Q 1)  Where idea of FOX come from?

The idea for FOX came to me  several years ago when I was talking with Christine Baker from Gallimard.  Her daughter had just left for a six month journey far from home.  It got me thinking about how life is composed of a series of separations and how important the early ones are to the success of the later ones, how confidence is acquired, and how small experiences build to become larger ones.  In the animal world this is a natural and gradual transition, guided by instinct, nature and surroundings, stripped to the bare essentials of survival.

Q 2) Why is nature so prominent in your work?

Growing up in Maine I passed much of my time in nature, which for me has always been a constant reminder of who we really are and the larger fabric of which we are a part.  Wildlife and beauty were abundant, and the the  rhythm of the seasons was marked and often dramatic.  These settings and ideas have often found their their way into my work.

Living in France and Italy has offered me new landscapes, colors and people which over the years I have integrated into my life, partly ithrough my writing and my books.  As a foreigner I am very aware of differing cultures, the give and take among them, as well as the conflicts. But even so, in my personal life I choose to think of a common heritage that links us all, something that surmounts variations in space, time, and being.  I suppose these are bigger idea that reflect in smaller ways in my work.

Q 3) How do you come up with your settings?

I wrote a YA novel which was set in Rome, my home for many years and the origin of  much of what I love, including my husband and my children.  It was born of a desire to share with others, but also of a great appreciation of my surroundings.  Much of the setting was real and I enjoyed the challenge of conveying a sense of place and feeling through words.  Sometimes I compose my own settings.  Other times they are depicted directly, but more often there is a melding of the two–imaginary journeys through real places and real journeys through imaginary places.

Q 4) How did you and Georg connect?

Georg and I met through a mutual friend when we were both living in Rome.  He was a artist at the time and I’d been doing picture books for some years.  I saw an exhibition of his and liked what he did.  Then I met him and discovered his interest in childrens’ books.  I admire Georg’s ability to depict color and mood and I think his illustrations reflect a certain sensitivity to place and feeling that complement my writing.  From our first book, we have always constructed a thoughful give and take dialogue which begins with the text and continues to the completion of final art, often changing words or pictures as we progress.  This is lucky because that doesn’t happen often.  But I think it can make a difference in the final vision of a book.

Q 5) What is one of your favorite childhood books?

One of the books I remember from childhood is Virginia Burton’s The Little House in which a house is moved from the city back to the country.  I loved her depiction of the seasons and the life of the house, and was awed by the rapid construction of the city. I read (or was read) all of Robert McCloskey’s books.  A Time of Wonder was my favorite.  I had a summer house not far from Owl’s Head (Maine) and I  knew the sound of “growing ferns, pushing aside dead leaves, unrolling their fiddleheads…”.  Blueberries for Sal is another book I remember.  Like Sal I picked blueberries every day through the summer months and though I never met a bear, there were grass snakes, rabbits, and plenty of other creatures.  When I began to read myself, I went through all of Thorton Burgess, The Wind in the Willows, E.B. White’s books, Pippi Longstocking.  I loved animal stories and I admired Stuart Little’s pluck and humor.

Q 6) Who are some of the writers you read?

There are writers whom I like enormously– Alice McDermott, Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Kazuo Ishiguro.  For young people I like Suzanne Fisher Staples  But the truth is I don’t read fiction all that much and I don’t have a large opportunity to see what other people are writing for children and young people.  I actually tend to read a lot of scientific books!  Cookbooks seem to inspire me in unknown and mysterious way.  I like to browse through them, reading bits and pieces.  One of my all time favorites is Bert Greene’s Green on Greens which offers memorable anecdotes about vegetables and their roots.  But to put it briefly, and probably somewhat tritely, most of my inspiration comes from life itself.

Q 7) Have you always wanted to be an author?

Yes, since I was about three.

Q 8) So does much of your inspiration come from your childhood?

Many of my books are products of my own childhood, family, and extended family and the people we’ve known and places we’ve seen.  Having children (I have two boys) has simply offered me more material to work from as I watch them grow, make and break their attachements, and come into their own–much like FOX.

Writer Sherryl Clark asked Kate to talk about her career as a children’s book writer. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation:

“Several years ago, I visited Menton, in France, and Kate Banks graciously agreed to meet with me and be interviewed. I had a lovely morning, talking to her and looking at all her beautiful picture books and novels, and went back to my hotel to transcribe and type everything up. Later, at home, I couldn’t open the file and then my notebook disappeared! Now, thanks to a new recovery program I discovered, I’ve finally been able to resurrect the file. Very timely, as it turns out, because Kate’s latest picture book, The Bear in the Book, has just been named in Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Picture Books for 2012.”

Read the remainder of the interview on Sherryl Clark’s blog.

Q 1)  How did you come up with your book, ERASERHEADS?

What I remember about the ERASERHEADS is that the idea came to me in the car on the way home from the Bologna Book Fair a few years back.  It just popped into my head and I cried aloud, “The Eraserheads!”  I had no notion of what I would do with it but I was sure it would eventually become a book.  Often when I’m traveling I get ideas.  It could be on a plane or in an airport, on a train, or cruising along in the car as a passenger.  I’ve never been inspired while driving, however.  Anyway, the idea is like a seed which takes root and over a period of time, evolves.  Over the years, I’ve learned to be patient and let the process unfold which is what happened with the ERASERHEADS. (In my early days as a writer I would spend hours, weeks, trying to force my thoughts into shape as though they were made of clay until I figured out that’s not the way it worked, not for me anyway.)  With the EASERHEADS once I had the characters, I began to think of erasers, drawing, and mistakes.  At some point I decided that I would like Boris as illustrator and the pieces began to fall into place until I had a story.

Q 2) What’s your process?

I’m not very methodical or systematic in the way I work, at least in the initial stages of a project.  Sometimes an idea just appears in my head, like the ERASERHEADS.  Othertimes, it’s a character, Lenny (LENNY’S SPACE), for example.  Very often it’s simply a scrap taken from my own life, past or present.  It could be something I see, or hear, or remember.  My only strategy after an idea comes is to step back and see what follows.  I suppose you could say that I like to get out of myself in order to observe what’s going on within.  When I feel I have enough pieces, I start putting them together until I have a story line.  Then I become more organized in my thinking and attentive to detail and choice of words, the way they sound by themselves and together, and within the context of the whole.  I love words and I always want to get them just right.

Q 3) What makes a picture book successful?

I think the most important thing I strive for in creating a picture book is a feeling of harmony—through words and ideas and how they are expressed.  Underlying this is the notion of how we are all connected to one another and to everything in the universe.  Our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world around us are paramount to me.

Q 4) What books did you read as a child?

I grew up with Robert McCloskey’s books.  TIME OF WONDER took place near my summer house in Maine where we had blueberry fields just like Sal (BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL).  I loved Margaret Wise Brown’s THE RUNAWAY BUNNY and GOODNIGHT MOON.  Virginia Burton’ THE LITTLE HOUSE was a favorite as was MIKE MULLIGAN’S STEAM SHOVEL.  When I was able to read by myself I devoured the Mother West Wind Stories and THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS.

Q 5) What do you draw inspiration from?

I grew up in Maine surrounded by nature and wildlife.  My family spent time in the woods, at the seashore, in the mountains and from a very early age I was aware of the life in all of its forms that was happening around me all of the time.  This dialogue with nature has followed me through adulthood and it’s an important theme running through many of my books.  THAT’S PAPA’S WAY, THE GREAT BLUE HOUSE, A GIFT FROM THE SEA all hearken back to experiences I had as a child.  Still, other stories, MAX’S WORDS, BABOON, IF THE MOON COULD TALK, have been inspired by my own children and their adventures in the world.

Q 6)  What is the most challenging part of writing for children?

The most challenging part of writing for children is to fit big ideas into a small format in a way to which they can relate.  But when that’s accomplished it is most rewarding.  The chance to revisit childhood, recapture its innocence, and view things as though for the first time is a rare privilege and a reminder of how amazing life is.

Q 7)  What advice do you have for other writers?

I don’t really feel qualified to give practical advice to other writers. …  I don’t read as much fiction as I should.  I prefer science.  I live in France and so don’t follow the book market as I might or should.  If I had to say one thing it would be write for a living but don’t live for writing.  What I mean is don’t get caught up in the dramas and traumas of  being a writer, nor in plots and characters at the expense of your own existence.  Live your own life, find your path, follow it, and that will give you all the material you need.

Q 8) Do you have a favorite character from another YA Novel?

My favorite character from a YA novel would be Dillon from DILLON DILLON.  I like his sensibility, introspection, and his way of looking at and interacting with the world.  He is a magical character to me.  My favorite character from a picture book is probably Max from MAX’S WORDS.  I like his originality, playfulness, and ability to think “outside of the box”.

Q 9)  What are you working on now?

I usually have several projects going at any one time. I like to wake up and know that I don’t have to return to the same thing which I was doing the day or days before.  I tend to get bored laboring over a single story week after week, month after month.  So I jump around a lot.  That enables me to distance myself from each project and go back to it again and again with a fresh eye.  I’m always planning future books and I have many ideas in the cupboard.  Some I put them aside for months, even years.  Some may never be realized but that’s okay.  It’s all part of what I do.

Kate recently spoke with Miss Marple’s Musings, a blog about the publishing industry. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation:

“Kate has been writing pretty much all her life, but was published first at 24. She has gone on to publish well over 30 books (a list can be found here) for children, teens and adults, in fiction and in non-fiction. She has lived for many years in Southern Europe – starting her writing career in Rome (her husband is Italian) and for several years now based here between Monaco and Menton. Probably the biggest lesson I learnt was – never try and tape an interview in a noisy bar! I wish I could have transcribed the whole interview, as it was fascinating and wide reaching, but I shall limit myself to some key questions.”

Read the remainder of the interview on Miss Marple’s Musings.