Katharine Johnson, author of Born in a Red Canoe
Young Adult Literature Category, sponsored by Expedition Credit Union
Each week leading up to the 35th annual Minnesota Book Awards, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why?
I’m proud that I risked writing in a new genre—one that I had never considered before. I found that Magical Realism twitched my right brain and instigated a whole new way of thinking. Every quirky character I’d ever met, everything that had ever haunted me, every mysterious landscape that had transfixed me, every hollow chorus of wolves howling found a place in this book.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Write a list what you’re afraid to write about and hide that list from prying eyes. Pull buckets of memories out of your deep well and put them on paper. You know you’re on the right track if your characters follow you on walks and start telling you what to write about them.
Tell us about a favorite book. Why did you find it moving, influential, or otherwise memorable?
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I have been haunted by the character of Anne ever since I read the book at about age 10. I’ve reread it as an adult and feel just as strongly as I did the first time I read it. It is truly a book for all ages. I found myself in Anne even though I wasn’t as intrepid as she was. I admired her strengths and wished for the same.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
Most people do not know that I started writing out of guilt. As a child, I didn’t like washing dishes, so one day when it was my turn, I scooted upstairs to hide from my mother and the dreaded dishes. When she called for me to do my job, I responded, “I can’t. I’m writing a book.” Unbelievably, she did the dishes for me. I was delighted, so I did this several more times. Later in life, guilt got the better of me as I realized that I owed my mother a book so I started writing. As an adult, I also discovered that doing dishes and writing books are not mutually exclusive.
The Minnesota Book Awards is a celebration of writers, readers – and libraries. We’d love if you would share thoughts about the role and value of libraries.
Libraries have been a sanctuary for me all my life. Literally. The Chisholm Public Library was where I waited after school for my dad to pick me up each day after work. I was safe. I was warm. I was welcomed. I admired librarians. I thought they were goddesses when they stamped the purple ink due date in each of my books. At the end of my teaching career I became the high school library/media director for Cloquet High School. I couldn’t help but notice the many students who came in and used the library as a sanctuary, also. It was a place they wouldn’t be bullied, a place they were safe and welcomed with a smile and a few kind words.
Katharine Johnson has a masters in Educational Media from the College of St. Scholastica. Her short stories and poems have been published in various anthologies and magazines.