Kurtis Scaletta, author of Lukezilla Beats the Game
Middle Grade Literature category, sponsored by Education Minnesota
Each week leading up to the 33rd annual Minnesota Book Awards announcement, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our 36 finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
In a year defined by a pandemic and its fallout, virtually everything about our lives has changed in some way. How has COVID-19 impacted your writing habits and preferences? Has the unique zeitgeist of the past year influenced your writing output in any ways that you can pinpoint? 
At first it was very difficult to write. I had more time in a lot of ways — I was furloughed to part time and didn’t have the commute — but the situation itself was so stressful it was hard to focus, and I didn’t have “quiet days” anymore because the kid was always home. Eventually I did find a way to write through it, partly by writing *about* the pandemic but also because the nagging need to tell a story won out.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why? (Sure, it may feel a bit un-Minnesotan to say so, but it’s not boasting if we ask!)
This book is really for my son. It’s about his interests and his world. I read it to him as I wrote it. It’s fun now to hear from his friends who have read it and liked it!
What do you hope that your audience learns or takes away from your book?
There is a bit of a moral to my book, I admit it, which has to do with online communities and personalities. I’ve been bothered by some of the messages in the gamer/YouTube world my kid is immersed in, and I carefully selected a way for that to become personal to Lucas and for him to respond to it.
Minnesota enjoys a reputation as a place that values literature and reading. If this sentiment rings true for you, what about our home state makes it such a welcoming and conductive place for writers?
The community of children’s book writers and illustrators, booksellers, librarians and teachers, professors and enthusiasts make this one of the best places in the world to do what I do.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Don’t rely on what you imagine kids like or what you liked as a kid. Read a lot of current kids’ books. Talk to the kids in your own life.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known! (It doesn’t have to be about your writing.)
I’m a gamer too; my favorite series by far is the Legend of Zelda.
Kurtis Scaletta is the author of several books for young readers, including The Tanglewood Terror, winner of a Minnesota Book Award.