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Back to Featured Interviews >> MEET RON KOERTGE
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| Ron Koertge |
What books influenced you most when you were growing up?
I was pretty much forced to read the Bible but gave that up for CATCHER IN THE RYE.
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 told stories more than wrote them. ‘Told” as in lying.
When you were a child did you ever have moments when you decided that you were going to be a writer when you grew up?
I never really decided to be a writer. I’m still undecided.
What audience did you have in mind for your career as a writer - adult or children?
I don’t think about what I do as a career, either.
When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career? (or a career in illustrating? or just art in general?)
I went to college just to get out of Collinsville, Illinois. I’m not very smart, so I had to study hard just to get through. That’s what I was thinking about.
If you didn’t write as a child, then when did you start writing and what inspired you to start?
I met a poet named Gerry Locklin in grad school. I wanted to hang out with him so I wrote poems, too, in order to have something in common.
What was your first job when you graduated from college?
I went to grad school, then started teaching at a city college in Pasadena and didn't leave until I retired in 2001.
How soon after that was your first book published?
A few years.
When was it published?
1970 or so.
How did your life change when you got married? and had children? Did it make it easier or harder to find time to write?
I don’t have children.
Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a number of rejections?
A poet gets almost nothing but rejections.
Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?
I write fiction and poetry. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy.
What kinds of things inspire you to write?
I don’t believe in inspiration. I put my butt in the chair and go to work.
Where do you get your ideas?
They force themselves on me.
What are the topics are some of your books?
I seem to write about nothing but boy-girl relationships. I am the author of poetry collections such as LIFE ON THE EDGE OF THE CONTINENT, the novel THE BOOGEYMAN, as well as a number of Young Adult novels.
Have any of your books earned special recognition?
LOTS OF ALA STUFF (BEST BOOKS, QUICK PICKS, ETC.) and one P.E.N. prize. Also, BOY GIRL BOY, THE BRIMSTONE JOURNALS, MARIPOSA BLUES, MARQAUX WITH AN X, AND TIGER, TIGER BURNING BRIGHT have been featured in 24 California Collections over the years. The prizes/awards are on the Candlewick Press website.
How did your life change when you got married? and had children? Did it make it easier or harder to find time to write?
I don’t have children.
Do you enjoy researching or do you prefer working totally from your imagination?
I hate research.
Do you write every day and do you have set hours that you work?
Every day from 6:00 a.m. to noon or so.
When you do school visits, what question do children ask you most?
“How much money do you make?”