Q&A
with Author Kathy Cannon Wiechman,
The historical
novel, Like A River by Kathy Cannon Wiechman, is the 2015 recipient of the
Grateful American Book Prize. Kathy is a
prolific writer but her civil war novel is the first to be published, but not
the last. She is hard at work producing
new works with the goal of engaging in the study of American history. In an interview shortly after receiving her
Prize she said: “I attempt to slip in historical details in a way that doesn’t
shout, “History lesson here!” If a
reader is engaged with a character and a story, lessons will be learned, though
inadvertently.” Here is the interview.
- The
plot of Like A River is so
specifically aimed at engaging young readers. What was your inspiration
for writing it? Everything
I write begins with what I call a “spark.” The spark for Like A River was the Sultana disaster. When I first
learned of this incident on the Mississippi River that killed more people
than died on the Titanic, I
wanted to know why I had never heard of it before, why it was never
mentioned in history class when I was a student. Every school kid has
heard of the Titanic, and I
wanted them to know about the Sultana
as well.
- Your
background in creative writing and language arts indicates a passion for
prose; yet Like A River is your
first novel. Can you describe your motivation and the process you used for
developing this project from conception to publication? Like A River is my first published novel, but it is not the
first I wrote. It is actually my eleventh completed novel. I have also
written dozens of short stories and hundreds of poems. Writing has been my
passion since I was a child, and that passion has always been my
motivation. I eventually merged that passion with my other passion, that
for history. But it took nearly forty years of submitting novels to
editors before I was offered a contract for Like A River. During those years, I attended workshops and
conferences to learn more about the publishing industry and writing for
young readers. I refused to give up. We often hear of the role of
inspiration and perspiration, but it also takes determination.
In 2008, I took an early rough idea for
the novel that became Like A River to
a Highlights Foundation workshop. In that early synopsis, Leander was the only
protagonist and all the events would happen to him. At the workshop, author
Rich Wallace advised me to add a new love interest for Leander. That advice led
to my completely rethinking the novel. I added the character of Polly, and
decided to make her a main character and tell half the story from her Point of
View. I felt recharged and began again. It is amazing how one suggestion can
turn a story in a different direction. It is hard for me to imagine the story
without Polly.
- You
were quoted as saying that your passion for US History came not from
history class, but from reading biographies and historical fiction. While
you were conceiving, researching and writing Like A River, was it one of your intentions to make “history
come alive” for new generations of early learners? Definitely. I
rarely liked history class. Memorizing lists of generals, battles, and
causes bored me, but when history read like a story, I was hooked. I fell
in love with history through biographies of Lincoln, Washington, and Lee,
and I relished stories that transported me into the past. Well-developed
fictional characters took me on marvelous adventures and I always eagerly
read the Author’s Note at the
end of a story that separated fact from fiction. It never seemed like a
history lesson, but I learned so much. When I hear from readers of Like A River, my favorite
compliment is “I felt I was there with Leander and Polly.” If I can
transport a reader into the past, the lesson will stay with him longer
than any history class, because he has “been there.”
- What
lessons can young readers learn from Like
A River? How does it enhance their classroom study of history? My main goal
was to tell an interesting story that gripped readers by their emotions
and made them want to turn each page. I attempt to slip in historical
details in a way that doesn’t shout, “History lesson here!” If a reader is
engaged with a character and a story, lessons will be learned, though
inadvertently. A reader sees that the Civil War was a war between two
halves of our country, and learns where that war fits into our nation’s
timeline. They learn that Lincoln was president at the time and that West
Virginia was part of Virginia and became a state as a result of the war.
They see the differences in gender roles between today and 150 years ago.
In the classroom, they would typically learn about battles and generals. Like A River shows them a Civil War
hospital, Andersonville Prison, and the Sultana disaster, but also lets them see how average people
lived and thought. They can witness ordinary people living through
extraordinary circumstances and see many ways in which those people are
like themselves. I hope that will make them crave to learn more.
- Is
your second novel, Empty Places,
also intended for young readers? What message or messages for youngsters
is contained in this book? Yes, Empty Places is for young readers (ages 9 and up). It is a
first-person narrative told by a thirteen-year-old girl, and takes place
in 1932 in Harlan County, Kentucky. It’s a book about a coal miner’s
family struggling through the Great Depression. It’s a different time
period from Like A River, but
both books are about surviving difficult circumstances. In addition to
learning more about the Great Depression, a reader can see life in an
impoverished, rural setting that might be very different from their own
experience. Empty Places is also
a book about Family.
- Your
parents obviously played a major role in your love of country and love of
reading and writing. We gather that they told you a lot of stories about
their lives. Can you tell us what your childhood was like and how it
inspired your adult life/career? My father served in the US Army Air
Corps, and it would take a whole book to tell his experiences during World
War II. Several members of his flight crew spent much of the war in a POW
camp. They are part of the reason I included a tribute to Prisoners of War
on the dedication page of Like A
River. Dad also lost friends in the war, and he flew the American flag
in the front yard every day as a sign of respect for our nation and
admiration for those who fought to protect it.
My mother told me often about her early
childhood in Marburg, Germany. It wasn’t an easy childhood. When, as a child,
she was sent to the US to live with an aunt, becoming an American and being
accepted as one were important to her. She even changed the pronunciation of
her name to make it sound more American. Mom was a teacher and a poet—and my
first writing teacher. During my earliest years, Mom ran a nursery school in
our home, so books, puzzles, and Story Time were part of every day. I had an
early fascination with words and storytelling.
When I began first grade, Mom gave up the
nursery school and went back to traditional teaching. I am the third of seven
siblings, so I always had other kids around, even without the nursery school.
Family has always been important to me.
As an adult, I did some part-time
teaching, but writing was my true passion, and I believed a book could reach
more classrooms than I could.
- The
process of researching your novels to ensure historical accuracy must be
an arduous undertaking. How did you go about it? Because I
find history so interesting, I never consider research as “arduous,”
though it does take considerable work and dedication to accuracy. With Like A River, I worked backward.
Since I wanted to tell the story of the Sultana, I read everything I could about the disaster in
particular and steamboats in general. I even participated in a steamboat
race. When I learned that most of the men aboard the Sultana were released from two Confederate prison camps, I
read about them both and decided to focus on Andersonville. I went to
Andersonville (both the town and the site of the prison). I visited
museums and walked the grounds that had once been a prison. I saw
Providence Spring, that saved many lives after August, 1864. When I
visited the cemetery, the final resting place for many of those who died
there, I knew I had to tell a story that did justice to those prisoners,
to let readers know what their experience had been. In the POW museum
there, staff members pointed me to books on the prison to do more
research.
My next stop was Vicksburg, where the
prisoners boarded the Sultana. The
Mississippi has changed course in the last 150 years, so I had to look at
pictures and use my imagination to try to visualize it as it was then.
I also went to Rome, Georgia, where I
visited the Shorter mansion. It was a school when I was there, but it had been
Colonel Shorter’s home before the Civil War and was used as a hospital during
the war, first for Confederate wounded and later by Union wounded. It was the perfect
inspiration for the hospital where Leander and Polly meet.
I went to Memphis, the Sultana’s last port before her demise,
and I visited graves of Sultana
victims there. I stood on the riverbank and tried to put myself into the minds
of those long-ago passengers. My husband and I drove across the bridge to West
Memphis. The Mississippi spread into the Arkansas flood plain, much as it did
that fateful day in 1865, so I was able to get a clear picture in my mind.
I also read diaries and letters written during
the Civil War, to find tidbits of life during those days, as well as to “hear”
voices from that time. I talked to medical experts and military experts to make
sure I portrayed those things accurately.
I visited the Ohio area that I chose for
Leander’s home and the West Virginia one I chose for Polly. Those visits helped
to make the characters become real for me. If I want a character to feel real
for a reader, that character must first feel real for me.
Some may consider
all that “arduous.” I found it exciting and inspiring.
- Have
you any new projects under development? Can you tell us about your likely
next work? I
am currently reworking a novel I first wrote seventeen years ago. It is
set against the backdrop of the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of
Gettysburg. I am also working on a new novel about the 1937 Flood in the
Ohio River Valley. That one is based on my father’s stories about living
during that record-breaking flood. In addition, I am always researching
interesting historical facts that I hope will become novels or short
stories some time in the future. By doing that, I am never at a loss for
something to do when I finish a novel. There is always a “new beginning”
to latch on to. After all, that is how both Like A River and Empty
Places began.
- What
role do you think the Grateful American Book Prize can play in
rejuvenating an earlier—and greater—interest in history among young
people? I
meet many writers who write fantasy or dystopian novels. I think—and
hope—the Grateful American Book Prize can entice more of them to tackle
historical subjects. It can also push writers who want to write historical
books to buckle down and put in the work. If more good history is written,
maybe publishing houses will become more interested in adding historical
titles to their lists. The Prize can also make teachers more aware of a
title to use in the classroom. If students are drawn into a story and find
the read a compelling one, word will spread among teachers and readers
both. And readers eager to read more history and learn more about our past
would be the ultimate prize.
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