#TuesdayTalk with Lorna Crozier
Lorna’s new board book, So Many Babies, launches this month.
What inspired you to write for babies and very young children?
I have six grandchildren, all who live within half an hour of our house. Two are babies. Those are who I keep in mind when I’m writing board books.
Is there a story behind the creation of your book?
What’s the least glamorous part about being a writer? And the most glamorous?
Writing is a lonely, solitary act. And it’s hard work to get things right. There’s nothing glamorous about sweating over a line because the words just won’t come. I suppose the pay-off comes when you see a reader delighting in your book. A woman I see at the gym sent me a photo that showed her granddaughter, whom I’ve never met, sitting on the floor with my book in her lap. She looked so happy. That’s about as glamorous as it gets.
What do you hope readers can take away from your book?
What I think about when I’m writing is a passion for words and how they roll and sing when you read them out loud. We never lose our love for music and rhyme. I hope readers delight in that in my books. And I hope they remember how we delight in the senses and in animals other than us.
Do you have any unique hobbies or pastimes?
I like to rescue old wooden chairs and give them a new life with brightly coloured paint and images I cut and paste. I also love to garden with our two cats. Cats adore gardening. They’re always nearby and interested in what you’re doing among the rows of greenery.
When you hit writer’s block, how do you push through it?
When I can’t find a word or a line or a story, I immerse myself in the work of writers I admire. I may not be writing but I’m reading and reading and reading.
Anything else you’d like readers of the Orca blog to know about you or your book?
I’d like to pass on my sense of wonder.
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Lorna Crozier has authored numerous books of poetry and received many awards, including a Governor General’s Award, the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Award, the National Magazine Award (Gold Medal) and first prize in the National CBC Literary Competition. An Officer of the Order of Canada, Lorna has read her poetry on every continent except Antarctica, and in 2005 she recited a poem for Queen Elizabeth II as part of Saskatchewan’s centennial celebration. For more information, visit www.lornacrozier.ca.