Q & A with Libby Schmais

This week Books on the House for Kids/Teens welcomes Libby Schmais, author of the beaucoup fun The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein.   Be sure to ENTER TO WIN one of 3 copies Libby’s giving away, and visit her website for a ton of fun Lotus activities and updates!

Now, heeeerrrreee’sss Liiiiibbbbbyyyyy!

Look!  A sneak peak at the paperback cover of The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein!  Read an excerpt!

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BotH:

Welcome to Books on the House, Libby!  I love The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein.  What a great title!  Would you tell us how you got your start in writing?

Libby:

Thanks!  I’ve always read voraciously and felt a need to write, although it wasn’t always for public consumption.  When I was little, I wrote bad poetry, and later, I kept a journal, where I scribbled my dark thoughts, observations, and probably more bad poetry.  Luckily my handwriting is terrible, so no one will ever have to read those early scribblings.   I took writing classes in college and even got an MFA in fiction, but it took a long time for me to take myself seriously as a writer.  To be honest, I’m still working on it, although getting published definitely helps.

BotH:

Where did your love of all things French come from?

Libby:

I spent a year in France in college, in Brittany, and that definitely left me with wonderful memories, although very few photos.   I’ve always love the language, the culture, the fromage, and Toile of course.   Even though I love French, I was always a pretty terrible French student.  I liked reading and speaking, but the grammar, not so much, so the limited French Lotus speaks is very much like my limited French.

BotH:

How did you come up with the structure (diary entries) for this book?

Libby:

I knew I wanted to write a diary book, à la Adrian Mole and Bridget Jones, so the structure evolved fairly effortlessly.    Lotus had to write diary entries for her English class, but she’d already been keeping a diary, so the book consists of her diary entries during several eventful months in her life.

BotH:

If Lotus could spend the afternoon with one person, who would it be?

Libby:

It would be tough for her to choose just one, because she admires so many people: Christiane Amampour, Christian LeCroix (hmmm, what’s with all the Christians?), Coco Chanel, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Sartre, just to name a few.  After some deep reflection and a chocolate croissant, I think she’d probably choose Simone de Beauvoir, so she could ask her what it was like to be with Sartre.

BotH:

And how about you, Libby?  If you could spend the afternoon with one person, who would it be?

Libby:

Me, probably someone who could make me laugh and/or a writer who I admire.  Perhaps one of my favorite humorous writers, Sue Townsend (Adrian Mole) or Merrill Markoe (who writes great books generally involving dogs) or Lionel Shriver (an amazing writer – one of my favorite books is her The Post-Birthday World).

BotH:

So great having you here!  Good luck with the paperback release of this awesome book!

Libby:

Thanks so much!

Merci!!!

Libby