"Original Philadelphian": an indepth interview with Joe Glantz

I've spent time talking with Joe Glantz through the years. Reading his funny, history-fueled quips. Remarking on his range of quotable thoughts. And so I was happy to sit and answer these beautiful questions on books that span the whole of my career—memoir, essays, novels for young readers, a corporate fable, that autobiography of a river, teaching. We talk about process, hope, and the young people who inspire me. We talk about silence and its opposite.

It's all here, with thanks to Joe Glantz. Check out the whole series here.

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A conversation with Lynn Rosen/Publishing Business Today

Speedy does not begin to define Lynn Rosen, the content director of Publishing Business Today, an industry newsletter that reaches 30,000 subscribers.

In fact, I don't know the word, so I'll tell you a story.

Lynn emailed me this afternoon around 2:45, say.  By 3:15, we were on the phone, chatting.  Shortly after that I chased after some corporate work, got into the car, sped off to Ardmore, learned a new dance step with John Larson, and got back into the car. My phone was blinking.  It was Lynn.  The interview is up, she said.

I don't even know how she did that, but there it is.  Lynn has always had many talents.  I'm grateful that she has shared hers with me today. 

The interview—which talks about Small Damages, the power of trusting your publishing house, "instant" success, and (I blush) sleep—can be found here.

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Landscape, Soul, Story: An Interview, A Review

A few weeks ago, Tamara Smith, the co-creator of Kissing the Earth (you will love this site, when you visit it) wrote to me about landscape. Landscape is central in Tamara's own books, she said, and having read Small Damages for BookBrowse, Tamara sensed that it mattered to me as well.  A conversation ensued—deep and ranging, thanks to Tamara's smart questions—and I am grateful to be able to share the whole here, on Kissing the Earth.

A fragment:

KTE: You told me that, for you, landscape is a character.  It is for me too. Can you explain that a bit here?  Why is this so?  How do you manifest this belief in your work?

BK: Landscape shapes us.  It defines our legs and lungs as we walk through it.  It shapes the way we see, how we define horizons, what seems impossibly far away and what seems gratifyingly or frighteningly near.  Landscape is proximity, and it is distance.  It is another way of measuring time.  And so, in much of my work—the memoirs (especially my book about marriage and El Salvador), the river book, a YA novel that takes place in Juarez, a YA book that takes place in a garden (and Barcelona and Portugal), another YA novel that takes place in Centennial Philadelphia, and of course Small Damages—I am placing my characters down among very specific places and learning how it shapes them.

Tamara, thank you.  The conversation was a privilege.  Kenzie's landscape was inspired by Arenales, the cortijo I visited in southern Spain, among other sites.  I am yearning, deeply, to return.

I was all set to post this link to my conversation with Tamara when that incredibly generous sneak, Serena Agusto-Cox of Savvy Verse & Wit, sent me a late-night email with a link that would not, she said, go live until today. Well.  In my humble opinion, this blogger, wife, mom, and full-time employee (how she does it all, I do not know) has done so much for me and my books that I felt embarrassed to imagine that she had spent the time to read another Kephart book, and to reflect on it.  When I read Serena's review of Small Damages, I felt even more—I don't know the word—for Serena clearly put so much heart and time and thought into her words.  Perhaps she did this at 2 AM, or perhaps she did it on her lunch break.  I don't know when, or how, but Serena, I am grateful. 

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In Leavittville: A Small Damages Conversation (and my love for Philomel)

I wanted to find a pair of cowgirl boots for my friend Caroline Leavitt, to thank her for making room for me on her roost today, but the best I could do was this sign, photographed in Nashville four years ago, which sat (you'll have to believe me) right near a cowboy/cowgirl boot store.  Why I didn't think to photograph the boots themselves is beyond me.  What is not beyond me, at this moment, is gratitude.  For Caroline's friendship.  For her own talent.  For conversations we have had in public and in private as we both journey through this writing life.  I don't even know how Caroline got an early copy of Small Damages, but she had one.  She's in the midst of writing a brand new book, and she made time to read it.  Then she asked me excellent questions, the kind of questions one who knows another well can ask.  I answered them all here.

Among the things we discussed is how much I love Philomel, and how I made my way to this great place to begin with.  I extract a small fraction of our conversation below, but hope you will visit Leavittville for more.

Philomel is exquisite.  At Philomel I have a home.  There I have never felt like a fringe writer, a secondary writer, a marginal, will-she-please-fit-a-category, we’ll-get-to-you-when-we-get-to-you writer.  Michael Green, Philomel’s president, is a most generous person, and correspondent.  Tamra—beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, embracing—approached the editing of this book, the design of its cover, and the preparation of it for the world with the greatest care, and in the process we became great friends.  Jessica Shoffel, a wildly wonderful and innovative publicist, wrote me a note I’ll never forget after she read the book and her devotion to getting the word out has been unflagging, sensational.  The sales team got in touch a long time ago and has stayed in touch.  And on and on.  

But no, I never knew I would shine.  I don’t think of myself as a diamond or a star.  I never think in those terms.  I just keep writing my heart out.  And when you are collaborating with a house like Philomel, when you are given room, when your questions are answered, when you are given a chance, there are possibilities.

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the Penguin interview

The Penguin team is just that—a beautiful, competent, engaged team.  Last week the team members had a few questions for me—on favorite characters, getaway dreams, desert islands, Twitter capabilities, and next things.  The interview is posted here.  I share the content below:

SMALL DAMAGES, the 14th novel from National Book Award finalist Beth Kephart, has been garnering heaps of praise in the weeks before its release. The New York Times Book Review called the book “dreamlike”, opining that “the reader is lost and found and lost and found again.” The Los Angeles Times labeled it “lovely”, and in a starred review Kirkus said that SMALL DAMAGES was “lovely and unusual—at once epic and intimate.”

Having read SMALL DAMAGES myself, I can completely confirm all of these wonderful accolades. SMALL DAMAGES is, indeed, a beautiful, absorbing read, which is one of the many reasons we wanted to find out more about Beth herself! Take it away, Ms. Kephart:

Name:  Beth Kephart
Novel:  Small Damages
Available: July 19th

Who’s your favorite author, living or dead? Michael Ondaatje.  He is the man.

What’s your favorite thing about your book? That it kept my imagination, my heart, in southern Spain for a very long time. A decade, to be precise. 

If you could spend one year on a deserted island with one character from literature, who would you choose? Goodness.  Really?  I have to choose?  Can’t I have a party?  Is the budget too small?  If I answered this question for real, you would think I was a depressed person.  Therefore, I’m going to remain frustratingly coy.  It is my authorial prerogative.

[Ed: Not fair! We want to know! :)]

Where do you write? [Photo of workspace above.] I type in a room that was built for that purpose; the attached photo offers proof.  I write (handwrite) in another room, with my leg slung over the back of the couch.  In neither room can I claim good posture.

Who is your favorite hero or heroine of history? George C. Childs, the 19^th century editor of Philadelphia’s Public Ledger.  He was America’s greatest philanthropist for a long while.  He was so smart and so moral that both the Republicans and the Democrats begged him to run for president.  He chose not to.

Do you tweet? What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever tweeted? I am only now learning how to tweet.  Or.  I am learning how to manage a Twitter account.  I have not yet enrolled in the tweet funny-ness classes.  Can I get back to you on this once I have my Twitter diploma? Can you recommend a good tweet funny-ness class? [Ed: You can find Beth on Twitter here!]

What is your favorite season? Autumn.  It’s yours, too, I bet.[Ed: It is! How did you know?]

If you could teleport anywhere in the known universe right now, where would you go? Oh my gosh.  Is there an Around the World in Eighty Days option on this question?  Can I go to Seville, Spoleto, Venice, Berlin, London, and San Miguel de Allende all in the same 24 hours?  I should also probably stop by Santa Tecla, El Salvador, to see my mother-in-law.  We’re good friends, now.

Do you have any writing rituals? My very special, super secret, unpatented writing ritual involves relaxing into a half sleep.  In this condition, I dream.  And in dreams are…well, you know the rest.

What is your idea of earthly happiness? A long walk with my son, a glass of wine with my husband, and water, somewhere near.

What is the best concert you’ve ever been to? I haven’t gone to it yet, but it’s a-coming.  Bruce Springsteen.  September 2012.  I have waited a lifetime.

What are you currently working on? I have three books due out within the next eighteen months, and they are all pretty close to done.   At the very moment, therefore, I am working hard at reading the close to 100 books I decided to buy this past month (hey, I support my industry).  The books look very pretty in their respective stacks around my house, of course.  But I would grow a few necessary brain cells, I suspect, if I settled down to read them.

………………………………..

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some of our probing questions, Beth!

You can find Beth online on Twitter, Facebook and her blog.

Add SMALL DAMAGES to your Goodreads “to-read” shelf!

Purchase SMALL DAMAGES from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your local independent bookseller.

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The Two.One.Five. Dangerous Neighbors Interview

Sometimes, at the end of a corporate work week, you are missing your students—their vitality, their freshness, their willingness to think beyond, to dare—and you are just a little run down when you get the good news that another college student has posted the interview she conducted with you awhile back.  Dangerous Neighbors had recently been released.  Rosella asked me questions no one else ever had.

Rosella Eleanor LaFevre is an aspiring writer and the book critic for Two.One.Five.  She and I talked, in her words, about "the inner workings of (my) characters, the meaning behind the title, and the symbolism of birds." The link is here.

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My conversation with My Friend Amy

Amy Riley has been a force for good in my life since she mentioned my little blog on her very big blog and introduced me to her wide circle of friends.  She has known me through three books now, has generously supported each one, has taught me many things about books and life, and once I even had the chance to meet this book angel here, at the site of the first-ever Book Bloggers Convention, which she, but of course, helped organize.

A few weeks ago, Amy and I began an e-mail conversation that had me reflecting on the joys, fears, and behind-the-scene-ism of the writing life.  We talked at length about Dangerous Neighbors and about what's next and what I hope for and what I cherish.  It's all here.

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WBBT: The Shelf Elf Interview

I mentioned earlier this week that I had been granted a privileged place in the Winter Blog Blast Tour—an interview with Shelf Elf. I invite you to join us for a conversation that ranges from the perils and pleasures of not writing by-the-numbers books to the "truths" I seek to convey in my work to advice I would give to the characters I write to my trip to Anapra to Dangerous Neighbors, my historical novel due out next fall.

Here's a brief excerpt:

When I’m finished reading your books, I keep thinking about the main characters. They stay with me. I feel like your characters are going places in their lives, going to be change-makers and risk-takers and people who live life with everything they’ve got. Do you imagine your characters’ futures? If yes, where do you see Katie and Georgia and Riley down the road?

My main characters are always in large part rustled up from parts of me, so that I know them well. I knew Elisa, that young, struggling poet of Undercover. I knew Rosie, desperate to do right by her dying grandfather in House of Dance. I knew Katie of Ghosts and I am so very like Georgia of Heart. They live with me, these characters. I know who they were, and I know who they’ve become. They’ve become a woman who feels blessed, every day, to be alive. A woman who struggles, every day, to be a better person. A woman who wishes, every day, that she could seize the world with words and photographs—hold it, own it, yield it back to others.

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The Bootleg Nothing but Ghosts Interview/Major Prizes/Stunned Author

I am definitely living another's life right now.

I am not me. I am merry-go-round whirling. I am dizzy.

First My Friend Amy and Presenting Lenore cook up this not-to-be-believed virtual (surprise) launch party for Nothing but Ghosts—replete with prizes, with urgings, with viral enthusiasms. Their friends friend the initiative. Momentum builds. Conversations unfold: Can bloggers shape the book industry? Is there power in blogger suggestion? A party becomes a dialogue. A dialogue becomes a story. I watch, stunned—the woman who still thinks of herself as the loner in high school.

Then, today, I wake to discover that my friend, humorist and novelist (yes, she's a novelist; I'm reading her it-will-be-published-soon novel right now) Anna Lefler, has kicked off an extravaganza all her own. I mean: An. Ex.Tra.Va.Gan.Za. Featuring a Beth Kephart tour bus (how does she do those things?), an ocarina, and a bootleg interview conducted (in Anna's trademark so-smart-it-can't-be-slapstick style) with yours truly (when I received her questions I started to laugh; as I answered I kept laughing). Featuring prizes that you have to see to believe ($150 Amazon gift card anyone?).

I know that life isn't always like this. In fact, it rarely is. Nothing but Ghosts is my tenth book. What happens here, what happens now, is not, for an instant, taken for granted. It is a surprise. It is a miracle. It is this moment in time that I will return to, years from now. Remember when?, I'll say.

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In Bed With Books—A Nothing but Ghosts Conversation and Giveaway

You all know Liviania, yes? You do, right? I interviewed her here once before, and she's consistently impressed me in the intervening months. Her blog, In Bed with Books, is a growing triumph, and her reports out, from her life as a college student, are often story enough.

In any case, she's been having a birthday, and she asked me to be one of several authors to help her celebrate. Our recent conversation is posted here. A Nothing but Ghosts giveaway is part and parcel of our party.

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Beth Kephart Interview (with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett)

I've mentioned a podcast recording of a one-hour dialogue I had earlier this week with that gem interviewer, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett. Our topics ranged from the crafting of authenticity in prose to the genesis of my involvement with young adult novels to the making of Nothing but Ghosts and Undercover (I read excerpts of both). We talked about what makes for good books overall. We spoke of how past awards, past seeming successes are, in fact, always in the past, and that every single day of writing feels brand new, raw, and uncertain.

If you can forgive the popped Ps of a long-distance phone conversation (I hope you can and will), I invite you to listen in here.

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On Air (and an UNDERCOVER giveaway)

Yesterday I wrote about the float of a book—how the books I fall into and wish to write generate energy in the seams, in their criss cross and overlays.

Today I am myself floating on air, for Hip Writer Mama, of whom I wrote just a few days ago, has posted her interview with me on her popular blog site, which has been running terrific author interviews all week long as part of the 2008 Winter Blog Blast Tour.

http://hipwritermama.blogspot.com/2008/11/wbbt-through-eyes-of-beth-kephart-and.html

I'm not going to say more here, for I'd love for you to visit her today—Hip Writer Mama, who puts such time into her interviews and such care in the posting (obviously, I don't even know how she does what she does with all those fancy color-coded embeds, or I'd do a little of that myself). Later today (perhaps by 11 AM Philly time?) you will also be able to find me on the MySpaceHarper Teen site, where I'm writing about something that is important to all of us who care about our future: books, and how we vote for them by buying them.

http://www.myspace.com/harperteen

Enough having just been said, I think I'll go hop my train for the city and float some more.

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