Diane Wilson, Sun Yung Shin, Shannon Gibney & John Coy, authors of Where We Come From, illustrated by Dion MBD
Children’s Literature Category, sponsored by Bernadette Janisch
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.
Note: Sun Yung Shin’s interview responses are in a separate post, as she is also a finalist in the Poetry Category.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why?
Diane: I’m especially proud of the way our book weaves together four unique personal stories so that children see their own stories as powerful and worth sharing.
John: Where We Come From was a collaboration of four writers during the pandemic. We met once in person and then the rest of our work was via Zoom each Monday. The experience of working together with Diane, Sun Yung, and Shannon was extremely grounding in those early days. We were extremely lucky with the choice of Dion MBD as illustrator as well. He was a joy to work with and his pictures in the book are stunning.
Shannon: I’m really proud of the way the book deals with our complicated and often difficult American histories from four different racial and cultural backgrounds — not trying to sugarcoat or whitewash anything for children, respecting their intelligence and morality. And at the same time, ensuring that these stories are developmentally appropriate. It’s a hard balance to find, but I think we achieved it.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Diane: Take time to learn the craft of writing for children. It was a fascinating challenge for me as a prose writer to tell a story in so few words and to understand how narrative works with image.
John: Read, read, read and then write your own story.
Shannon: Keep at it. This is a hard business, and it’s easy to get discouraged, so you need to develop two things: 1) Thick skin; and 2) A community of support around you.
Tell us about a favorite book. Why did you find it moving, influential, or otherwise memorable?
Diane: Braiding Sweetgrass has been an inspirational book for me. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s ability to combine indigenous knowledge with western science and her own personal experience offers a profoundly important vision for literature and our relationship with the earth.
John: Shannon Gibney’s The Girl I Am, Was, And Never Will Be is an incredibly powerful story that led me to question how I see things. I find details from the story really stick with me and it’s an amazing exploration of what we do and don’t know about our pasts and how we live our lives.
Shannon: I really love Mr. Wuffles, by David Wiesner. I could read that book all day, actually…Just the way he uses pictures to tell a somewhat strange story from a surprising point of view, and with very little text, is masterful.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
Diane: I live on ten acres that includes a Tamarack bog, one of the last remnants in my area just north of the Twin Cities. I consider myself responsible for stewarding this bog as long as I am a guest on this land.
John: When I was in high school, I worked in a factory making mattresses and box springs, and I once stapled my finger to a mattress. As a writer, I was pleased to be able to use this experience in a young adult novel.
Shannon: I have never watched THE EXORCIST.
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.
Diane: Librarians are one of the heroes of literature, the guardians of story, the protectors of free speech. Libraries provide a service that is foundational for an educated community by offering the priceless gift of reading books for free. I treasure my memories as a child spending hours in the library on hot summer days and carrying home a stack of books. Libraries showed me the magic and power of storytelling.
John: I am so grateful that Minnesota has such excellent libraries and librarians. I love going into a library and feeling that connection with the larger community. I would not be a writer today had it not been for weekly library visits as a kid and the world that opened up to me through books.
Shannon: Libraries are so fundamental to our communities. Not just for the books, but for all the essential services they provide (computers, access to and information on services, classes, events, etc.) — particularly to those who wouldn’t otherwise have them. The library has been a fundamental part of my life since I was a child, and I’m very proud of how much they are valued and used in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota.
Diane Wilson is an award-winning writer, speaker, and editor. Wilson is a Mdewakanton descendent, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation.
신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin is a Korean American poet, fiction writer, nonfiction writer, editor, and educator.
Shannon Gibney is a writer, educator, and activist. Gibney is faculty in English at Minneapolis College, where she teaches writing.
John Coy is the award-winning author of young adult novels, the 4 for 4 middle-grade series, and nonfiction and fiction picture books.