Words and authors go together like peanut butter and jelly. This week, in Words With Author Friends, we’re going deep with writer Jacqueline Woodson. You might know her as the National Book Award winning-author of 2014's "Brown Girl Dreaming" or for her prolific career as a writer (she has more than two dozen books to her name). Woodson's latest book, “Red at the Bone,” is out now.
I’m often praised for packing so much material into relatively short books, but trying to explain this novel in three sentences is beyond me.
Everywhere I can, as often as I can.
After you write a book, a lot of people want you to write about writing a book.
Ava Duvernay, James Baldwin, Ayelet Waldman, Min Jin Lee, Tayari Jones and a bunch of other people. We’re re-reading "Just Mercy" and then we’re planning to drink Chaos Theory from the Brown Estate Vineyard (Black-owned) and watch the Bryan Stevenson movie back-to-back with "When They See Us."
Close my eyes, put on a playlist, and try to remember something from the past.
So many. Today it’s: “It happened that green and crazy summer when Frankie was twelve years old.”Editor's note: We'll take Carson McCullers' "The Member of the Wedding" for $400, Alex.
If I only had one favorite word, it’s doubtful I’d be a writer.
See above.
By not believing it exists. (It doesn’t.) That thing people have labeled ‘writer’s block’ is most likely ‘fear.’ So I call it what it is and then figure out what I’m afraid of.
It means being happy, loved, sheltered, and fed.
A long time ago, I got invited to the White House but didn’t like the guy who was president. I was a youngish writer and thought it would impact my career. But I couldn’t go and show teeth for a man whose policies I didn’t believe in. I didn’t go. It didn’t impact my career. Years later, First Lady Michelle Obama invited me and I RAN there.
Not living.
Write fearlessly.
Go into debt getting an MFA.
Why would I have to die for something? Why can’t I LIVE for something?
The one that’s happening right now - the one about children in cages.
Don’t throw away that fabulous collection of kicks because one day, instead of derisively being called a Sneaker Pimp, you’ll be admirably called a Sneaker Head.
Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" and Mildred D. Taylor's "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry."
Ta-Nehisi Coates' "The Water Dancer," Ocean Vuong's "On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous" (re-reading), Ann Patchett's "The Dutch House," and Akilah Hughes' "Obviously: Stories from My Timeline."Editor's note: "The Water Dancer," "The Dutch House," and "Obviously: Stories from My Timeline," are all out next week.
I don’t really do that. I just stalk my teenage daughter and comment on her posts.PS: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. All opinions expressed by the interviewee are their own.PPS: "Red at the Bone" is editorially selected, but if you purchase it, theSkimm may get something in return. Thanks.
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