Each week leading up to the 33rd annual Minnesota Book Awards announcement, Friends of the St. Paul Public Library are featuring exclusive interviews with their 36 finalists. Earlier this month, they featured Margi and her nominated book, The Littlest Voyageur. Below are a few questions…
In a year defined by a pandemic and its fallout, virtually everything about our lives has changed in some way. How has COVID-19 impacted your writing habits and preferences? Has the unique zeitgeist of the past year influenced your writing output in any ways that you can pinpoint?
Like a lot of others (from what I hear) I floundered for a while. With everything that was going on in the world it could be hard to focus on that 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. (I write the old fashioned way). In addition, my grown children came home to stay for many months which was a wonderful thing but the solitary task of writing took a hit. But I am back at it now and writing something completely different for me–a new challenge for a new time.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why? (Sure, it may feel a bit un-Minnesotan to say so, but it’s not boasting if we ask!)
I don’t know how PROUD I am of it, but I am certainly pleased that northern Minnesota is a featured part of this book, and that at last, a little red squirrel, preeminent creature of the northwoods, gets to have his say–about everything! Also, the idea Jean Gentille hatches of the traveling, lending “book canoe”–I really think it’s going to take off…. Read more: https://thefriends.org/2021/04/07/36-finalists-blog-margi-preus/
You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
