Today I welcome Lara Prescott to World Reads, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a story set outside of the United States for adults.

Thank you so much for having me!

I first learned about THE SECRETS WE KEPT (Knopf, 2019) from a children’s bookseller. She recalled my book, LARA’S GIFT (Knopf 2013), set during the Imperial era in Russia, and thought I would love THE SECRETS WE KEPT. And she was right! If you loved DR. ZHIVAGO and enjoy history and intrigue, THE SECRETS WE KEPT delivers on both. I was fortunate to get an ARC from my publisher and read it by the time the author, Lara Prescott, came to the Book Passage to do a reading.

Lara, where is THE SECRETS WE KEPT set?

The Secrets We Kept is mostly set in the 1950s in Washington, D.C. and Moscow, but it also travels to Milan, Brussels, London, Vienna, and Paris.

An original CIA copy of DR. ZHIVAGO in Russian

Could you give us a succinct plot description of your story?

The Secrets We Kept is a fictionalized account of incredible true story behind Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago and how in the 1950s, the CIA engaged a mission to covertly print the book and smuggle it back behind the Iron Curtain where it was banned.

THE SECRETS WE KEPT has gotten quite a bit of praise, check out a this link to see what reviewers are saying, as well as a starred review from Kirkus!

How are you connected to the setting of your story?

The connection to my novel goes way back. And I mean way back. I have my parents to thank for naming me after Boris Pasternak’s heroine in Doctor Zhivago. My mother had loved the David Lean film and as a child, knowing nothing about the book or movie, I’d wind up her musical jewelry box again and again to hear it play “Lara’s Theme.”

Over the years, each time I’ve read Zhivago, I’ve taken something different away from it. As a girl, I was most interested in the love story. Later, I was most taken with the sheer brilliance of Pasternak’s sentences. On my more recent readings, what struck me most are the ways in which Pasternak conveys the importance of free thought. Through the life of Yuri Zhivago, the author demonstrates that yearning for freedom remains an indestructible force—in spite of the political systems that seek to repress it.

During the research of my novel, I had the great fortune to travel to Moscow and Peredelkino, which was a lifechanging and inspiring journey.

As for the D.C. half of the novel, I lived and worked in Washington for almost a decade and I’m very familiar with its streets, haunts, history, and a few of its secrets.

What inspired you to write this story?

I first learned about the CIA Zhivago mission in 2014, after my father sent me a Washington Post article about newly-declassified documents that shed light on the CIA’s Cold War-era “Books Program.” What had caught his eye was its discussion of Doctor Zhivago as one of the books the Agency had used to great success. With my interested piqued, I devoured the incredible true story behind Zhivago’s publication.

The first CIA memos on Zhivago described the book as “the most heretical literary work by a Soviet author since Stalin’s death,” saying it had “great propaganda value” for its “passive but piercing exposition of the effect of the Soviet system on the life of a sensitive, intelligent citizen.”

And it was seeing the actual CIA memos with all their blacked-out and redacted names and details—that first inspired me to want to fill in the blanks with fiction.

Photo credit Trevor Paulhus

What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge I faced was having the confidence to keep writing when I got stuck. I think many writers face a “block” only because we are so self-critical that we want every sentence to be perfect on the first go-around. It was an important lesson for me to learn that a first draft doesn’t have to be perfect and that it is easier to revise a full page than stare at an empty one.

What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it set outside of the United States? If so, where? And what is it about?

I’m currently interested in writing about where I come from—Western Pennsylvania—a part of the world where many immigrants settled to work in the coal mines and steel mills.

What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

Part of the motivation behind writing The Secrets We Kept was that I wanted to give a voice to the long- forgotten women spies of the early CIA—women to whom monuments should be built to mark their courage and contributions.

During WWII, women had served as intelligence officers in the OSS. But after the war, those same women were stuck behind desks at the CIA. In my novel, the characters Sally and Irina were very much inspired by real spies like Elizabeth “Betty” McIntosh and Virginia Hall.

Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison was the first novel that made me cry, which was a profound experience. It exposed me to a world that was completely different than my own and opened up new pathways of empathy.

Learn more about Lara Prescott and her books on her website, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Where can readers go to learn more information?

 Thank you, Lara Prescott, for joining us at World Reads and for writing such a memorable story! Good luck with your book tour and launch.

Today I welcome Graham Salisbury to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults. Graham is here to talk about BANJO, a middle grade novel for kids aged 8-13. BANJO is published by Wendy Lamb Books, a division of Penguin Random House.

Best Dog Books: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she?

Banjo is mixed-breed, but mostly border collie. He was born to a feral mother and lived his first year in the wild. One day, his pack was crossing a road at night in a remote mountainous area. Banjo was last to cross and was clipped by a car whose driver failed to stop and aid the dog. He was found by a trucker the next morning, injured on the side of the road. The trucker later gave him to another trucker, father of Danny Mack, a thirteen-year-old ranch boy in central Oregon. Banjo and Danny hit if off from the get-go, as if they’d been friends from some lifetime time long past.

Best Dog Books: Tell us about your story.

BANJO is a story about a good, hard-working single father trying to mold his two boys into good men. It’s about honor, respect, self-esteem, difficult decisions and the exquisite relationship humans have with animals. It’s about love, courage and finding one’s integrity.

Best Dog Books: What inspired you to write this story?

Three things. One, an article I read in the paper about a dog that was sentenced to be put down for chasing a neighbor’s livestock (but was saved through legal intervention). Two, I wanted to write a book set in the west, a setting I love deeply. Finally, I wanted to spend time with characters who live by rock-solid values, who come to know who they are as people through the challenging situations in their lives. So … Banjo emerged.

Best Dog Books: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

Rodeo details. I’ve watched many rodeos and cringed when the bull riders got tossed, stomped, crushed and beat to smithereens by some cranky thousand-pound beast. It amazes me that guys want to do this. But on some level I get it. Then there is the amazing grace of barrel racers and ropers, they way they ride, fluid and smooth, like water flowing over rocks. Just amazing to watch. Still, a spectator doesn’t know much about what goes on behind the scenes. I had to research all that. Fortunately, I found a husband and wife team who’d competed for years. They were very helpful in seeing that I got my details correct. And, of course, there were books and internet articles to pour over. Somehow it all came together in the end.

Best Dog Books: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what can you tell us about it?

The next story has yet to knock on my door. I am as curious as you are!

Best Dog Books: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

I am very close to this story. I spent a lot of time on it. The values and character traits of my lead characters are those of my own. Yet we all make mistakes and often try to correct them in ways that make things worse. But we try, and that’s the important thing. Seven times down, eight times up, as the saying goes. Like Danny Mack in Banjo, I struggle with every book I write. It’s never easy, but every single one of them has been extremely rewarding. In the art of writing, just as in any art, it’s the process that thrills. The journey, the ride. The end result is just a marker that says, “Dang! I did it!”

Best Dog Books: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? Why?

Actually, the very first book that impacted me was Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burrows. Growing up in Hawaii, I immediately related to Tarzan’s jungle life, which was almost exactly like the jungle life of my own (much of which lived in my imagination). The book that turned me into a lifetime reader was Roots, by Alex Haley. That was the first book that gave me that wonderful vicarious experience of feeling as if I were the characters in the book. But the book that nailed it for me, the one that turned me into a writer, was Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins. Wow. After reading that book, I thought, THAT’S what I want to do. I want to be Scott O’Dell.

Best Dog Books: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read. Then read some more. Keep a journal if you can. Then just start writing. It’s all about loving to imagine, to create, to feel alive! My personal motto is — and I made a sign out of this that I have on a wall in my studio: “You did not wake up today to be mediocre.” Find your own North Star quotation and make a sign to remind you that you are an amazing and miraculous creation and were born with powerful gifts you have yet to explore already within you. Open the door. Walk in. Stay a while. This is why you are here.

If you put your heart and soul into something you love, you will be astounded by what you can do.

If you’d like to learn more about Graham Salisbury, you can check out the author’s website.

Thank you Graham for joining us at Best Dog Books. We look forward to reading BANJO!

For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.

For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.

It is with immense pleasure that I welcome Rosanne Parry to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids. Rosanne is here to talk about A WOLF CALLED WANDER which is a an illustrated middle grade novel published by HarperCollins Greenwillow in the US for kids aged 8 and up.

Best Dog Books: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she?

The Wander in my story is a gray wolf.

Best Dog Books: Tell us about your story.

Wander is inspired by OR7 (meaning he was the 7th Oregon wolf to wear a radio collar). He dispersed from his birth pack in 2011 and ran more than 1000 miles in one month from the Wallowa Mountains to the Siskiyous. There he found a mate in a place where nobody has seen a wolf for almost 100 years. He founded the Rogue Pack which still lives in the Rogue River watershed. His pups have grown up and established the first wolf packs in Northern California in more than 100 years.

Artwork credit to Mònica Armiño

Best Dog Books: What inspired you to write this story?

So often the news about the environment is bad news. When I was reading about OR7 I thought, here’s a story of resilience involving an animal that has always fascinated me. Wolves are astonishingly intelligent. Their strength and endurance outpaces our canine companions by miles. And their pack structure is beautiful to behold. They care for the pups of the pack together, they hunt with thrilling precision and coordination. And they care for their injured pack mates. I knew a wolf would be a great subject for a story. My challenge to myself was to craft a story that would be interesting to humans but not have any human characters in it.

Best Dog Books: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

Putting myself in the mind of a wolf was a welcome challenge. And fortunately I live in Oregon and have traveled to all the places in the book. So I had the opportunity to kneel in the forest to put my eye at the level of a wolf. I spent a lot of time with my eyes closed asking myself what I could hear and smell in the places I visited. I thought about a wolf’s body language and what it would feel like to communicate as a wolf does by ear and tail movements. And I imagined what it would be like to be strong enough to run 50+ miles every single day.

The photo above is me and illustrator Lindsay Moore (SEABEAR) researching orca in the Salish Sea for our upcoming title A WHALE OF THE WILD.

Best Dog Books: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what can you tell us about it?

My next book will be called A WHALE OF THE WILD. It will be a first person account from the point of view of a brother and sister orca in the Salish Sea. It was inspired by the Southern Resident community of killer whales.

Artwork credit to Mònica Armiño

Best Dog Books: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

A WOLF CALLED WANDER is graced by more than a hundred stunning illustrations from the amazing and talented Mónica Armiño. I’m over the moon to work with her and love what her art brings to the book. This story has been translated into ten other languages including Arabic, Russian and Chinese. Oregon is a very exotic place from their perspective, so I’m grateful that the pictures help make the story accessible world-wide.

Best Dog Books: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? Why?

What I remember of my childhood reading is the library in my neighborhood where I could check out any book I wanted. Free access to books of my choosing made a huge impact on every part of my life. I checked out kids books and adult books, sheet music, maps, fiction, non-fiction, vinyl records, and newspapers.

Best Dog Books: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

There is no one correct way to write a book. You have to tinker with your own process to make it fit with the life you have because if you’re waiting for some convenient, not-busy time of your life to start writing, you are going to be waiting a very long time. Also it helps a lot if you really love it. Because loving it will make you want to practice and practicing will make you better. I am a fan of Ursula LeGuin’s STEERING THE CRAFT. I read lots of books on writing and at the moment I’m reading one about song writing, Ursula’s STEERING THE CRAFT is the one I go back to more than any other.

If you’d like to learn more about Rosanne Parry, you can check out the author’s website or follow the author on  twitter.

Thank you Rosanne Parry for joining us at Best Dog Books. I enjoyed reading A WOLF CALLED WANDER and gave it 5 stars on Amazon and Good Reads. Good luck on future projects!

For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.

For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.

Today I welcome Terry Lynn Johnson to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults. Terry Lynn Johnson is here to talk about Dog Driven which is realistic upper middle grade fiction published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for kids 10+.

Best Dog Books: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she?

Dog Driven features sled dogs – the kind of dog used to race is a mixed breed called Alaskan Husky. One of the characters is Zesty, a blind lead dog (based on a real-life blind lead dog!)

The main character’s lead dogs are Mustard and Twix. Mustard is a talker, inspired by my current and vocal border collie. Twix is based on my own lead dog.

Best Dog Books: Tell us about your story.

Dog Driven is set during a dogsled race through the Canadian wilderness following the real-life historic sled dog mail route. It’s about overcoming obstacles and finding your strengths.

Best Dog Books: What inspired you to write this story?

My main goal was to show the relationship a musher has with their team.

Best Dog Books: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

I’ve wanted to write about a dogsled race for a while. In fact, I started writing this several years ago. I’ve always been intrigued by the special nature of dogsled racing – how competitors must work together for the good of the dogs. Mushers wrap their whole lives around their kennel, everyone racing has the same love of dogs. Long distance racing especially can become like a strategic chess game.

But I found it challenging to write a compelling novel about just a race. The story was missing something. It wasn’t until 2017 when I had my own vision issues (from a tick bite) that I introduced the vision impairment element. The story came together after that.

Best Dog Books: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what can you tell us about it?

Since Dog Driven was my fourth sled dog story, I wanted to do something a little different. Hint: long flat tail and buck teeth.

Best Dog Books: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? Why?

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell because it had a dog, obviously, and it was a story that sent my imagination into overdrive. What if I had been left alone on an island? How would I survive?

Best Dog Books: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Don’t be in a rush. The industry is slow. You will make yourself crazy if you wait on it.

If you’d like to learn more about Terry Lynn Johnson, you can check out the author’s website or follow the author on facebook or twitter . You can also find starred book reviews from Kirkus and Booklist.

Terry Lynn Johnson writes middle grade adventures based on her experiences living in northern Ontario, Canada. She might have fallen through ice a time or two, been dragged by a dog team, and chased a bear with a chainsaw. She owned eighteen sled dogs, but now owns one border collie which is about the same amount of work.

Terry’s books have been recognized by Bank Street College Best Books, ABA Best Books, ILA Children’s Choice Book Award, Canadian Children’s Book Center Best Books, a Parent’s Choice Award, and been nominated for thirteen state Young Reader Book Awards. Dog Driven is her ninth novel.

Thank you Terry for joining us at Best Dog Books. We look forward to reading your book!

For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.

For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.

Today I welcome Adrianna Bamber to World Reads, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a story set outside of the United States for children or young adults.

What is the title of your book? The pub date and publisher? Genre? Targeted age group?

My Ukrainian American Story was published on October 14, 2017. It is a children’s picture book for kids 4-7.

Where is it set?

Ukraine and New York, USA

In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

My Ukrainian American Story is a glimpse into the customs, dance, food, craft, music and holiday traditions passed down from generations of Ukrainians.

Female protagonist Oksana shares her Ukrainian American experience, empowering children to celebrate their own heritage and/or learn about a different culture than their own.

Links to reviews or blurbs you wish to share:

“Having grown up Ukrainian-American, I am delighted to see my experiences reflected here – Ukrainian Saturday School, St. Nicholas shows, Plast camps, Soyuzivka, Ukrainian church, Ukrainian Christmas Eve and Easter traditions, etc. The book is aimed at young children, but my teenagers are tickled to see this too, since they are growing up as Ukrainian-Americans as well. This is perfect for showing American friends what our experience is like. I think it would be great for International Nights at regular school. Someone marrying into a Ukrainian family might find this instructive as well. The author’s illustrations are adorable too.” 

How are you connected to the setting of your story?

My connection to Ukraine: My mother’s side of my family is from Ukraine. I enjoy visiting Ukraine.

My connection to New York: as a child, I attended Ukrainian summer camps as well as a variety of Ukrainian functions in New York state.

What inspired you to write this story?

I was inspired by my own childhood memories and love of my Ukrainian American culture to write this story.

What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge writing this book was making time to do so! Thankfully I was able to take some time off between freelance contracts to focus on my book. Once I had my book drafted, I edited it constantly. I found making book dummies very helpful and ended up switching the page order based on what I learned from the book dummies.

What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it set outside of the United States? If so, where? And what is it about?

I have a “travel around the world” story in the works but am considering taking my imagination on a journey, returning to realistic fiction afterwards.

What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

The preservation of Ukrainian culture and language has been a challenge throughout history and continues today. My story celebrates a girl’s Ukrainian American experience. By doing so, a bit of Ukrainian culture is shared and preserved.

Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

Nobody by Patience Brewster had an impact on me. My memory of it is a little fuzzy but I remember that I identified with the female character and her imaginary friend, Nobody. I also remember the illustration of Nobody differing from the rest of the illustrations in the book. I would love to find a copy of it to reread.

Where can readers go to learn more information?

Web page

Twitter

Illustration Website

Instagram

Thank you Adrianna Bamber for joining us at World Reads! Here is a link to the book, Nobody in case you want to purchase a copy!