Interview with Newberry Award Winning Author Kate DiCamillo

The author of Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux discusses her writing schedule and her most recent book, The Magician's Elephant!

Commitment:  You are a prolific writer!  In addition to Because of Winn-Dixie (a Newberry Honor book) and The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (a Newberry Medal winner), both of which were made into hit movies, you write the Mercy Watson series about a fun-loving pig, and you’ve written such books as Kentucky Star, The Tiger Rising, and Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken – all since 2001!  How many hours a day do you spend writing?

Kate DiCamillo:  I read articles on other writers and they say things like “and then I head down to the studio and stay there for eight or nine hours,” and I think, so that’s what real writers do.  I never feel like a real writer, but I do just keep kind of plodding along. I write two pages a day.  I don’t (unless I’m in the final stage of a revision) ever write more than two pages a day; and it takes me about an hour to write those two pages. 

Commitment:    Many of your books feature animal protagonists.  What is it about animals that children find so appealing?

Kate:  I think that we (kids and adults) let down our guard with animal characters; we are more likely to trust them.  The doors of our heart swing open a little more easily for dogs.  And pigs.  And elephants. 

Commitment:     Although some are for early readers and others for middle school kids, all of your books are written for children.  What do you love most about writing children’s books?

Kate:  I love that magic and possibility are allowed, welcomed, in books for children.  And I love that when you tell a story for kids you are honor-bound to end the story with hope. 

Commitment:  When did you first start writing?

Kate:  I was almost thirty years old when I finally started to write.  I had been talking about writing (and about being a writer) for almost a decade.  After a while (a good long while) I got tired of listening to myself say the same thing over and over.  I decided that it was time to try.  I’ve been trying ever since.

Commitment:  Your first novel, Because of Winn-Dixie was a Newberry Honor book and three years later The Tale of Despereaux won the Newberry Medal!  When you first started writing, did you think you would be so successful? 

Kate:  I would have never dared to dream this big.  Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and shake my head in disbelief.  And delight. 

Commitment:   Your latest book is The Magician’s Elephant.  What is that book about?

Kate:  It’s a book about the impossible becoming possible.  It’s about an orphan and a magician and an elephant.  It’s about hope and love.

Commitment:  Have you started working on your next project?
 
Kate:  Right now, I’m pushing around what Stephen King calls a “toy truck:” a story that might turn into something or might not.  I’m having fun. 

Kate DiCamillo is the author of Because of Winn-Dixie (a Newbery Honor book), The Tiger Rising (a National Book Award finalist), and The Tale of Despereaux (winner of the 2003 Newbery Medal). She has recently completed a series of early chapter books about a pig named Mercy Watson. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was published by Candlewick Press in 2006 and is the winner of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. Kate lives and writes in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Visit Kate at her website, www.katedicamillo.com

To purchase Kate's latest book, The Magician's Elephant, click here.