LITERATURE + LECTURES

Blue Willow Bookshop presents a book signing and discussion by Laurie Halse Anderson.

We are honored to welcome Laurie Halse Anderson, author of the classic Speak and the upcoming Wintergirls. Join us to hear Laurie talk about her newest work in what will be a lively conversation.

Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the skinniest. But what comes after size zero and size double-zero? When Cassie succumbs to the demons within, Lia feels she is being haunted by her friend's restless spirit.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's descent into the powerful vortex of anorexia, and her painful path toward recovery.

Laurie Halse Anderson was born on October 23, 1961 in Potsdam, a very cold, cold place in Northern New York State. It was (and still is) close to the border of Canada. She was the daughter of Rev. Frank Halse and Joyce Holcomb Halse, and the big sister of a curly-hair blonde named Lisa.

She was born Laurie Beth Halse. This would be a good place to clear up the matter of the pronunciation of her name, because it is, after all, her name, and she is weary of hearing it mangled by well-meaning people. Halse rhymes with waltz. Not “hal-see.” No, no, no, no. Halt-z. If she could have anything she wanted, it would be world peace. But if she could have a second thing, it would be having people say her name correctly.

After being born, Laurie went on to be a child, and she did a pretty good job. Her second grade teacher showed her how cool writing was during a haiku lesson. She read all the time. She was awful at math, but then, most creative people are, and she has gotten over it. Historical fiction was her favorite when she was little, and as a teenager she loved science fiction and fantasy. Despite the haiku, Laurie didn’t think she would be a writer, but a doctor. While her biology teacher may have found this to be plausible, her chemistry teacher laughed – and so would you if you could have seen her grades in that class. Throughout all of this, she remained absolutely fascinated by foreign cultures and languages.

Laurie was mostly well-behaved. For her senior year of high school, she did what every kid dreams of and got the heck out of her parents’ house. Of course, she wound up on a pig farm in Denmark, but you take what you can get when you are sixteen years old. She lived as an exchange student in Denmark for thirteen months. She still enjoys open-faced sandwiches and pickled herring. She came home and worked for minimum wage at a clothing store, which quickly convinced her to go to college. She attended Onondaga Community College for two years and is a proud graduate. She worked on a dairy farm, milking cows, while at OCC. This experience and living on a pig farm are the reasons she is not a vegetarian and never will be.

She transferred to Georgetown University in 1981. She graduated from there in 1984 with a B.S.L.L. in Languages and Linguistics, which was useless when it came to getting a real job. She was also a passionate fan of college basketball, but employers did not consider this a job skill, either. She married Greg Anderson, a computer nerd who, at the time, was full of the wonders of the first Apple II computers. In 1985 they (well, she) gave birth to Stephanie Holcomb. In 1987, Meredith Lauren joined the motley crew.

For years, Laurie had loved writing, but had considered it little more than a hobby. It eventually dawned on her that people would pay her to write so she became a freelance reporter. She also began to write all types of books and accumulated several inches of rejections letters: hundreds of form rejections that were both intimidating and discouraging. She joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) and found a supportive critique group. That made all the difference.

In 1996, her first book, Ndito Runs, was published. Later that year, Turkey Pox came out. Ndito was inspired by an NPR story about Kenyan Olympic marathon runners who grew up running miles to and from school every day. Turkey Pox was inspired by Meredith, who actually came down with chicken pox on Thanksgiving, though no snow plow drivers came to the family’s rescue. In 1998, No Time For Mother’s Day was published, featuring the same characters as Turkey Pox.

Laurie also wrote non-fiction for extra cash. The first project was a book about Saudi Arabia for children. She loved working with the people at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, and learning about another faith and culture. She also co-authored a book with Dr. Ward Swallow about parenting shy children. She had plenty of experience with her older daughter, Stephanie.

Since 1993, Laurie had been researching and constantly rewriting Fever 1793 (originally titled Bitter Drops – don’t ask). She took a break and wrote Speak (pub. 1999), which turned out to be a great idea. Speak won award after award – it was a National Book Award Finalist, a Printz Honor book, a Booklist “Top10 First Novels of 1999”, a New York Times bestseller, and lots more. Even more thrilling, Speak was quickly placed into curriculum at hundreds of middle schools, high school, and colleges around the country.

After allowing her head a chance to return to normal, Laurie finished Fever 1793 and saw it published in 2000. She also started the Wild at Heart series, originally published by American Girl. In 2001, she published The Big Cheese on Third Street, a salute to her adopted hometown of Philadelphia. Yo!

Once Speak took off, agents were finally interested in returning Laurie’s phone calls. (She published her first seven books without one.) Writer’s House superagent Amy Berkower now represents Laurie’s work.

In 2002, the YA novel Catalyst was published. It is set in the same high school as Speak, and features a few cameo appearances from the earlier book’s characters. Her first foray into creative, historical non-fiction, Thank You, Sarah! The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving was published in 2002 as well. It is the story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a distant relation of Laurie’s who lived by the guiding principal that a person can change the world with her pen.

After writing a number of books in which the main characters dealt with death or depression, Laurie needed to write something that would make her laugh. The result was Prom in 2005, a funny book about a loving family and a girl trying to figure out how to dream big. Other people laughed, too; Prom spent the spring of 2005 swishing its skirts on the New York Times bestseller list.

When American Girl changed publishing directions and took the Wild at Heart books out of print, the good people at Penguin Books for Young Readers swooped in and snapped them up. They reissued the series with a new name, Vet Volunteers, and terrific new covers. Laurie gets the best fan mail in the world about these books. Kids send her pictures and drawings of their pets.

From 2000-2006 Laurie traveled the country speaking to teachers and librarians at conferences, and to more than 500,000 middle school and high school students about her books. One year she was on the road 120 days! She also gave writing workshops, critiqued manuscripts, and spoke at universities. The travel took her all over America and as far away as Warsaw, Poland.

She used to be a shy person. Not any more.

In 2007, her publishers politely (but firmly) asked her to write faster. That’s why she is taking a break from speaking at schools. She’ll still be going out on book tours, and you can usually find her at national and regional conferences. (Here’s the info for inviting her to speak.) Her travel and speaking schedule is also online.

Writing Prom and not getting sucking into the well of angst and depression was fun, but Laurie heard so many painful stories from teenage boys, she wanted to write about the pressures that they face. The result was Twisted. It debuted on the New York Times bestseller list, was an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Reader, and has been nominated to a number of state teen reading lists. Most gratifying has been the response from teenage boys who wrote to Laurie and said the book reflects their world.

Laurie thinks it is harder to be a teenager today than it has ever been.

Laurie was diagnosed with melanoma in 2002 and was pretty much terrified. Fortunately, it was caught early and the docs were able to remove it all. She now travels with a gallon of emergency back-up sunscreen and is forever scolding people who fry themselves. She is Purposely Pale.

Greg and Laurie divorced, but figured out how to become good friends because they love their kids lots and it’s nicer to be buddies than to be hating on each other. And he still makes great pizza and wonderful pie. Greg had the good sense to marry Dr. Susan Kressly, the best pediatrician in America and an awesome stepmom. He still checks Laurie’s manuscripts for grammar mistakes.

After her girls graduated from high school, Laurie moved home to Central New York to marry her childhood sweetheart, Scot Larrabee. Laurie met Scot when she was three years old. He was six. He taught her how to tie her shoes and whistle. She taught him how to be patient with a girl who always has her nose in a book. Theirs is one of those love stories that make you go “Awwwwww…..”

(And yes, Scot’s a good cook, too. His specialties include roast venison and wasabi eggplant. Laurie likes eating better than cooking and chose her significant others accordingly.)

Their extended, blended family, including Scot’s kids, Jessica and Christian, and Sue’s son, Alex, is the greatest thing that has ever happened to Laurie. She is really proud that her family stands as an example about how to turn a hard thing — divorce and remarriage and all the step-issues — into a fruitful thing. She loves being the mother of four and Alex’s “axter”.

Oh, and Laurie and Scot have a dog. Can’t forget the dog; a slightly neurotic German Shepherd who claims to be working on a memoir, but is secretly waiting for a movie deal and lunch invitation from Dave Eggers.

Laurie will be alternating between contemporary YA novels and historical fiction for the next decade. Right now she is trying to figure out the title of her YA novel that will be published in March, 2009. In addition, she has a few picture books up her sleeve and there is a book about the writing process simmering on the back burner.

When not writing or hanging out with her family, you can find her training for marathons, hiking in the mountains, or trying to coax tomatoes out of the rocky soil in her backyard.

She is quite sure that she leads a charmed life and is deeply grateful for it.. 

Photo by Joyce Tenneson.