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Interview with Katherine Sturtevant, author of At the Sign of the Star
BookMuse Kids' Corner editor Anji Brenner recently interviewed children's book author Katherine Sturtevant via email. Sturtevant's historical novel At the Sign of the Star depicts the life of twelve-year-old Meg, a bookseller's daughter in late 17th-century England, who wrestles for some control of her own destiny. Look for the Kids' Muse Notes on At the Sign of the Star by Anji Brenner.
If you were a fly on the wall at a book discussion group for At the Sign of the Star, what question from the Kids' Muse Notes would you most like answered? Why?
I was fascinated by the very first question, the one about the scene in which Meg is beaten. I didn't think about any of these things as I wrote the scene, of course; it just "came out." It would be interesting to hear a discussion on this question, as I'm always ready to learn more about the characters I've created!
If you were given the opportunity to revise At the Sign of the Star one more time, would you change anything?
There are probably dozens of phrases that could be further polished, and little redundancies that could be eliminated. I try not to notice them now that I can't do anything about them. But I'm really one of those writers who feels very "through" with a book once it's in print. I find I'd rather be working on new books than thinking of ways to improve the ones I've already written.
Have you ever been in a book club?
I'm in two book clubs! I keep saying I'm going to quit one of them, so I can choose more of my own reading matter, but so far I haven't been able to bear to give one up. I love talking about books with other people, especially in a relaxed atmosphere where there are no "right" answers and every reader's experience is equally valid.
What did you read as a child? What do you read now?
As I child I loved Little Women and other books by Louisa May Alcott, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, books by Beverly Cleary and Elizabeth Enright, the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace (especially since Betsy was a writer), Nancy Drew mystery stories, and many wonderful novels of historical fiction whose titles and authors I've since forgotten. Today I still love to read novels best. In children's literature I enjoy the work of Karen Cushman, Leon Garfield, Jack Gantos, and Susan Hart Lindquist. I'm a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien. I also read novelists who write for adults, such as Toni Morrison, Rose Tremain, and David Lodge, and I enjoy "classic" authors such as Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope.
What is the most difficult thing about being a writer?
Finding the time to write! Sometimes I feel like I'm hacking at the jungle of my life with a machete, trying to clear a space in which to get some work done. But once I find that time, ah, the pleasure! There is a "payoff" to the creative experience that keeps writers coming back to it over and over again, no matter how hard it is to schedule it into the day.
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