Bio: Irene Latham
Name: Irene Latham
'10 Book Title: Leaving Gee's Bend
Publisher: Putnam
Favorite Bit of Writing Advice: "Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for." - Ray Bradbury
Favorite and least favorite part of writing: Oh wow, I love all of it. Love it when the words are coming so fast my fingers can't keep up. Love the research. Love seeing a raw piece evolve into something polished. Love when my story takes me somewhere I wasn't expecting. What I DON'T enjoy is the after-the-writing part. The promotional show-up-and-sell-your-book part. I wish I could sprinkle some pixie dust and make that happen all by itself.
Outline or Let it fly? I've learned I fly much better with a good strong set of wings. Which for me means at least a sentence-per-chapter plan to get me from start to finish. The great thing about writing historical fiction is you've got actual event to hang your story on, and that helps keep you focused. The hard part is you've got actual events to hang your story on. Which means you have a responsibility to the reader to be as accurate as possible, even when you've got this great idea.
5 things about me:
1. I am a poet in the adult market, so I have a wee bit of book experience, albeit in the small press market rather than the big dogs of New York City. I absolutely adore poetry and can't imagine writing a novel that doesn't include poetry in it somehow.
2. I live with one man (husband Paul) and three almost-men (sons Daniel, Andrew & Eric) in Birmingham, Alabama. It seems I get shorter every year.
3. Growing up, the books I loved best were the Little House on the Prairie series. But when I was sixteen years old I bought at a neighbor's yard sale a box of about 50 romance novels for $25 and proceeded to feast my way through the summer. This might explain why I am currently writing mg historical fiction but see myself eventually writing some juicy YA.
4. I love to travel and sometimes think I write just so I have a justifiable reason to go places. Right now I really really really want to take a trip Alaska.
5. I'm part science-geek -- I love learning about science and nature, particularly things related to outer space.
Synopsis:
Every quilt tells a story.
When ten year old Ludelphia Bennett decides to make a quilt for her mama, she thinks it will tell the story of her quiet life in the isolated sharecropper community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. But when Mama gets deathly ill and rumors start flying about the “witches of Gee’s Bend,” Ludelphia worries that it’s all her fault.
Determined to fix things, Ludelphia takes her needle and thread and leaves Gee’s Bend for the very first time. Her adventures take her across the river and into a world she could never have imagined -- where there’s indoor plumbing and motorcars and white folks. As Ludelphia’s quilt grows, her understanding of the world grows too. But is it enough to save Mama?
At the heart of this story of survival and courage is the real-life 1932 raid on Gee’s Bend and the subsequent Red Cross rescue.
I'm so happy to be here! What a wonderful variety of books and authors! Super-glad to be debuting with all of you!
'10 Book Title: Leaving Gee's Bend
Publisher: Putnam
Favorite Bit of Writing Advice: "Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for." - Ray Bradbury
Favorite and least favorite part of writing: Oh wow, I love all of it. Love it when the words are coming so fast my fingers can't keep up. Love the research. Love seeing a raw piece evolve into something polished. Love when my story takes me somewhere I wasn't expecting. What I DON'T enjoy is the after-the-writing part. The promotional show-up-and-sell-your-book part. I wish I could sprinkle some pixie dust and make that happen all by itself.
Outline or Let it fly? I've learned I fly much better with a good strong set of wings. Which for me means at least a sentence-per-chapter plan to get me from start to finish. The great thing about writing historical fiction is you've got actual event to hang your story on, and that helps keep you focused. The hard part is you've got actual events to hang your story on. Which means you have a responsibility to the reader to be as accurate as possible, even when you've got this great idea.
5 things about me:
1. I am a poet in the adult market, so I have a wee bit of book experience, albeit in the small press market rather than the big dogs of New York City. I absolutely adore poetry and can't imagine writing a novel that doesn't include poetry in it somehow.
2. I live with one man (husband Paul) and three almost-men (sons Daniel, Andrew & Eric) in Birmingham, Alabama. It seems I get shorter every year.
3. Growing up, the books I loved best were the Little House on the Prairie series. But when I was sixteen years old I bought at a neighbor's yard sale a box of about 50 romance novels for $25 and proceeded to feast my way through the summer. This might explain why I am currently writing mg historical fiction but see myself eventually writing some juicy YA.
4. I love to travel and sometimes think I write just so I have a justifiable reason to go places. Right now I really really really want to take a trip Alaska.
5. I'm part science-geek -- I love learning about science and nature, particularly things related to outer space.
Synopsis:
Every quilt tells a story.
When ten year old Ludelphia Bennett decides to make a quilt for her mama, she thinks it will tell the story of her quiet life in the isolated sharecropper community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. But when Mama gets deathly ill and rumors start flying about the “witches of Gee’s Bend,” Ludelphia worries that it’s all her fault.
Determined to fix things, Ludelphia takes her needle and thread and leaves Gee’s Bend for the very first time. Her adventures take her across the river and into a world she could never have imagined -- where there’s indoor plumbing and motorcars and white folks. As Ludelphia’s quilt grows, her understanding of the world grows too. But is it enough to save Mama?
At the heart of this story of survival and courage is the real-life 1932 raid on Gee’s Bend and the subsequent Red Cross rescue.
I'm so happy to be here! What a wonderful variety of books and authors! Super-glad to be debuting with all of you!