Page 120 – Pat Mora

Creativity Salon: an Interview with Guadalupe Garcia McCall

I’ll begin by saying: Who has her first book coming out this fall? My guest Guadalupe Garcia McCall. Her verse novel, Under the Mesquite, will be published in September. I met Guadalupe through e-mail, and we soon discovered our many connections including a love of nature. Congratulations on your verse novel, Guadalupe and welcome to Bookjoy Creativity Salon!

1. So how does it feel to have your first book published?
GGM: This is an amazing feeling, indescribable. When the ARCs first came in, I walked around the house holding it like a baby, carrying it everywhere. I would stand it on the counter and look at it while I cooked. I stood it next to me on my desk and watched it while I worked on novel number 2. I think I read it in ARC form like 20 times because it was such a dream come true.

2. Tell us about your publishing journey.

Under the Mesquite (Sept. 2011)

GGM: It has really been quite a journey. Under the Mesquite started as a collection of poems I wrote over many years when I wanted to “show” my students how easy writing poetry can be. They would say, “This is hard,” and I would show them how easy it was by just taking a memory and turning it into a poem in class. Of course, I had to rewrite it for every class, so by the end of the day, the poem was usually revised several times. I started collecting these “little poems” and when I had about 35 of them, I sent them out. Emily Hazel, my editor at Lee & Low, saw the potential for a novel in verse in them, and the rest is history.

3. Did you always want to be a writer?
GGM: Oh, yes, always. My first memories of writing are special. My father taught me to write so that I would be “prepared” for school in the United States. I loved listening to the pencil “whisper the words” as it travelled on the paper with his hand guiding mine. But the one who really put the idea in my head was my third grade teacher, Mr. Hernandez. After he read one of my stories (I was in a bilingual classroom, so I wrote it in Spanish) he asked me if I had written the story by myself. I said I had, and he said, “Someday, you’re going to be a writer.” Of course, hearing him say it cemented it in my head. It’s amazing the profound effect a good teacher can have on us. If Mr. Hernandez hadn’t said it quite like that, I might not have grown up believing it.

4. Have you always thought of yourself as creative? How do you nurture your creative life?
GGM: I have always loved the arts. My father, who was a carpenter, was very creative. He used to play the guitar, sing, and draw. One day, I came home from school crying because my teacher had given me a zero on a drawing of the earth. He sat down and taught me how “easy” drawing could be. It opened up the world of art for me.

My mother too was instrumental in helping me find my creativity. She recognized that I was “artistic” before I did and enrolled me in singing, dancing, and acting classes in Mexico when I was in elementary. I love to sing (although, I am not good at it) and still draw. I nurture my creative side by staying close to nature. I find nature is the most artistic entity of all. The movement of the elements as they interact is dance, the sounds of water and fire and air is music, and everything that happens on our planet is performance, and it’s all out there, a feast for the senses, if we just open our eyes and feel and look with our hearts.

5. You are an experienced and committed teacher. What are your key challenges as a teacher? As a writer?
GGM: As a teacher and as a writer and as a mother and also as a person, I find that my biggest challenge in life is patience. I am not as patient as I’d like to be with myself or others. I like to finish things fast. I love movement and productivity. It comes from having two very hard working parents and also being somewhat of a perfectionist. So, every day I pray for patience and force myself to wait for perfection to come at its own pace and dressed in its own favorite outfit, not mine.

6. Are you working on other writing projects?
GGM: Oh yes. Absolutely. I am always writing. I finished revising Six Little Sisters last month. It is a multicultural novel (prose) with lots of magic realism, and I hope to find it a home someday soon. And now I am finishing up another novel-in-verse tentatively titled I Am Joaquin. It is a multicultural YA historical piece based on the conflicts in South Texas resulting from the Plan de San Diego in 1915. I have to say I am really taken by the voice of Joaquin and the story he has to tell. I Am Joaquin deals with rebellion and social injustice, but, at the heart of it, is a story about a boy, his family, and the girl he loves.

7. What do you do to relax?
GGM: Believe it or not, I write to relax. To sit in front of the computer means that I have time away from everything else that is ordinary and average. To sit in front of the computer means that I am on “vacation” from my life. I love to sit and daydream and think profoundly about life. Don’t get me wrong, I am a social person. I have many friends and I love to talk, but to be able to sit and think, that is special. That’s having time for myself. Time to do what I want.

More information:
Read an interview with Guadalupe at BookTalk on the Lee & Low website.
Visit Guadalupe’s website.

Creativity Salon: an Interview with Margarita Engle

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting with Margarita Engle, reading her books and savoring the Colorín Colorado interview below. I strongly recommend that you watch the interview for many reasons including to hear Margarita’s eloquent response to why she writes in free verse.

Margarita, welcome to this Bookjoy Creativity Salon.

Photo by Marshall W. Johnson

Hello, my name is Margarita Engle, and I write young adult novels in free verse, primarily about Cuban history. Although I was born in Los Angeles, my mother is from Cuba. When I was a child, we spent summers on the island, and I developed the deep attachment that inspires my writing.

1. You’ve said you were a book worm as a child and connected that to then becoming a writer. Many readers, though they may love reading, do not become writers. How/why, then, do you think your writing life began?
ME: I loved The Black Stallion, and Island of the Blue Dolphins. Both were books about children stranded on islands, trying to survive. Looking back, I think I must have related to those stories because of the Missile Crisis, travel restrictions, and my own sense of isolation from Cuba. Growing up in the hectic city of Los Angeles, I craved the peace of nature. Writing was an exploration, and an escape. I started writing lyrical nature poems when I was very young. The only one I vaguely remember was about dry hills that looked like brown lizards. I do remember that writing felt comforting, and it still does.

2. Your books have appropriately received many awards. You are the first Latina (o) to receive a Newbery Honor Award, yes? What is your reaction to that fact?
ME: I walked through the Newbery ceremony in a daze. To this day, I still suspect that I might have been dreaming. I didn’t realize how much it meant to the Latino community, until I was included in articles and books about women who changed America. It’s humbling too, because all I did was daydream on paper. I feel like I’m standing on the shoulders of Latino earlier Latino authors who were not honored.

3. What is your personal writing challenge?
ME: There are so many tempting stories, and so many fascinating subplots. It’s easy to get sidetracked. Each time I start a book, I have to write a note to myself about the theme. Later, when I feel confused, I can read the note and remember what I’m really trying to say. When I finish the book, the note becomes my “Author’s Note.”

4. Have you always thought of yourself as creative? How do you nurture your creative life?
ME: I have always been a daydreamer. My mother must have mistaken my daydreams for philosophy, because when I gazed into space, she would tell people not to bother me while I was thinking! She understood the key to creativity: quiet time. In the modern world, that means turning off noisy gadgets and electronic interruptions. I need time alone in a hammock, or out in the woods, walking… Many great poets (Antonio Machado!) have been avid walkers. The rhythm of footsteps turns into the music of verse.

5. Would you like to tell us about the projects you’re working on or topics that intrigue you, those, to use your words, that now “haunt” you?

ME: My next novel in verse is The Wild Book, scheduled by Harcourt for March, 2012. Unlike my historical books, this one is completely personal. It was inspired by stories my grandmother told me about her childhood. She grew up on a farm during the chaos following the U.S. occupation of Cuba after the “Spanish-American” War. She also had dyslexia, so the book is dedicated to reluctant readers. Exploring my grandmother’s childhood, and taking on her voice, was an emotional experience!

My next picture book is about search and rescue dogs, it’s scheduled by Holt/Macmillan for 2013. This topic comes from my husband’s volunteer work, training our two dogs in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I am a volunteer “victim.” I hide in the forest, so the dogs can practice finding a lost hiker.

6. You’ve talked about writing about people who made “hopeful choices.” In what ways is writing a “hopeful” choice for you?
ME: I won’t write a story for young people unless it has a hopeful ending, so every time I start exploring some complex historical situation, I’m forced to choose the optimistic aspects. I can only go ahead with the project if I discover that there were people who were kind while surrounded by cruelty, or fair while surrounded by injustice. If I don’t find documented examples of admirable qualities, I drop that project, and move on to something else.

7. To end on a lighter note, what makes Margarita really laugh?
ME: Animals and folklore! In my daily life, our dogs make me laugh. They help me remember how to be silly. In my literary life, the exaggeration found in Cuban folktales is hilarious. I am trying to include some of that folklore in my writing.

Visit Margarita Engle’s website.

Día’s 15th Anniversary Celebration at ALA

How I wish that the many Día supporters across the country could have been with us for the Día celebration session at ALA’s annual conference in New Orleans last month. Below you’ll see the delicious cake. My thanks to ALSC, and particularly Linda Mays, for arranging for the cake and music. The group cutting the cake — Lucia Gonzalez, Jeanette Larson, Pat Mora, Cynthia Richey, and Oralia Garza de Cortes — were all part of the panel. It was such a pleasure to hear each contribute so eloquently to describing Día’s journey.

L to R: Lucia Gonzalez, Jeanette Larson, Pat Mora,
Cynthia Richey, Oralia Garza de Cortes

Celebrations can allow us to reflect on past successes and to unite in our vision for the future. I spoke of the sunflower, indigenous to Mexico and filling the air with its yellow exuberance, as a good symbol for Día. I hope you’ll print this booklet that includes my vision for Día’s future, many Nuggets or hints for planning your Día year, and 30 reflections on Día’s important work.

I wish our literacy challenges received the kind of attention that sports events and celebrities receive. They don’t. Our children are this nation’s future, though, and thousands of children need literacy advocates to creatively link all children to books, languages and cultures. Join us!

Pat and her friend and web manager Laurina Cashin at
Dia’s 15th Anniversary Celebration, ALA New Orleans, 2011.

First Graders Talk about Pat’s Books

I’m so grateful to Martha Rico, librarian at Hawkins School in my home city of El Paso, Texas. Martha was kind enough to send me the video of her first grade students responding to my books by sending me their messages in Spanish. Isn’t that creative and generous of Martha? I asked her the following questions.

1. How long have you been a librarian?

MR: I have been a librarian 10 years.

2. What do you enjoy about the work?
MR: I enjoy being in the library because I work with the whole student body! I enjoy watching the students grow from kindergarten to fifth grade: to watch their likes and dislikes change as well as their personalities. It is especially momentous when a former student who is now in high school or older comes by and says, “I remember when you used to ….”. That lets me know I have made a small impact on their lives. I also get to work with the entire faculty on various projects.

3. How do you select the books?
MR: Books are selected through reviews, student/teacher interest and award-winning books.

4. Do you think of yourself as creative?
MR: I wouldn’t say I am creative at all. Sometimes I have a really good idea for a project or bulletin board or even for a lesson, but overall I don’t consider myself creative.

5. Do you celebrate Día at your library? If not, will you next year? If yes, how do you plan and what happens?
MR: Honestly, I promote Día because our city hosts a big fair, but in the library I haven’t done all that much. We usually get an email with all the info about it with a printable flyer that I post outside the library. It usually falls so close to state testing that it gets put on the back burner at my library. I will try to be a better advocate next year.

Hawkins Elementary School

Creativity Salon: an Interview with Maria Melendez

I have so enjoyed preparing for this interview with my friend, the poet and editor Maria Melendez, who presently lives with her family in Pueblo, CO. Welcome to this Bookjoy Creativity Salon, Maria.

Thank you, Pat! I’m honored to be part of the lively work you foster here. BTW, I loved seeing the photos of the mural for The Desert Is My Mother that you included in your last post. I’m thrilled when the arts can be wellsprings for each other.

I’ve just finished re-reading your two poetry collections. Bravo! Such variety you offer readers.

PM: When did your deep attention and connection to nature begin?

MM: Thanks to some good urban and suburban planning, and to my parents’ motivation for picnics or hikes outdoors, I experienced wonder in wild nature throughout my childhood in the East Bay area of Northern California. Sunol Regional Wilderness, Del Valle Reservoir and Sycamore Grove Park inhabit me “deep in the brain, far back” (as Roethke says).

PM: Why poetry? I have a friend who teases me that he wonders why I don’t just write in sentences and paragraphs, why don’t I just write prose?

MM: That is such a loaded question for me; I feel I have to answer it every time I sit down to create new work. There are so many anti-poetry forces swirling around us/me, that I’m always having to talk myself into poetry. Well. I undergo something, in the process of working on poetry, that I don’t undergo at any other time—a suite of sensations. I tried to write about this in an early poem called “Poeta Falsa,” which appeared in the Swan Scythe Press chapbook Base Pairs. It ends with this answer to the persistent “Why poetry?” question: “because at no other time / am I as half-assed and ragged / as the early draft, / or as mammoth, as orchestral, / as the near-end.” Ooh, I really get the willies when poets quote themselves, and here I’ve gone and done it.

PM: I was struck by the boldness of your work from incorporating scientific terminology to juxtaposing Our Lady with web lingo. In “Catamite,” you write, “Where do you get the strength to be you?” Where do you get the strength to be the poet you are?

MM: When the writing process is hot and cookin’, I’m surrendering to the interests and concerns I’ve been given. More than in everyday life and conversation, in poetry I’m free to link them together, as they always are in my emotional life. I’ve been really enjoying the idea of writing as surrender, rather than as an exertion of strength or will.

PM: You are the editor of Pilgrimage: Story • Spirit • Witness • Place. How long have you been the editor and what intrigued you about doing this work? In my experience, editors don’t edit my poetry. They may make suggestions on my prose and copyeditors made plenty of suggestions on the definitions of poetic forms in Dizzy in Your Eyes, for example. How do you see your role as an editor?

MM: My family and I became Quakers, and that’s occasioned my renewed attention to “spirit/Spirit” in contemporary writing. The areas of emphasis outgoing editor Peter Anderson brought to Pilgrimage (story, spirit, witness, place) appealed to me as a Chicana writer interested in the environment and as a po’ biz playah who had grown tired of the purely secular efforts of professional striving I saw in so many literary magazines. While the s/S-word rarely appears in work I select, presences or processes bigger and greater than a human individual are implied throughout the essays and poetry I publish. I’ve usually done some “hands-on” editing for about 30-50% of the contents in any given issue. My suggestions involve condensing, expanding, or re-wording sections that don’t hold up to an individual work’s best moments. I so enjoy this dynamic engagement with literature that I’ve begun my own individual editorial consulting practice. I work one-on-one with writers preparing nonfiction or poetry manuscripts, and I try to help these clients make their work as artistically viable, moment to moment, as they want it to be.

PM: In your poem “Ars Poetica: Platanus Racemosa,” you write “listen/for what’s asking to be written.” So, what’s “asking to be written” in your life now, María?

MM: I have a new book of poetry that’s in the sludgy, murky, chaotic phase—I’ve fished about a book’s worth of drafts from my stream of notes, journals, fits and starts. Knowing I have to intuit some sense of artistic coherence from this heap feels daunting—but as a friend reminded me today, at least by now I know enough to know this phase will pass. The murk, though it returns with regularity, always yields something new.

PM: What do you, a busy mom, wife, editor, poet—what else am I missing?—do to refresh your spirit and to nudge you back to the page?

MM: Reading and re-reading literature I love helps refill the well. Moving around also helps. I walk on the bluffs along the Arkansas river at the Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo—alone, with family, or with doggie—and I’ve also become very reliant on some Tai Chi classes and practices to shut off the anxiety-generating crawl that runs across the screen of my consciousness. This shut-off allows my awareness to return to physical experience and to my sub-conscious, two muses with more clarity and vision than my intellect can usually offer.