Issue Four - Family

Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Kathryn, I am super-excited to interview you. The Year the Swallows Came Early has been dear to my heart since it first touched my fingers. You do a beautiful job in and in telling Groovy’s story and making the reader feel like they are there in San Juan Capistrano as it all unfolds. Now we get to spread the love to our fabulous WRN? readers. Total Awesomeness!!! Here we go.

1. Of course, we want to know Whatcha’ Reading Now?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: Usually, I read more than one book at a time.  Right now, I’m re-reading The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, and for the first time, I’m reading The Best 361 Colleges, (I have a junior in High School), The Help, by Kathryn Stockett., and Gods In Alabama, by Joshlyn Jackson.  Oh, and also, I have been reading Make Lemonade again.  (I’ve read it three times already, but it is just so fabulous.)  I used to be a person who read only one book at a time, but now, since I’ve started writing full time, I pick up a book according to what kind of mood I’m in.  I also used to finish a book, even if I wasn’t wild about it.  I don’t do that anymore.  Sometimes I just read the first and last chapters, so at least I know the beginning and the end.  I can’t wait for Deborah Wiles new book, Countdown, to come out on May 1.  She is one of my favorite authors. 

2. Groovy is probably the coolest character name I’ve ever read in a book. How’d you pick that?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice:  Thank you.  I’m so happy you like it.  When I was growing up, the little girl next door was nicknamed Groovy for the same reasons she is in my book.  She used to dance a lot and so her dad started calling her Groovy.  This was in the 70’s, when people said that word all the time.  I didn’t know I was going to name her that until one day I was writing Eleanor, because that is her real name, and I thought she needed a nick name, and suddenly, it came to me; Groovy.   

3. This book is beautifully written and explores the theme of forgiveness.  The kids in the book are inspiring in their ability to forgive. Who’s story—Groovy’s or Frankie’s—do you think would be the hardest to get past and why?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: I think they are both hard to get past, but Frankie’s story, once he finds out why his mother did it, may be easier to forgive because she was clearly doing what was best for him, at least in her opinion.  She loved him enough to leave him in school.  Can you imagine how hard it would be for any mother to leave behind their child? 

Groovy’s father, too, betrays her, but in the scope of things, money is not the most important thing in life.  People lose money all the time.  It can be made again, and by her making the money back herself, it will mean so much more when she goes to school.

The thing about forgiveness is that people can’t do it until they’re ready.  And then sometimes, even after they forgive, they have to do it all over again.  Pieces of what happened seep back in.  Someone says something that stirs it up.  Forgiveness sometimes has to be a constant state of mind, but it can also be very freeing

4. Groovy's Mom is very superstitious.  Do you have any superstitions?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: I have never been superstitious in the least.  People who are fascinate me, though. 

5. Groovy longs to be a chef someday.  If she cooked a meal for you, what would be on the menu?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: Something French, like steak frites with Béarnaise sauce and crème Brulee for dessert. 

6. I loved wise, old Mr. Tom.  Do you have a back-story of how he became homeless? Will we ever see him again in another book?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: The character of Mr. Tom was inspired by a homeless man I see constantly in Laguna Beach   He sits on the same bench.  He lies under the same umbrella on the grass.  He is a real person.  I don’t know his name.  But he looked to me like he was once in the navy, from his skin, how he stares at the ocean.  He is a mystery, I do not know why he is homeless, nor do I know why Mr. Tom is.  If I had to guess, I would say he (meaning both of them) does not care much about things, and he has no family.  Right now, I do not have plans to put Mr. Tom in another book. 

7. I've read that your grandmother was a science fiction writer.  What was the most important thing she taught you about writing?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: To write what I know about, to write about the things that make me forget what time of day it is because I am so caught up in trying to tell the story. 

8. How did you pick the title of your book and does it play a role in the message of the story?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: I changed the title of the book maybe twenty times while I was writing it.  When Brenda Bowen, who was the editor who bought it wrote to me, she said she thought the title should be The Year the Swallows Came Early, and I told her, “You will not believe this, but THAT was my very first title I started out with!”  I’m not sure it plays a role in any message, but it was meant to be.

9. We can’t wait to read more of you work. Do you have any other books coming out?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: I have an historical fiction book, entitled, A Diamond in the Desert, which is coming out in spring 2012.  It’s based on a true story of a team of baseball players who overcome all odds and beat the state champions while interned at Gila River, Arizona.  And I am currently working on another book for HarperCollins.  It’s a middle grade fiction story with a similar feel to Swallows, but different.  I’m hoping to complete that book this year. 

10. As a teacher, what books do you read with your class and which books do they seem to like best?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: I’m not currently teaching anymore.  But when I was, I read a lot of Kate DiCamillo.  My students, like all students, loved to be read to.  I don’t think it matters what you choose.  They couldn’t wait for that last ten minutes of the day!

11. As a bonus question—because who doesn’t love a bonus—can you tell us something totally random about yourself?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: I frame lines or quotes that inspire me and hang them in my home.  I like to change them a lot, but one of them always remains.  It is my favorite.  It says, “The sea…it is nothing but love and emotion.”  It was written by Jules Verne and can be found in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.  I stand on our brown sand beach some days, and I think how very true it is, how moody the ocean can be, one day murky and wild, the next, calm and glistening like diamonds.

Thanks, Kathryn. We’ll be sure to keep our readers posted on all your book happenings.