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Dar Williams is the author of Amalee and Lights, Camera, Amalee, two novels for middle
grade readers. She is also one of the top singer-songwriters and folk artists in the country blending a genuine voice with superb storytelling ability. She
graduated from Wesleyan and early in her career toured with Joan Baez.
I first interviewed Dar for a newspaper about six years ago. She was touring and singing, singing and touring, gathering up more and more fans. What I
remember most about the interview was how she was able to blend an absolute conviction in the rights of human beings with an understanding and graciousness
about the flaws and imperfections within individuals, flaws and imperfections that truly make all of us the interesting compelling people that we are. To
top it all off her conviction resounded with intelligence and kindness, a trait that she has passed on to the protagonist in her novels.
I was privileged to read Dar's two books and delighted to realize that her storytelling talents are not limited to song writing. According to Lavender
Ayres of the University of Toledo, "Dar Williams really writes in a way that allows for readers to imagine the words coming from eleven year old Amalee."
That ability to meld into character is part of what makes Dar Williams a stunning writer for both songs and novels, but always for stories.
Dar Williams and the Artistic Process
The Edge of the Forest: You recently blogged about having a space of your own to work in, and said that it was important to you because there would
be, "No more clearing off the dining room table and hoping the phone doesn't ring."
Could you tell us a little bit more about the project that's creating this space for you and other artists? And do you think the surroundings of the
author/writer, his or her workspace and the atmosphere affect the product of that writer?
Dar Williams: An artist on my block, Simon Draper, is a very creative guy. A lot of his work is painted on salvaged wood. He offered to use scrap
materials to create a 4'x6' "studio" for me to put wherever I wanted to put it. Part of his motivation, besides the aesthetic, social, and environmental
ideas, was political. Some folks have gone into Beacon (where we are) and preemptively bought all sorts of open space in the expectation that Beacon will
be the next Soho. How can it be if they've taken away all the space for low-income, energetic artists to spread their wings? Simon is creating art that
will allow more art to flourish, albeit not the gigantic canvasses and giant metal sculptures that an abandoned mill might offer. For my purposes: pretty
great.
I'm always running into fellow writers at cafes and libraries. We can't work at home, especially with kids on the scene! I do my best to find a place
with a good vibe (nice people at the counter, plants, comfortable chairs, a view of a tree). One place that shut down had the advantage of being a second
home to some mentally ill people who were often napping or philosophizing (e.g. Armageddon and conspiracies) over the Radiohead CDs.
The Edge of the Forest: You're known for your ability to create characters in songs and then you sing their truths, their stories. How is the
process of becoming a character for the stage or for a song or for a book similar?
Dar Williams: They are similar in that they all seem to appear out of necessity. It's like they want to be the way they are.
For the second Amalee book, Amalee's friend Sarah just started to take on a motivating, thought-provoking bravery. She isn't afraid to look "unpretty", as
Amalee observes. She is unselfconscious, generous and loyal. She seems like a nice person in the first book, but when she had more space in the second, I
saw her playing Golde in Fiddler on the Roof (an older woman) and I saw her enjoying the character instead of being embarrassed. Her boldness took off from
there.
The Edge of the Forest: Can you tell us a little bit about how your books became? Where did the idea for Amalee originate? Was this the same for
both books?
Dar Williams: The first Amalee came when I was thinking about my husband's family. When his father died, the people in my husband's town didn't
come through with the old-fashioned casseroles and pies. However, one woman said to my mother-in-law, that as a travel agent she could offer a vacation
package to Cuba. People came through in very unexpected ways. I thought it would be interesting for an eleven-year-old, who is at the perfect place to see
adults in a more narrow, adversarial role, to see the magic of all our strange skill sets when they are motivated by love.
The second Amalee took this idea farther in that I wanted to expand on the idea of "ask and ye shall receive." The more she reaches out to both the adults
and the kids her age, they more interesting they, and her world, become.
Dar Williams and the Political
Dar Williams uses her songs and shows as activist tools. According to her website, "The concept of The Echoes Initiative is to help local organizations
doing exceptional work through Dar's shows by helping them to raise funds, by allowing them to disseminate information about their activities to Dar's
audience, and by getting them media attention in their communities through including them in Dar's publicity efforts for the tour and her new album
release."
The Edge of the Forest: Your book, your songs, and your life embed the political with the personal. In Lights, Camera, Amalee, the main character
decides to use money her grandmother left her to make a film about endangered species. How important is it to you to have political themes in your work and
in your life? Is it a conscious decision or just a natural outcropping of who you, Dar Williams, are as a person?
Dar Williams: I think it's important to avoid writing for a political end. But I also believe in witnessing as a way to document where we are
turning a corner in the world. It's important to art, culture and politics to have characters that are evolving outside of the norms that are prescribed
to us. If I learned about kids from cable TV, they'd all have expensive sneakers, nice teeth and lots of gadgets. And electric guitars. There's plenty of
that in reality, but there are also creative, social paths that grow as organically as...growing up, like wandering around the neighborhood picking
flowers, biking past a cute guy's house, and listening to your dad's friends emote about the produce from the farmer's market. This slowed down
witnessing, and the choice Amalee makes to make a movie that slows down her eye even more, like noticing more details about the way the world works and
finding adults who are interested in the peoples, plants, and frogs of the planet, was certainly essential to me. I still believe in the innocence of an
unmediated coming of age!
The Edge of the Forest: Even your blog has an entry entitled "You're a powerful force for action and change." Some of your songs touch on the
theme of identity and empowerment as well. In Your Fire Your Soul you write and sing:
And they'll say, "You're family, you belong to us.
You can stay at home and have our love and trust,
But any day now one of us could die,
And if we make you suffer don't you want to find out why,
'Cause we love to watch you try,
With your fire, your soul, your soul.
It's your fire, it's your fire, it's your fire.
Dar Williams: Regarding that blog—that was complimenting kids on having faith in their voices in the political process. That was definitely
"political." Regarding other forms of empowerment though, I like to capture those moments of personal revelation: for better and for worse. Sometimes I
disappoint myself, and I write about that, too. It's not all "you go, girl!"
However, there is a lot of "you go, girl." The Latin word for luggage is impedimenta, "that which gets in the way of your path." It's so great when
a person is able to drop some impedimenta, whether it's by finding a chosen family instead of dancing in the stultifying patterns of our biological
families or by just daring to speak up, the way Amalee has to (notice how universally well-received she is...I did want kids to see how welcoming the world
could be!) I guess I'm a bit of a Taoist, sharing my observations about how I was able to drop my impedimenta here and there so I could enjoy my Path.
The Edge of the Forest: In your book Amalee becomes a very powerful, self-aware girl. She chooses to endorse the internal power of her fire and
soul. Does the theme of empowerment have a special resonance for you?
Dar Williams: Almost universally, my problems have come from giving the wrong people too much power and not giving myself enough.
The Edge of the Forest: You do a ton of singing fundraisers for causes and in an interview with The Progressive you say, "I try to make
fundraisers into a poetic opportunity to galvanize a community." Is there any way that you are trying to do that as a novelist? Is it harder or easier to
galvanize with a book or with a song? As a novelist or as a singer-songwriter?
Dar Williams: It feels much easier to do that galvanizing with performance, getting up on stage and affirming a cause. The Echoes Initiative did
small-scale fundraising for local causes that we found, and we gave spokespeople from those causes ONE minute to talk on stage about what they do. It was
a powerful thing. They delivered! And they were heavily applauded. That was the community's moment in dialogue with itself. At their best, fundraisers are
very flattering (though accurate) mirrors of our ongoing civic life.
With a novel, you tell a story. I'm certainly holding Amalee up as a role model, warts and all, encouraging kids to explore their planet instead of giving
into their phobias about themselves and the world, so at its best, there is still some galvanizing going on, as it were. Less visible doesn't mean less
powerful!
Dar Williams and Community
The Edge of the Forest: You have always been one of my favorite songwriters, and your songs actually partially inspired the main character in my
first two novels. I recently spoke to another young adult novelist who said the same thing, which just floors me when I think of the spiraling cultural
effects that one writer can have on others. Are there artists or writers who inspire your songs or your books?
Dar Williams: First of all, thank you! Secondly, I love post WWII American art and writing. I think I will always be living in short stories of the
sixties and in modern and post-modern visual art for what inspires me. That said, I've been trying to read more, and while I can't say that one book or
another directly influences my writing, I do believe they raise the bar and challenge my complacency.
I do want to give a grateful nod to the authors who have used my song lyrics in their novels, notably Elizabeth Berg (I'm reading and loving her book
We Are All Welcome Here), Dwight Allen, Pam Houston, and Karen Favreau, who named her book Ridiculous Packaging from one of my lyrics!
The Edge of the Forest: I've always been jealous of how musicians always seem to know each other and have this amazing support network. Are you
finding a similar support network among novelists? In both your books, Amalee is surrounded by quirky, great people who really try to help her find her
way. Is that a reflection on your life or the life you'd like all children to have?
Dar Williams: Being a performer does allow me to get out of my chair and put on some mascara from time to time, and to meet people and travel. If I
were solely a novelist, I wouldn't necessarily have a job that required me get out of my pajamas (notice this interview format, for instance!)
There are many festivals, especially in Canada, and performing opportunities where you can meet fellow performers. Usually we talk about airports and
hotels. Christine Lavin told me about Emergen-C. I told my friends about the hotel in D.C. where I got bed bugs! But we also talk about music, art, and,
most importantly, how we stay inspired.
I am not one to over-glamorize a scene, but this one really is a family, except when we're dating each other, which is inspiring too, in a tragi-comic
way.
To keep up with the latest news from Dar Williams, visit her website and blog at www.darwilliams.com.
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