Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is a Newbery Honor winner and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Kimberly is popular for her fiction and non-fiction, and her novels The War That Saved My Life and The War I Finally Won are middle grade bestsellers. Fighting Words is her first young adult book in Australia and New Zealand – a candid and fierce exploration of sisterhood and sexual abuse. It’s just been selected as a finalist for the Kirkus Prize! Kimberly lives with her family on a farm in Tennessee.
Today, Kimberly is on the blog to answer our Ten Terrifying Questions. Read on …
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Photo by Amy McMurray).
1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is a mid-sized city in the American Heartland–think flat fields of corn and soybeans, stretching far as the eye can see. I went to a neighborhood elementary school, and then Catholic schools for middle and high school. Then I took a flyer and attended Smith College, a women’s college that was the first in the United States to give academic degrees (as opposed to finishing-school type). It was a long way from home in several ways, and I loved it. Now I live on a small farm near Bristol, a town in the Appalachian mountains in the American south. I’ve been here 23 years, and I love it, too.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
I don’t remember 12, but when I was 10 I wrote a school report saying I wanted to be a research chemist and write children’s books on the side. I’ve no idea where that came from, honestly. At eighteen I wanted to be a physician. At 30 I was home with a toddler and an infant; my first novel had come out to good reviews and my second was nearing publication. In between 18 and 30 I studied chemistry and writing, got into medical school, attended it for 6 weeks, quit, and was a research chemist for several years. I actually always wanted to be a writer, but for the longest time it didn’t seem like a job one could have. I was the first person in my family to graduate college. Becoming an artist–let alone making a living as one–felt out of reach.
3. What strongly held belief did you have when you were younger that you do not have now?
That hard work would always pay off. One of the things we’re grappling with in the United States right now is the legacy of generations of systemic racism. It’s become very clear to me that the playing field was never level, and that, while I worked hard to succeed, plenty of others who worked even harder were denied opportunity because of their race or origin.
4. What are three works of art – book or painting or piece of music, etc – that you can now say had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?
Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery-winning novel A Wrinkle In Time. It was the first book that when I finished reading it, I immediately began to re-read it because I wanted to figure out WHY I loved it so. For the first time I was seeing writing as separate from story.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the first of hers I read, and still my favourite. I fell in love with the elegance and wit of her prose, but only recently realised that Darcy is actually a hero across time–he screws up, owns his mistakes, and takes action to undo the damage he caused, and that’s how he wins Lizzy’s heart.
The works of American modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe–she was prolific across a long lifetime, but if I had to pick one work it would be Pelvis IV, a patch of blue sky and a fading moon seen through a hole in what’s actually a squirrel’s pelvic bone. (The small bone is on display beside the painting at the museum dedicated to her works in Santa Fe.) She was able to pare images down to their essence in a way I want to be able to do with words.
5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a young adult novel?
They are where my voice is. I read across an enormous spectrum, and I’ve written for everyone from preschool through late teen, but I’m best at ages 10-16. It’s where my storytelling fits, and it’s the genre that comes most naturally to me.
6. Please tell us about your latest book…
Fighting Words is the story of two indomitable sisters, Della and Suki, who’ve just been taken into care, and how they overcome the trauma from their past. It sounds very difficult when you read the flap copy, and parts of it are difficult, but other parts are funny and loving and hopeful. Della is the best protagonist I’ve ever created; I love her to pieces, and I think readers will too. She does swear an awful lot–but she knows she can’t do that in a kids’ book, so she writes all her swear words down as “snow.” “I don’t take snow from anybody,” etc.
7. What do you hope readers will take away with them after reading your book?
That they, like Della and Suki, can learn to use their voices to stand up for themselves, create boundaries, and be on the side of right. That no matter their circumstances, they can learn to thrive. That they’re little snowy superheroes, in effect. I hope this book will be empowering.
8. Who do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?
Oy. I have so many writers I love and respect. I don’t have any idea how I’d narrow it down. I could be safe and say Jane Austen, and it wouldn’t be untrue. I once got to tour the cottage she wrote in–they had her actual writing table and everything. I took pictures.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
World domination. Honestly–I want something I’ve written to be a path some child takes to find truth and courage and hope. I want somewhere to have helped one child. I won’t know if I have, but that’s what I want.
10. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Play with words. Enjoy yourself, don’t take it too seriously at the start, and don’t listen to anyone else’s rules. I know so many different writers, and there isn’t any single rule we all follow. Do want you want–just believe you have the right to try.
Thank you for playing!
—Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Text Publishing) is out now.
Fighting Words
Ten-tear-old Della has always had her older sister, Suki: When their mom went to prison, Della had Suki. When their mom's boyfriend took them in, Della had Suki. When that same boyfriend did something so awful they had to run fast, Della had Suki.
Suki is Della's own wolf--her protector. But who has been protecting Suki? Della might get told off for swearing at school, but she has always known how to keep quiet where it counts. Then Suki tries to kill herself, and Della's world turns so far upside down, it feels like it's shaking her by the ankles...
Comments
No comments