Margi Preus, author of Windswept
Middle Grade Literature Category, sponsored by Education Minnesota
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?
This is a small thing in the scheme of things, but I managed to write a character using no pronouns whatsoever. I have yet to meet a reader who has noticed that, so I think I must have done a pretty unobtrusive job of it. (most readers I hear from ascribe a gender to this character, which is interesting.)
I guess I am also pretty proud of the way the campfire (first person, present tense) sections come together at the end with the rest of the (third person, past tense) story. For a long time I had no idea what was happening there, so I was quite puffed up when I finally figured it out.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
“The only way to learn to write stories is to write them and then try to discover what you have done.” I think it was Flannery O’Connor who said that, and it’s really the best advice there is. Beyond that, go to the library and check out a lot of books and (this part is crucial) read them.
Tell us about a favorite book. Why did you find it moving, influential, or otherwise memorable?
I have only to look at the books I’ve written to see what books have influenced and inspired me. I can draw straight lines from Snow Treasure to Shadow on the Mountain, Pippi Longstocking to West of the Moon, Nancy Drew to the Enchantment Lake mystery series, and Norwegian Fairy Tales to Windswept. These are stories I loved with all my heart, and since I have always only wanted to try to create the magic I experienced as a child and relived through reading to my own children, I return to my most beloved childhood books for inspiration.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known.
It kind of depends on what you mean by “widely’ because some people know or remember that I spent an unreasonably long time writing and directing Colder by the Lake, a comedy theater company in Duluth. So long, in fact, that our last show together was called Older by the Lake or The Colonoscopy Monologues.
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.
Minnesota is the readingest state! And the writingest. And that speaks to the strength of Minnesota libraries. Like probably every Minnesota writer, I spent a lot of time in both public and school libraries. In Fergus Falls where I grew up the public library was then housed in a magical old building with, as I recall, a dome, a circular staircase, secret passageways, trap doors, and portals to fantastical worlds. Maybe I made some of that up. My elementary school librarian possessed the mystical power of knowing my inner most dreams, fears, and reading preferences, and she always had the perfect book picked out for me. She also deserves credit for not bowing to pressure to remove Harriet the Spy (and other books) from the shelves. Even back then (and probably since pen was first set to papyrus) parents were worried about the potentially terrible influence of books on their children, and I remember there was noise about pulling Harriet the Spy from the shelves. Apparently parents worried (like someone in Xenia, Ohio who said) that Harriet the Spy would teach us kids to “lie, spy, backtalk, and curse.” I did indeed learn all that, but from the neighborhood kids. What I learned from Harriet the Spy was to want to write. Belated thanks to my elementary school librarian, and to every librarian standing up for books in the current atmosphere.
Margi Preus is a New York Times bestselling author of books for young readers including the Newbery Honor-winning Heart of a Samurai, and the Minnesota Book Award-winning West of the Moon. Her books have been ALA/ALSC Notables and have been translated into several languages.