Back to Featured Interviews >>

MEET PATRICE VECCHIONE
by Bonnie O'Brian

What did you most like to do when you were a child?

Patrice Vecchione

When I was a kid I liked reading and making art best of all. I lived inNew York City where going to museums, concerts, and dance recitals were also favorite activities.

What other jobs you had before you became a writer/illustrator?

I began writing poetry in high school, so there weren’t jobs beforethat. My jobs have included housecleaner, bookstore clerk, squid cleaner, clown. Many writers need do other work in addition to writing. I teach poetry in elementary, middle and high schools, work as a writing coach, and teach poetry, creative writing and collage to adults at universities, cultural centers and libraries.

What are the topics are some of your books?

I edit anthologies of poetry for children and young adults. In addition to FAITH AND DOUBT, my anthologies include: TRUTH AND LIES, REVENGE AND FORGIVENESS, THE BODY ECLECTIC which are for teens. For children I have WHISPER AND SHOUT: Poems to Memorize. My book for older teens and adults is WRITING AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within. I wrote it to help readers see how writing is a soulful endeavor, how it can be spiritual in nature, not religious but spiritual. TERRITORY OF WIND is a book of poems and its subjects range widely from childhood experiences to love poems to poems praising the natural world. I’m currently at work on a new volume of poems, THE KNOT UNTIED, and a book for teens who want to write poetry called MY SHOUTING, SHATTERED, WHISPERING VOICE.

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

I want students to gain confidence in their ability to write, in their creativity, to become familiar with the place inside where art and poetry come from, to know that everyone has a story and nobody can tell it but you!

What kinds of things inspire you to write?

I do my best writing while on my bicycle! Not with a pen in my hand though. Ideas come and I work them through in my mind while riding up hills and along the coast in Monterey. Being away from the desk, the freedom of the bike with the wind and the ever-changing views trigger my imagination.,

Is there anything about yourself that you’d like to share - hobbies, where you were born, special talents other than writing/illustrating.

Related to my answer above, on my 50th birthday I rode 100 miles. It took me about 7.5 hours.

Has anyone ever written you a fan letter that you’d like to share?

Following the publication of my book WRITING AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE, I received a fan postcard from a librarian in Naples, Italy. I was delighted that my book had traveled so far, especially as this is where my grandfather was from!