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by Cynthia J. Omololu
This month Cynthia J. Omololu interviews Karen English for The Edge of the
Forest.
Karen English has published many picture books including Just Right Stew, Hot Day on Abbot Avenue
(winner of the Jane Addams Honor Book Award) and her newest The Baby on the Way. She has also published a
groundbreaking collection of poems called Speak to Me (And I Will Listen Between the Lines) and the middle-grade
novel Francie, which was a Corretta Scott King Author Honor Book in 1999. Recently, she was a winner of the 2006 Highlights
Fiction contest for her story "Rukiyah’s Ramadan."
In addition to writing, Karen has been a teacher for many years and currently teaches sixth grade in the Los Angeles area.
She took time out from her busy schedule to answer a few questions.
The Edge of the Forest: What drew you to writing for children?
Karen English: Just the love of children's literature. I was first exposed to it when buying books for my children.
The Edge of the Forest: What was your first book and how did it come to be?
Karen English: Neeny Coming, Neeny Going. I was doing volunteer work for the California Afro-American
Art Museum when I was exposed to the work of Jonathan Green. His paintings reflected life in the Sea Islands, off the coast
of South Carolina. I thought such a theme would make a great children's book. After much research, I wrote Neeny.
My research began with checking out Children's Books in Print (Subject Volume) where I discovered only one book on
the subject had been written. There was a niche to be filled.
The Edge of the Forest: You have written so many different books throughout your career. I know it wouldn’t be fair
to ask which is your favorite, so I’ll ask if there is one that resonates with you the most.
Karen English: The last book is always the favorite. The impetus for The Baby on the Way was the movie,
The Conversation with Gene Hackman. There was a scene in which a character laments to another character
(upon seeing a homeless man asleep on a park bench), "And just think, he was once the baby on the way." I tucked that line
away and the idea of it stayed with me: that we were all the baby on the way.
The Edge of the Forest: Speak to Me (And I Will Listen Between the Lines) is such a unique book with several
characters writing poems about their day at school. Can you explain how Speak to Me was written and what inspired
you?
Karen English: Speak to Me grew out of my daily observations of the children in my first grade class during
my first year teaching in Oakland. Just simple, poignant observations. There really was a Lamont and Brianna and Rica.
I did see a girl stretching her leg across the lunch bench to save a seat for her best friend. One of my students brought
me a flower (from some unsuspecting person's yard) every morning, and a boy who read as well as an adult entered my class
mid year and my most challenging child sought to sit next to him. I was reminded over and over that my children had daily
struggles and daily dreams.
The Edge of the Forest: In your mid-grade Francie, the setting is rural Alabama in the 1930s. What
kind of research did you do to make the setting so authentic?
Karen English: I set Francie in rural Alabama because I knew I would be visiting just such a place. My best
friend (since 10th grade) had moved to Repton, Alabama, near Monroville, one hundred miles north of Mobile. Her road was
paved a year or two before she moved to Chicago. I visited her several times and took notes and pictures. The "sense"
of Francie, I got from the stories I heard from my mother while growing up. She was reared in rural North Carolina
on a tobacco farm.
The Edge of the Forest: All your books have multicultural themes. Do you think the publishing industry has gotten
more sensitive to the needs of diverse communities?
Karen English: I think they've been sensitive for a while. There are publishing houses that kind of specialize in
multicultural books, or give multicultural submissions a little more attention. However, most publishers realize that all
children need to see their lives reflected in literature. When I was a child, there was nothing. Consequently, when I
attempted to write my first "novel" in the sixth grade, I gave my main character blond hair and blue eyes.
The Edge of the Forest: What advice would you give to someone just starting a writing career?
Karen English: Persevere, persevere, persevere.
The Edge of the Forest: Is there anything you would have done differently in your career?
Karen English: My weakness is self-promotion. You have to attend to the business side of a writing career almost as
much as the creative side. However, I can't see myself as having been more into self-promotion. I just want to write and
submit...write and submit.
The Edge of the Forest: Who are your favorite authors (Adult and Kidlit)?
Karen English: Ann Tyler, David Lodge (British), Andrea Lee (sooooo talented but she doesn't write typically black
themes. She's more or less ignored). Children: Cynthia Rylant; Kevin Henkes; Beverly Cleary (I read everything she ever
wrote when I was a child).
The Edge of the Forest: You have traveled throughout the world. How has that affected your writing?
Karen English: Just a few places, actually. Every once in a while, I'll try to write something in a foreign setting,
but after 10 or 12 pages I realize, I don't know the location. The desire's there but not the experience.
The Edge of the Forest: If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Karen English: Somewhere southern France or Senegal. If only I could speak French or Wolof.
The Edge of the Forest: You have a wonderful writing talent. Is there another talent that you wish you had?
Karen English: I'm so thankful for the love of writing, I can't think of a single other thing.
The Edge of the Forest: What are you working on now, and do you have anything coming out soon?
Karen English: God willing, I have a early reader coming out next fall. I'm working on a second one with
the same characters.
The Edge of the Forest: What are they about?
Karen English: My early reader is called Nikki and Deja. When I was teaching 2nd grade, I noted that there
were very few early readers with African American main characters reflecting typically inner city life. And, I'm not
talking about the negative aspects. I'm talking about children living with their aunties or grandmothers for whatever
reason, little girls practicing drill routines, stopping by the mom and pop store on their way home from school for hot
chips, stuff like that. So I decided to write one. After I wrote Nikki and Deja I decided to write another one
with the same characters. What I'd like to do is something like what Beverly Cleary did when she wrote her collection of
books about children who lived in the same neighborhood (Ellen Tebbits; Otis Spofford; Henry Huggins,
Beezus and Ramona; Henry and Ribsy...).
The Edge of the Forest: Which do you enjoy most, writing picture books or novels?
Karen English: I can't compare them. A picture book grows out of something different than a novel—I can't
explain it. But, it's almost like comparing apples and oranges.
The Edge of the Forest: Where do you write best?
Karen English: I converted my son's room into an office. But I do a lot of writing on my laptop—on
my bed or on the sofa—especially since going back to work.
The Edge of the Forest: What are you reading right now?
Karen English: Andrew McCall Smith just brought out his latest in a series about Precious Ramotswe, owner of the
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Botswana, Africa. This one is called Blue Shoes and Happiness. I love this
series. I'm also reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire only because my sixth graders have to read it
(school choice) over the winter break and I have to stay ahead of them. I've also been reading a collection of short
stories called Run Away by Alice Munro.
Karen English books for young readers:
The Baby on the Way. Illustrations by Sean Qualls. Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2005.
ISBN: 0-3743-7361-2.
Speak to Me: (And I Will Listen Between the Lines). Illustrations by Amy Bates. Farrar Straus &
Giroux, 2004.
ISBN: 0-3743-7156-3.
Hot Day on Abbott Avenue. Illustrations by Javaka Steptoe. Clarion, 2004. ISBN: 0-3959-8527-7.
Just Right Stew. Illustrations by Anna Rich. Boyds Mills Press, 2003. ISBN: 1-5907-8168-6.
Francie. Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2002. ISBN: 0-3744-2459-4.
Strawberry Moon. Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2001. ISBN: 0-3744-7122-3.
Speak English for Us, Marisol! Illustrations by Enrique O. Sanchez. Albert Whitman & Company,
2000.
ISBN: 0-8075-7554-2.
Nadia’s Hands. Illustrations by Jonathan Weiner. Boyd’s Mills Press, 1999. ISBN: 1-5639-7667-6.
Neeny Coming, Neeny Going. Illustrations by Synthia Saint James. Rebound by Sagebrush, 1999.
ISBN: 0-8167-3796-7.
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