Each day leading up to the 32nd annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony, we’ll be featuring an exclusive interview with one of our 36 finalists. Learn more about these incredible local writers and gear up to see the winners announced live in person April 28.
Interview with Nate Christopherson and Tara Sweeney, author and illustrator of A to Zåäö: Playing with History at the American Swedish Institute, part of the Children’s Literature category sponsored by Books for Africa.
How does it feel to be a Minnesota Book Award finalist?
To be in the company of all the great books that were submitted is a huge honor for our debut picture book. We are astonished and delighted to be finalists.
Tell us something about your finalist book that you want readers to know?
A to Zåäö (rhymes with ‘wow’) asks you to pay keen attention–to objects, to stories, to each other, to the world around us. This book is a collaboration, but it isn’t just between the two of us. It took three years and a whole community of people working together, asking questions, searching for answers for this look-aloud book for all ages to come to life. And it isn’t complete until you help tell the story the way you see it. The objects are real. The characters are invented, but often inspired by the stories behind the objects. Explore Minnesota’s Swedish immigration history one character, one page at a time. Read collection manager Inga Theissen’s excellent notes at the back of the book if you want to know more about the story behind each object. And have fun. We did.
Share something about your writing process and preferences. For instance, where is your favorite place to write?
We trust each other’s insights and ideas and have quietly collaborated behind the scenes for a long time. For A to Zåäö, we worked in a very public way to create something together that was bigger and better than either of us working alone. The idea for this book began as an investigation of ASI’s historic collection and a response to the stories behind objects. We both worked on each part of the creative process. Because our writing and illustration styles are very different–like two distinct voices–working on the same piece of paper was energizing and risky. Unexpected things occurred along the way. Figuring out how to respond to those surprises and to each other was the challenge as well as the delight of working in two voices to create A to Zåäö.
We carry the tools to create with us so that whenever and wherever time is available–usually in small increments, often with children and grandchildren on our laps, frequently in the middle of life—we’re prepared to work. A to Zåäö was started in a residency at the American Swedish Institute and completed at Kopplin’s Coffee and similar haunts during weekend and early morning hours in the three years that followed.
Minnesota has a reputation as a state that values literature and reading. In your experience, what is it about our state that makes it such a welcoming place for writers and book creators?
Minnesota is blessed with six months of winter and robust public support for the arts. When the weather outside is frightful there are fewer distractions for creative focus. (It doesn’t hurt attendance at arts events or sales of books either.) The legacy amendment and the MN State Arts Board provide critical support for individual artists and arts organizations across all disciplines. A to Zåäö was funded in part by an artist initiative grant.
What is something you are good at that few people know about
Tara loves partner dancing anywhere there’s room to swing. Nate is very good at throwing pizza dough. His pizzas are amazing.
What do you love about libraries?
Libraries are great places for lots of reasons. For example, library books are organized and ours are not. But it’s librarians we love. (We have a retired librarian in the family so we may be biased.) Walk into a library with a question and there’s a librarian who can find the book with the answer. And if not, give the librarian a little more time and they’ll find another librarian who can. They direct us to answers and books we might otherwise miss. (Really great book sellers are like this too.) We’re at the library every week for as many books as we can carry home. Nate still uses the same purple library card he had as a kid. Tara has a new one with a green dragon on it. Thanks librarians.
More about Christopherson and Sweeney:
Christopherson is a special education teacher and freelance illustrator. He created art for Amy Leach’s Things That Are and a special edition of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, and illustrated The Island, an award-winning artist book.
Sweeney is an award-winning artist, illustrator, and author of Close to Home: A Minnesota Year in Sketches, a collection of illustrated creative nonfiction. She is professor emeritus at Augsburg University.
See the winners announced live at the Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony! Presented by Education Minnesota; media sponsor: Star Tribune.
