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Back to Featured Interviews >> MEET KATHLEEN KRULL, Keynote Speaker 2006
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| Kathleen Krull |
Around the house we had lots of Little Golden Books and inexpensive editions of classics. The first book I can remember reading is Robert Louis Stevenson’s A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. Favorites included historical fiction (Laura Ingalls Wilder; Elizabeth Speare’s CALICO CAPTIVE or THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND), biography (the Landmark Book series on people like Helen Keller, Elizabeth Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony; anything on queens), mysteries (the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton was thrilling), romance (Mary Stolz, Betty Cavanna), adventure (Scott O’Dell’s ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS), fun books like Louise Fitzhugh’s HARRIET THE SPY and Astrid Lindgren’s PIPPI LONGSTOCKING. Above all, fantasy-- especially Edward Eager’s magical books, and Carol Kendall’s.
Did you write stories when you were growing up?
My earliest works include A GARDEN BOOK (second grade), HAIRDOS AND PEOPLE I KNOW (fifth), and THE HISTORY OF QUEERSVILLE (sixth). I created a series of weird little books about people. My first short story was “Death Waits Until After Dark” (eighth grade)--about a teacher who jumps out the window. My teachers in third and eighth grades (Sister de Maria and Sister Della) stand out as being particularly encouraging of my writing. Sister Della (now Marie Tollstrup) gave me an “A” on “Death Waits Until After Dark”, even though its plot was absurd and nasty. She was the first person who told me I might be a writer when I grew up, and she remains an important person in my life. Diaries! Very important to keep a diary or journal. I started in sixth grade, but didn’t really get the hang of it till high school.
When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career?
In college I thought about publishing as a career. The day after I graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, I began a career in children’s publishing and have stayed there ever since. Over the course of eleven years, I worked for four companies as a children’s book editor. While on the job, I started writing books. Finally, about twenty years ago, I started working at home, writing my own books for young people.
Where do you get your ideas?
I give a different answer to this question every time, probably because there is no real answer. Today's answer: I think ideas come from paying attention – listening – observing – thinking like a writer. One thing I pay attention to is what I'm passionate about. A lifelong passion for music (I grew up playing several musical instruments) inspired LIVES OF THE MUSICIANS: GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES and WHAT THE NEIGHBORS THOUGHT. Each musician in the book was important to me at some time in my life. The point of view comes from my fascination with neighbors--which is common, I think, though I did go to extremes and marry one of mine, children’s book illustrator Paul Brewer. The first two companions, LIVES OF THE WRITERS and LIVES OF THE ARTISTS, reflect my love of books and art.
Which do you prefer writing, fiction or nonfiction?
My favorite thing to write is biography, true stories about other people. My interest in biography as a literary form comes from curiosity about the details of others’ lives. To put it in a simple way, I'm nosy. I agree with something John F. Kennedy said about or to J. Edgar Hoover-- “All history is gossip.” I'm also intrigued by the shape and structure of a person's life--the arc, the story of it. As stories, biographies are some of the very best--people have definite beginnings, middles, and demises. I'm motivated by the challenge of trying to write about a life in a pithy, meaningful way--sculpting with words a portrait that conveys the essence of a person--accurately yet dramatically. I use a “warts and all” approach because I want to write biographies for kids living in the real world. I know readers have to survive all kinds of hurts and traumas; my way of helping is to dramatize how people in the past have done it.
What are you working on now?
I am starting a brand-new series called “Giants of Science” (Viking). These are biographies of real human beings that show how scientific discovery is never a revelation arriving in a single, mind-blowing flash. The first book is about LEONARDO DA VINCI. We know him as a painter, but studying the natural world was his passion—botany, astronomy, zoology, geology, paleontology, aerodynamics, and most of all anatomy. He was obsessed with experiments and observations for half of his life, meticulously cataloging everything in his gorgeous notebooks.
What other jobs did you have before you became a writer?
I thought I might become a librarian, but when I was fifteen, I was fired from my part-time job at the library. The reason? Reading too much--while I was supposed to be working. Luckily, I had other jobs. One began when I was twelve: playing organ at my church. At seventeen I taught piano lessons to kids in my town. My musical background has inspired several of my books. Another job when I was young involved selling doughnuts and cupcakes at a bakery, which hasn’t led to any books so far.