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Biography
You say you'd like to know a thing or two about me? Here are answers to the questions I'm most commonly asked by children, their parents, teachers, librarians and other writers. If you're still curious, drop me a line!
Who are you and where are you from? My full name is Elizabeth Garton Scanlon but most people call me Liz and a couple of people call me Mama. I live in Austin, Texas, surrounded by hills and oak trees and chatty squirrels. Austin has most of what I love – hiking trails and open water, green space and Mexican food, art and music and the friendliest folk this side of anywhere. The only thing I really miss are mountains. I grew up in Colorado with some of the world's most beautiful peaks outside my front door. We still camp and hike in Colorado almost every year so I don’t get too heartsick. Oh, I also miss my sister because she lives on the other side of the world, but that's what email is for.
Why do you write for kids? I write because children are often disempowered, but their perspective is powerful. I write because I enjoy absorbing that perspective, imagining that perspective, responding to and validating that perspective. I write because it gives me hope. I write because I love books. I write because I remember being a kid.
Do you have kids? I do! Some people think it's impossible to juggle motherhood and a writing life, but I believe that my daughters are one of the main reasons I started to write for children. They inspire me!
What else do you love to do, besides write? I love to read. And I love to travel, which is kind of the same thing. I also love yoga and taking my old white dog on walks and playing cards on the living room floor with my family.
Do you do the artwork for your books? Nope. I’m not much of an artist, although I admire it wildly. Plus, if I did my own illustrations I wouldn’t have the chance to work with some of the shiniest stars in children’s literature, people like Robin Preiss Glasser and Marla Frazee. Lucky me.
What children's writers do you admire? Too many to list, truly. But I can say that Louise Fitzhugh and Judy Blume made my adolesence survivable, that Mary Ann Hoberman's rhyme is the high bar I jump for, and that if I ever write a book with half the heart that Cynthia Rylant has, I'll die happy.
Do you have a writer’s group? Over the years I’ve been in a few critique groups and I still share my work with other writers, as well as my husband and my sister. (I would never send raw, unread stuff to my editor.) These days my most important sounding board is a group called Goodness. We’re not all writers but we're each a working artist of some variety (clothing designer, photographer, letter press master) and we’re all moms. We support each other in living complicated but sustainable and creatively abundant lives. I don’t know what I did before I had Goodness, and I highly recommend you pull together a community of writers or readers or parents or teachers or whatever your leanings may be. Life is easier, more understandable and even quite delightful when you don’t try to go it alone.
If you have other questions about me and my work, check out these online interviews:
Cynsations Interview
Seven Impossible Things Interview
As well, I welcome email anytime!
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