#Interview & #Giveaway :: Kirsten B. Feldman, #Author of On the Way to Everywhere

I grew up on Cape Cod and the Connecticut shoreline and now live outside of Boston, much too far from the ocean and the sand. Reading and writing have played a central part in my life both personally and professionally. I am rarely without a book in my hand. Brown University gave me my undergrad degree in comparative literature and Tufts kindly did the same for my master's in English education. I have worked in a variety of school and museum education settings, including teaching 7th and 8th grade English. My graduate advisor once told me that if teenagers don't make you laugh then consider another career. To me the adolescent voice has such vibrancy and depth to it, whether funny or not; many of my favorite books have this point of view, including: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. When I started writing No Alligators in Sight, it was unequivocally Lettie's voice that told me the story. May she speak to you as well! If you want to check out other great books with this point of view, see Goodreads interactive list of young narrators and even add your own.

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How did you come up with the idea for your current story?
Years ago I had a conversation with a girl I knew only slightly through a locked bathroom door about Kurt Cobain’s suicide. That girl’s obsession and encyclopedic knowledge of Nirvana’s music was the start of all things Harry Kavanaugh. On the Way to Everywhere chronicles Harry’s quest to flunk out of her all-girls’ school so she can go to the dreaded public school and travels with her to places she never expected.

Are there some stories tucked away in some drawer that was written before and never saw the light of the day?

I think every writer has these, and sometimes an idea or an event sparks some new direction for the stalled story so out it comes!

Did any of your characters inherit some of your own quirks?

The obsession with sushi came from my family, to be sure. Also, we are huge readers over a wide range of authors and subjects, yes, including Danielle Steele once upon a time.

Do you read? Who are your favourite authors and how have they influenced your writing style?

It’s a must for authors to read, and personally I read about a book a week. Readers can check out my current books and my reviews on my Goodreads Page. I read widely but most love the adolescent point of view, including John Green and Rainbow Rowell and Jenny Han but also classics such as To Kill A Mockingbird and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I’m currently tearing through all of Joshilyn Jackson’s books, hilarious and sad and thought-provoking, with a Southern flair.

If you were to be stranded on the famous deserted island, what three things would you carry?

After the critical food and family, I would have to go with books.

Can you share with us something off your bucket list?

I want to see the polar bears in their natural habitat, so Antarctica it is. Of course, I’d better hurry because we humans are so busy increasing global warming and melting the icebergs.

What do you have in store next for your readers?

I am working on a novel about three sisters who live in remote New York State at the mercy of a crazed man who claims to be their father. Their mother is incapable, so they will have to get creative and find their own escape hatch. Their little sister’s clouded ability to see the future may help or only make things more confusing.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with your readers?

If you missed my first book, No Alligators in Sight, it is the story of two kids out on Cape Cod who want to make a better life for themselves and will travel from Massachusetts to Key West, Florida and back to find it. The reviews have been really good, so please check it out and consider adding it to your To Be Read pile :)

Though she’s nicknamed for the magical Harry Potter, six-foot, dreadlocked Harry Kavanaugh doesn’t find any wonder in her daily life at an exclusive girls’ school outside of Washington, DC. In fact she wants nothing more than to chuck her lot and enter the wilds of public school—too bad she didn’t reckon on a trip to the hospital, a runaway, and a renegade or three, which just might show her a different path to everywhere. 

In this coming of age novel, Lettie and Bert squeak by in a tiny town on Cape Cod, one parent an alcoholic and the other absent. After a string of bad decisions on Lettie’s part, their father ships them to their barely remembered mother for the summer, where they will learn hard lessons about themselves, their family, and their future by way of the Florida swamp. Throughout Lettie keeps her biting humor flowing, her razor-sharp pen at the ready, and her eye on her quest for a “normal” life. 

Giveaway

3 Kindle Copies of On the Way to Everywhere

a Rafflecopter giveaway