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Back to Featured Interviews >> MEET KATHLEEN DUEY
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| Kathleen Duey |
Ride, read, and daydream, in that order.
Did you write stories when you were growing up? at school? Or at home as a hobby? As a young child, or as a teenager, or both?
I have been writing stories and (bad) poetry as long as I can remember. Mrs. Fredericksen, my teacher for 4 th, 5 th and 6 th grade, gave me a special assignment. For the three years I was in her little-school-in-the-wheat-field classroom, I turned in a story a week and waited for her comments. I owe her so much. Many people do. She was a wonderful teacher.
.........................................................................................................................................................Photograph by Sonya Sones
Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?
I have written a lot of historical novels, which give the writer the best of both. And every single bit of research I have done informs my characters and my fantasy books. History teaches logical, realistic world-building, and provides models of all kinds of people.
What kinds of things inspire you to write?
Anything that makes me stop: To stare, to think, to wonder, to listen, to marvel, to flinch…
Have any of your books earned special recognition?
SKIN HUNGER, the first of a trilogy, won a National Book Award silver medal. I have written many books for emerging readers and middle graders. SKIN HUNGER is my first YA title, my first hardcover, my first dark fantasy, my first literary page-turner. I hope to write many more.
Have any of your fiction stories been about real people or events?
All of my historical novels are tightly based on real people and real events. The plots come from family stories, diaries, journals, newspapers, old maps—all sorts of primary sources. I *love* research.
Do you work on more than one book at a time?
Always. I am constantly shifting between three or four projects, all in different stages of development.
What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?
I love talking to students K-12. I tell stories to help them see their education as their most precious possession. I explain how their life choices, their attitude and acts, will shape the world--like every generation before them. I want students to realize libraries are big, amazing family meetings, full of ideas, information, and the voices of thousands of people who cared enough about them to write a book. Literacy matters. I am trying to do my bit