Sunday, September 13, 2015

Publishers Weekly Q&A with Alison McGhee

from Firefly Hollow, Atheneum Books for Young Readers 2015 

From a wonderful interview here with Alison McGhee author of our new book, Firefly Hollow.


PW: "What, in a nutshell, do you hope that young readers take away
from the story?"

Alison: "No matter how lonely and misunderstood you may feel, there is a place for
you in this world, and there are people who will love you."

Read the interview here:


http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/67659-q-a-with-alison-mcghee.html

Alison McGhee on the writing of Firefly Hollow

If you have had a chance to read Alison McGhee's Firefly Hollow, and hopefully liked the book, then you may enjoy this wonderful post she has written on the creation of the story. In it, she shares her own thoughts and struggles in the writing of the manuscript with inspiring honesty and grace.

"The long and winding road that led to my novel Firefly Hollow began with some photocopied paintings that arrived in the mail one day. They were by an artist named Christopher Denise, and I spread them out on my big wooden dining table and stood there studying each one. 

The idea was that I would write a picture book to go along with them. I love an assignment, but this one intimidated me. The paintings were just so damn beautiful. There was a vole wearing a little sailor's cap, and there was a cricket, and there was a boat and a river. There was the night sky and moonlight and the colors in each painting were like jewels.


Could I write a picture book worthy of those paintings? I wanted to, and I tried. For about a year and half, I tried. But everything I wrote—and I wrote a lot—kept spiraling out into more story than a picture book, with its tiny word count and strict page limit, could handle."

Read the rest of her post here at the Pippin Insider:

http://www.pippinproperties.com/blog/entry/conjuring-firefly-hollow/?comments