Author To Know Nancy Bo Flood
September 2006 Interview by Jessie RuffenachAt various times in her life, Nancy has lived in Malawi, Africa, Hawaii, Japan, Saipan in Micronesia in the western Pacific, and, most recently, the Navajo Nation Reservation. No matter where she lives, Nancy is always collecting and making up stories. Her previous publications include I’ll Go To School If..., Pacific Island Legends, and Micronesia: Legends, History, Culture.
This newsletter's Author to Know features Nancy Bo Flood, author of The Navajo Year, Walk Through Many Seasons. In an interview with Jessie Ruffenach, editor at Salina Bookshelf, Nancy discusses her experiences as an author and offers helpful ideas for beginning writers.
Jessie: Tell me a little about yourself. Where did you grow up, and what sort of activities did you enjoy?
Nancy: I grew up in a small town, Braidwood, in Illinois. My grandparents both had farms, and my favorite way to spend Saturday – and get out of doing my own chores – was to go with my grandmother to the farm. My cousins and I ran across the fields pretending to be wild horses, or we played in the hayloft of the barn making nests for the barn kittens. I do remember being chased by an angry bull and barely making it under the fence with his long pointed horns not far behind me.
Jessie: What childhood experiences, if any, shaped your desire to become a writer?
Nancy: Reading was my escape. Books were my companions. Sometimes being part of a busy family with five brothers and two sisters means a lot of helping, especially since I was second oldest. My dad worked long hours as a teacher and basketball coach; my mom not only did all the many “mom-chores” but also did sewing, canning, and helping others in our rural town. When my sister died, I felt lost. Books were a comfort. I would be amazed that those kids in books so often felt like I did.
Jessie: You have numerous books, stories, and articles to your credit. How long have you been writing?
Nancy: I’ve always liked to write – letters to friends, silly poems, and of course, things I thought were profound thoughts. I began writing seriously about twenty years ago when I decided to try to write a novel for kids.
Jessie: I noticed from your biography that you have lived in numerous places all around the globe. Often, you end up writing books about the places you have lived. Why is that?
Nancy: I get all excited about discoveries I am seeing, hearing, even tasting. People living in other places as part of other cultures fascinate me. I continue to discover that we are different in how we do daily life, but we are the same in how we feel inside. When I discover or enjoy – then I want to share through writing (or non-stop talking as my mother used to say about me).
Jessie: Your most recent book is The Navajo Year, Walk Through Many Seasons, published by Salina Bookshelf. Describe how the idea for that book came about.
Nancy: The Navajo Year was inspired by my students at Diné College in Tuba City. All of them would soon be teachers, and their assignment was to create a simple set of learning experiences to teach a basic concept about Navajo life. The students were soon frustrated because so little is written for children about Navajo culture. “What about the seasons or months of the year?” I asked. Nope. Okay, I thought, I would like to try to create something. For one year I wrote down what I saw going on in the desert and Navajo communities. Each month I tried to describe what was changing in the weather, the plants, and the animals. I especially tried to be aware of the changes in what people were doing as the seasons changed.
Jessie: What do you hope readers will take away from your books?
Nancy: I hope readers will find in my books a love and respect for all people, the earth, and the air – in other words, our world. I also hope they will find a joyful delight as well as an appetite to learn and understand more.
Jessie: I know your answer to this question will be “Yes,” but do you have any other projects planned? Could you tell me a little about them?
Nancy: I love projects. Besides canning peaches and trying to sew a crazy quilt, I am revising two middle grade historical novels – one about World War II in Saipan (Caught in the Crossfire) and one about growing up in an Italian Midwest town just after The Great War.
I just finished a picture book, The Hogan That Jack Built, which I hope will celebrate the connections between old and new, traditional and contemporary, Navajo life.
"Puppets the protest" is the theme of a nonfiction book about how puppetry is used to express political defiance or criticism – or to try to increase people’s awareness of social issues. In this book I look at ancient puppetry, such as the water puppets of Thailand, and also the contemporary puppetry of the Muppets and Sesame Street.
Jessie: I’d like to ask a few questions that may be of interest to new or young writers. “Breaking in,” or getting your first piece published, is often the most difficult part of a writer’s career. Where and how were you first published? What was it like? And what would you suggest to those who are still seeking to get their first piece published?
Nancy: To break into published writing, I was advised to start small and to start local. Good advice. My first publications were with regional publications – newspapers, newsletters, and local interest booklets. My first published piece was about my grandmother, her hands. I described how looking at her wrinkled, weathered hands reminded me of the many projects my grandmother did. Busy hands quilting, canning, gardening, weeding, shucking peas, or sometimes holding my hand when I was scared.
Jessie: Is there any other advice you’d like to offer on writing?
Nancy: Writing is the hardest work I do. Be stubborn. Keep trying. Read, read, read the kind of books you want to write. Think about why you like a book. What has the author done to make the characters and place real? And read books about how to write, because writing is an art as well as a craft. And – write from your heart.