young adult books? I don’t find writing for middle-grade and young adult audiences to be any different than writing for adults, except that I feel a deeper responsibility to make sure my metaphors and messaging is intentional. Adults are more practiced at reading something and disregarding it if they disagree with its premise or worldview. Many adults love anti-heroes who are ruthless serial killers, for example, without ever feeling like those sorts of people or those activities are condoned. Kids are still working on building their critical reading muscles, and writers have to be more careful with how they approach their material. Your Above World series portrays vivid scenes of a futuristic sci-fi life where humans have adapted physically to a post apocalyptic world. How do you select your locations and scenes? How do you develop your rich sci-fi and fantasy worlds? I grew up inhaling mountains of fantasy and science fiction novels, and playing Dungeons & Dragons, and I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t creating worlds and characters and asking “what if?” I’m a very visual writer in that I picture every scene in my mind as I’m writing it. I have to know what it looks like, and building those “sets” is a huge part of the fun for me. The Above World books took years to write, and I felt as if I were living in that world, with its wild deserts and oceans and mountaintops. I’ve been writing contemporary fantasies lately, and I have to admit, it’s a lot easier to describe a chicken coop than an underwater city. Your stories touch on heavy themes such as domestic violence, self-doubt, and identity which can be much more challenging to write than adult books. Why did you choose to write a children’s book on these topics? For some books, I am writing the stories I wish I’d found when I was young. I had no idea that growing up in an abusive household was something other people were experiencing too. I had no idea that this idea of “don’t talk, don’t tell anyone” was how abusers controlled their victims. Even more fundamentally, I didn’t understand the concept of unconditional love. I’m sorry to say that there will always be kids out there in that same boat, and I wanted to throw them a life preserver. For Every Bird a Prince, I wanted to speak openly about aromanticism and asexuality, because romance and sex are considered universal desires and goals in our society, and this is simply not the truth. Giving readers words for their experiences is giving them choices and power, and kids need those things more than anyone. What do you hope readers will take away from your books? If you could talk directly to your readers, what would you say? I hope my readers are entertained, first and foremost. I hope they laugh at least once. I hope they get a sense of warmth and belonging, and they realize that a wonderful family can be made or found. I hope they feel seen. I keep thinking about what I would say to them directly, and this is hard! Kids are all so different. There are some who will read my books and see themselves, and some who might recognize their friends or family members. There are many kids who will get nothing from my books, and that’s okay, too. Maybe I’d say, “Hey, thanks for reading my book!” Do you have any new books or projects that you’re working on that you’d like to mention? I sure do! Puzzleheart (learn more on Goodreads) is the story of a nonbinary, science-obsessed kid who goes head-to-head (head-to-ceiling?) with a sentient “puzzle house” during a strange spring snowstorm. It’ll be out on May 14th, 2024, from Henry Holt. Thank you so much for these wonderful questions!  Featuring author Michelle Sumovich Interviewed by John Repplinger November 14th, 2023 Michelle Sumovich is the author of picture books ONE MORE JAR OF JAM (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2023), EVERYTHING IS FINE (HarperCollins, 2024), and I HAVE THREE CATS (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2024). Michelle has a background working in bookstores and library program development for young children, as well as years of experience writing lyrics and music for children and adults. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, two children, and more than three cats. Icebreaker: If you could choose to eat any dessert in the world, what would it be and why? I’ll lean nostalgic and go with sour cherry pie á la mode for a delicious flakey-fruity-creamy combo. Growing up, I’d stake out the dessert table at family gatherings and sneak bits of crust until it was time to cut into the pies. As I remember it, I always saved the cherry pie for last because that’s the flavor that ought to linger. So tell us, what inspired you to start writing children’s books? I worked at a used bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas about 20 years ago– The Dusty Bookshelf. That’s where I first fell in love with illustrated children’s books, particularly those from the 1960s and 70s. I think the first one that really spoke to me was Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer and Marvin Bileck. It was so beautiful and weird, and that intersection was very appealing to me. Tomi Ungerer and Barbara Cooney were some other faves that I discovered during that time. I was amazed by how they could tell a whole story with deep worlds and commentaries in such a short span of pages. When my first child was born, I started spending more time reading books by modern authors and illustrators and thinking about the format, and I narrowed in on books which were a bit subversive or strange, or books that told the truth in exciting ways. I realized that they reminded me of those older books written 50 years prior which I loved so much, and it was that connection that made me want to be a part of this work. It’s also what keeps me going– trying to write enjoyable books that are a little wise but not bossy. Debut authors have a much harder time breaking into the publishing industry. What have been the most challenging aspects of writing and publishing for you? A couple things– the first few years that I was writing, I was very focused on learning craft, generating work, and revising. The best time to work was after my kid was in bed, so I wasn’t getting very much sleep in the beginning. It was taxing, but I loved that development period. Since I was enjoying the process, I didn’t sweat the “breaking in” too much, nor the criticism and rejection which can sometimes be a sticking point, so that helped. I signed with my agent, Hannah Mann (Writers House), in 2019 and we sold the second book we went out with. It was a thrill making my first sale, but finding patience during the four year period before its release was more challenging than I anticipated. I had this kind of self-imposed expectation to stay hyped up about the book for four years, which wasn’t really reasonable for me. But luckily I was able to refocus on development, and just kept getting excited about new work. In your first children’s book, One More Jar of Jam, the writing is filled with beautifully rich and poetic descriptions such as “Gone to sticky Grandma’s table.” The reader feels how the summer is “fruitless and dry as toast” after a storm destroys the family's mulberry tree. How has your experience with writing lyrics and music for young children helped you with writing this book? Thank you! I love this question because, to me, there’s a subtle rhythm built into this book which is present every time I read it aloud, and I wonder if some of that comes out when others read it, too. Writing song lyrics requires a lot of carving up the thing you want to say, so it fits into a line or a verse. In this book I thought a lot about how many syllables certain words had, and where the syllabic emphasis fell, to create a lull in the text, even though it’s not a rhyming book. I thought about whether words were heavy or light, slow or fast. For example, it’s difficult to read “climb bending branches” aloud at a faster pace than “wicked winds rage through your town,” so in the story, there’s a rhythmic ease before the storm and a quickened pulse as the storm draws close. I suppose the refrain of the line, “If you ever have a mulberry tree,” also lends itself to a songlike structure, since you could think of it as kicking off each new verse. I actually started recording a song trailer for this book in the eleventh hour, but when I didn’t complete it before launch, the project kind of fizzled. I’m fond of the song, but not everything gets made! Maybe there will be a song for the next book! Another important aspect about this book is its theme about interracial families. Can you talk about this? Yeah! I love to see it. When I submitted my manuscript, I didn’t include any context about the main character’s racial or gender identity. I am a white person, but/and my story doesn’t call for a white character. I’m happy that Gracey Zhang, the book’s illustrator, didn’t choose whiteness as a default. This story is about an experience, and I love to see it told with all the vibrance of this particular family and community. What do you hope readers will take away from your book? If you could talk directly to your readers, what would you say? I’m happy for readers to take whatever they need from this book. There’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster at play in the story. Things get bad for the main character, and they mourn the loss of their important tree for a good long while, but there are also some slow and silent glimmers of hope. I think that’s how life is– sometimes we experience loss, sometimes things feel unbearable, and when we’re ready, we can find hope in celebrating the things that can no longer celebrate themselves. According to your website, you’ve been involved with children’s library programming. How did you get involved with libraries and what kind of things were you involved with at the library? At 15 years old, my first job was in a library, actually, and I went on to work in three other public library systems after that. In Oregon, I worked for the Multnomah County Library, and had the opportunity to plan and lead an arts and crafts program for children in the Rockwood community. I loved that work. Many toilet paper rolls and sequins were given a new, exciting life in my tenure there and I was constantly (gleefully) slathered in glue. To support the program, I looked forward to finding tie-in material and getting books into kids’ hands. I also organized passive programs like poetry stations and games and created displays and bulletin boards. Basically, I gobbled up any opportunity to do creative work to connect the library with the community. Families in particular were so receptive to those services and at the time there was a fair amount of autonomy among neighborhood branches, which made for happy staff and patrons. You mention having your own children and more than three cats. How do you balance writing with life activities? Quality childcare and educators! As I write this, my oldest kid has been home for two weeks due to a teacher’s strike in Portland, which has required a big shift in priorities. I’m suddenly integrating home education and picket line education into my schedule, and not a ton of writing is taking place. I’m fortunate for the flexibility that comes with being a writer, but when things come up, I have to be very intentional about keeping work on the agenda because the pressure to hustle toward the next project or deadline always remains. I’m not sure if a balance between writing and parenting is something that really exists, but I’m getting better at pivoting between the two. As long as I’m chipping away at work, it usually feels like staying afloat. I’m eager to get our kids back to their amazing teachers and get back to my typical work routine. Two other picture books are slated to be published in 2024 entitled, I Have Three Cats and Everything is Fine. Can you tell us about them? Do you have any other books or projects that you’re working on that you would like to mention? Yes! I’m really excited about the picture books coming out next year! EVERYTHING IS FINE is coming out first, in October 2024. It’s a story about a chaotic child and her exhausted mother, with a healthy dose of magic elixir, missing persons, and spaghetti. I’m so excited about it. It’s illustrated by Sarah Jacoby (Forever or a Day, The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown) and it turned out extremely beautiful and weird– just how I like ‘em! My other upcoming picture book is I HAVE THREE CATS, coming in Nov/Dec 2024. It’s a sweet and slightly ornery story about a child with three darling cats, and the stray that appears in the yard and upends their lives. It’s a semi-autobiographical account of lacking boundaries when it comes to adorable animals. Comic artist Laura Park (Unstoppable) is the illustrator on this one, and it’s so sweet and funny! In addition to those, I just sold the text for my first graphic novel! I can’t say much about it yet, but the editorial consensus seems to be that it’s “unhinged,” which I feel really good about. I’m also taking my first drawing class, and imagining what it would be like to someday illustrate one of my own manuscripts. Gotta start somewhere!  EVERYTHING IS FINE, by Michelle Sumovich, will be published in October 2024
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