Kate DiCamillo, author of The Puppets of Spelhorst
Middle Grade Literature Category, sponsored by Education Minnesota
Each week leading up to the 36th 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.
What is one detail you wanted to include in this book, but couldn’t find a place for?
This is an interesting question because it makes me realize how I write–which is to throw everything out there and then, in subsequent drafts, delete most of it. So I wasn’t trying to fit anything in. Rather, I was trying to take out everything that didn’t belong. If that makes sense.
Tell us about someone who proved instrumental to the creation of this book.
Oh, that would be my friends. All of my patient, loving friends who read draft after draft and ask questions that make the book better. Also, my editor–Andrea Tompa. Who is the most patient of all.
Tell us about a favorite read from the past year. Why did you find it enjoyable, insightful, or memorable?
I read an advance reading copy of a book by Catherine Newman entitled Sandwich that made me laugh and cry. It will be published in June.
Please tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
Gosh, I don’t know. Maybe this: I love Looney Tunes. And in another life, I would have gotten to just write Looney Tunes all day.
Share your thoughts about the role and value of libraries.
Libraries. The very word conjures the public library from my childhood. It was called the Cooper Memorial Public Library and it was a little house filled with books. I still dream of that building. That is a place where I felt safe and seen. I think that libraries function that way for a lot of people–a safe place to find yourself.
Kate DiCamillo is the author of many books for children, including Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Tale of Despereaux, as well as a series of early chapter books about a pig named Mercy Watson. Her awards include the Minnesota Book Award, a Newbury Medal, a Newbury Honor, and she has been a National Book Award finalist.