Simon Hargreaves, author of Maxwell Cooper and the Legend of Inini-Makwa
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?
First, I’m exceptionally proud of the fact that it is finished. Any author can attest to the difficulty of finishing a first book, and while this isn’t the first book I’ve written, it’s the first book I’ve had published. That is a milestone in and of itself.
Second, I absolutely love the cover design. Casey Gerber, who illustrated the cover, did a phenomenal job.
Third, I cannot say enough about the interior layout and design. Most people don’t think about that part of the book–how the words flow on the page–but Karina Granda made the book as beautiful on the inside as the outside.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Stop worrying over all the information and advice out there in the authorial noosphere. Just write the story. It’s going to take time, and it’s okay if it isn’t great at first. I’m not the first to say it, but writing is all about re-writing. That’s when everything comes together, when the story is out of your head and on the page and you have something physical to shape and mold.
Tell us about a favorite book. Why did you find it moving, influential, or otherwise memorable?
It might be cheating to say that my all-time favorite story is the Liveship Trader trilogy by Robin Hobb. She manages to wrangle a cast of characters who affect one another in profound and life-altering ways that astonished me. Each character in the series undergoes a crisis and change and each of those crises and changes are necessary for the external plot to resolve in a satisfactory way. That trilogy truly is a masterclass in great storytelling.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
I spend as much time as possible scuba diving. I used to be a professional photographer and now spend time teaching photography, but I hope one day to create amazing underwater photographs, too. I have also recently decided to try my hand at speedcubing (i.e., solving a Rubik’s cube as quickly as I can). I’m still not very fast, but I’m getting there.
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 are where all the good ideas are. There’s a certain tingle you get just stepping into a library and allowing yourself to be present with all those books–all those ideas and concepts and thoughts and worlds, more than you could every read about in a lifetime. Without libraries, our world would be reduced to the fevered nonsense of internet opinions and clickbait headlines. I love libraries for that reason: they are the protectors of true knowledge.
Simon Hargreaves is a writer with degrees in photography, digital animation, and creative writing. He also runs a successful family vacation resort in the middle of the Paul Bunyan Forest.