Judith Caseley

Description

Why did you want to become a writer and illustrator? When I was growing up, I loved to draw, color and paint. I didn’t really like staying inside the lines in the coloring books. I also liked to write stories to my cousin Maria, who lived in California, about fairies and princesses. Away at college in England, I wrote hundreds of letters home. I was very homesick, and my father wrote many letters back. When my daughter Jenna was born, he started writing to her. Dear Annie was written in celebration of those letters. When I moved back home to the United States, my father told me that he would miss my letters because I was a very good writer. I took his word for it, and started writing stories. I never took a creative-writing course, but letter-writing was a wonderful way to practice my narrative style. I never studied illustration either, but in college, Matisse’s decorative pictures were my favorite, and carried me into card design and eventually children’s illustration. What books did you read when you were a child? I read lots of Beverly Cleary, books about nurses, Nancy Drew books, and historical fiction like In the Hands of the Senecas, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and Calico Captive. My parents didn’t allow us to watch any television during the week, only on weekends. I read under the covers with a flashlight, late into the night, and so does my daughter Jenna. And I babysat a lot, to grab my share of television that I hated missing, like “Dr. Kildare” or “Ben Casey.” You’ve had great success as both an author and an illustrator, which do you prefer: writing or illustrating? If I describe my career as “hard fun,” the painting is the fun part, and the writing is the hard part. Until I start to write, the blank computer screen is a difficult mountain to climb. When I’m illustrating, I can listen to music, a talk show, or a book on tape. When I’m writing, I need dead silence. What’s your work environment like? I didn't have my own studio until last year. All of my painting was done on a drafting table at the top of the stairs, in an alcove by the window. Bright colors surrounded me, sunflower curtains, a sunflower rug, photos of my children in front of flowers. Light is very important to me. I wrote at the computer in my basement. Finally, I had my back porch converted into a studio, painted the walls violet, with shimmery green curtains that have purple touches and lots of sunlight. Heaven! Your books cover so many different, interesting topics, where do you get your ideas? When I introduce myself to a group of children, I usually tell them that I have three important jobs: I am an author, an illustrator, and a mother. I write stories about my children, about my own family background, and about my friends. Sometimes I take a nugget of truth and spin it into fiction. I listen to the world, and steal stories from it, too. In Dorothy’s Darkest Days, the chapter about the dog mix-up happened in real life to a nice librarian I met in Virginia, who gave me permission to write the story. Field Day Friday, is about my son’s fifty-yard dash. His shoe fell off, he came in last, and worst of all, the children laughed.

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