I discovered Frances through her memoirs. When did you discover Frances Conway, and what about her spoke to you? Did you know you needed to tell this story when you first encountered her? Her latest novel is Enchanted Islands, based on the life of Frances Conway, who lived with her husband, Ainslie, on the Galápagos Islands for several stretches in the 1930s and '40s. She lives in New York City, where she teaches creative writing.

She is also the author of the Independent Publisher's Award-winning story collection Things That Pass for Love. Read Shelf Awareness 's full interview with Sherman Alexie.Īllison Amend, a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, is the author of the novels A Nearly Perfect Copy and Stations West, which was a finalist for the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Oklahoma Book Award. I think there's something universal about that message.' - Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness And in becoming an individual, you're going to get hurt. And then it's hard to become an individual. 'And one thing always rings clear: kids feel trapped by their communities' expectations. The raw, emotionally potent Absolutely True Diary hits home for many young readers: 'I've gotten fan letters from rich white private school kids and from the poorest kids on the rez and in the inner city,' Alexie says. I'm interested in how Native kids live now.' Instead of publishers 'cleaning up' and reissuing a classic title that may contain stereotypical images or ideas, he suggests in a recent Shelf interview, 'Publish something new, damn it! With the amount of money they're putting into that book they could probably publish five new books!' 'I'm not interested in telling the story of Running Bear. 'I'm not interested in talking animals,' he says. (just published by Little, Brown), illustrated by Yuyi Morales, has sparked a constellation of starred reviews.Īlexie wants to write about contemporary kids. Poet, short story writer, novelist, filmmaker, social satirist and Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, Alexie first catapulted into the world of YA with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown), which won the 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Still, there are egos, but the primary mission of all of us is to get books into the hands of kids.

We're united in our mission to get books to kids. 'The writers, the librarians, the booksellers. One surprise for Sherman Alexie in his hugely successful foray into children's and YA literature is that everyone in the field is so nice: 'It's an exponentially kinder professional world, so I really enjoy the people,' he says.

Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum