Lauren Stringer, author of The Dark was Done
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.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why?
The night has always been a time of fear and wonder for me. Darkness and shadows make me nervous, while at the same time, seeing the stars at night with the changing moon while hearing the Great Horned owls hoot in the trees next door is full of magic and awe. I had always wanted to write a story about that duality and writing and illustrating The Dark Was Done captured those feelings. I also came across The International Dark Sky Association while working on the illustrations for the text and realized that my story was a fairytale about protecting the Dark and all that it offers. And lastly, I am very proud of the rhythms of the text in this story. It was written primarily by the edge of Rainy Lake on a small island, where the lapping water provided music to write by.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
Go to the library and choose 5 to 10 picture books that speak to you in some way. They can be recently published or classics. Read them every day. Read them aloud. Type up the text in manuscript form and make note of the page turns. Notice where the words stop and the pictures tell the story. Count how many words are in the stories you love. Be inspired by them. Then return the books and take out 5 to 10 more books and do the same until suddenly or gradually a story with your voice begins to emerge.
Tell us about a favorite book. Why did you find it moving, influential, or otherwise memorable?
Several years ago I stumbled upon the book, Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault. Having been an avid reader of the novels and essays by Virginia Woolf as well as a lover of everything Bloomsbury, including the paintings by her sister, Vanessa Bell, I was curious at first, then fell in love with this book! The two sisters in the story are named after Virginia and Vanessa and Bloomsbury is illustrated as a way through depression or feeling “Wolfish.” Maclear’s references to the lives and emotions of two well-known historical women while at the same time telling a children’s story that offers universal truths on the emotions of childhood was miraculous to me, not to mention gorgeously illustrated by Arsenault. This book gives me permission to mix my love of history and fiction to create something playful and meaningful in my own story-writing.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
When I lived in NYC I worked as an exhibitions preparer for the New York Public Library. For an exhibition of their valuable holdings, I got to design and build the stand for the Gutenberg Bible to go on display. I wore white gloves and was surrounded by two security guards during the whole installation. To hold a book of that size and beauty was a thrill I will never forget.
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.
I have loved visiting museums all of my life, even working in them as an exhibits preparer for many years. They are treasure chests; holders of history, culture and knowledge, that I get to visit whenever I need to, but the one thing they do not offer, is the opportunity to take something home and live with it awhile. However, libraries too, are treasure chests and holders of history, culture and knowledge and when I visit them, I am able to bring home the discoveries of the day, stories new and old. What a gift! Libraries are for me and everyone!
Lauren Stringer creates paintings, drawings, and books. Stringer was recently awarded a second McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers for her manuscript An Abundance of Light: The Story of Matisse in Morocco.