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Lalita Tademy

Goodreads Author

Born

in Berkeley, California, The United States

Website

http://www.lalitatademy.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction

Member Since

October 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/readtad

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LALITA TADEMY left the corporate world to immerse herself in tracing her family's history and writing her first historical novel, CANE RIVER. Her debut was selected by Oprah Winfrey as her summer book group pick in 2001.

Lalita Tademy's second historical novel, RED RIVER is set during Reconstruction-era Louisiana a time period and subject matter often summarily skimmed in our history books. The story of Red River begins in 1873, and follows the ramifications of an incident on Easter Sunday of that year on successive generations of two families involved.

In her latest work, Citizens Creek, Tademy brings us the evocative story of a once-enslaved man who buys his freedom after serving as a translator during the American Indian Wars, and his gran ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What is your research process like, and how do you check your work for historical accuracy? Can you describe an instance when you decided, for dramatic or plot purposes, it was better to overlook historical precedent?

Lalita Tademy Thanks Sam.
Every author's research process is different, but mine has been similar for all 3 of my historical novels. First, I zero in on a time perio…moreThanks Sam.
Every author's research process is different, but mine has been similar for all 3 of my historical novels. First, I zero in on a time period and geography that interests me, and then I read everything I can get my hands on that describes the events that unfolded there. I read non-fiction, fiction, biographies, cultural analyses, political essays, old newspapers, family genealogies, interviews, period cookbooks, old letters, absolutely anything that will give me an increased sense of time and place. I look for the what, and then began to try to understand the why. What was the mood of the times, the conventions and customs, the tensions at play? How can I, as an author of fiction, capture the big picture, keeping in mind that my individual character may not be aware of much of what I know through research and hindsight.
Only after steeping myself in the times do I begin to weave the narrative, and develop the voices of the characters, at which point the need to create a compelling story arc might (and often is) in conflict with absolute faithfulness to a forest of fact. This is the intricate dance - balancing accuracy with storytelling.
The very first time I played (quite guiltily) with what you're calling historical precedent, is when I moved a yellow fever epidemic in Louisiana to 2 years earlier than it really broke out, but it was a convenience to the plot. I justified this to myself by reasoning that the flavor and possibilities of the times trumped an actual date.
After my story is very developed (at least 5 drafts in), I get very serious about inadvertent historical goofs by having "experts" read the manuscript to uncover those obvious and not-so-obvious breaches that I haven't yet caught. And no matter how bullet-proof I think the historical elements are, the publisher's copyeditor usually catches at least a handful of errors - a rifle that can't shoot as far as I've depicted, a river flowing in the wrong direction, a maritime captain who wouldn't be the one to actually steer a vessel, girls playing a game of stickball despite the fact that only boys were allowed to participate at that time in that culture.
And hopefully, most inaccuracy is caught before publication, because if there is even one wrong fact, the unwritten law is that at least one reader will find it:-)(less)

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What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Lalita Tademy Creating a narrative is like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Even though you know the size and shape and colors you're working with, pro…moreCreating a narrative is like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Even though you know the size and shape and colors you're working with, progress is, at times, painfully slow and seemingly endless, and at other times wonderfully satisfying, a series of pieces falling exactly into their place.
The best thing about all of the process, whether tortured or inspired, is that as the author, you are the only one who can follow these particular characters and ideas and bring them to life. That is a great burden and a great joy.
For me, the research always takes me someplace that I didn't know about before, and I get to live in that world as I create it for my characters and my stories.(less)

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Lalita Tademy’s books

Average rating: 4.07 · 56,057 ratings · 3,161 reviews · 14 distinct works • Similar authors

	Cane River 4.08 avg rating — 50,927 ratings — published 2001 — 54 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Red River 3.90 avg rating — 3,519 ratings — published 2006 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Citizens Creek 3.91 avg rating — 1,376 ratings — published 2014 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cane River (Oprah's Book Club) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Red River by Lalita Tademy (2007-07-12) by Lalita Tademy (Goodreads Author), Unknown Author liked it 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The 8 Immortals - Rewarding the Honest / Asiapac comic series / Chinese beliefs & legends liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cane River - Abridged (4 Cassettes) by Lalita Tademy (Goodreads Author), Shari Belafonte (Narrator), Edwina Moore (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	γυναικες που δεν λυγισαν 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	gynaikes pou den lygisan sto cane river 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cane River 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Cool Machine (The Harlem Trilogy, #3)

by Colson Whitehead (Goodreads Author)

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What We Can Know

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The Passion of Mary Magdalen (Maeve Chronicles, #2)

by Elizabeth Cunningham

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Quotes by Lalita Tademy (?)

“You can't tell how heavy somebody else's load is just from looking. The Lord doesn't give us more than we can carry”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River

tags: cane-river, hardness, heavy, lalita-tademy, life, load, slavery

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“Reaching too deep into something not meant for you is full of pain. Figure out what you can have and work on that”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River

tags: cane-river, hardness, lalita-tademy, life, slavery

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“Sometimes while you wait for what you think is better," Philomene said, "what is good enough slips away.”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River

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Polls

In honor of Black History Month in February, we read a fiction or non-fiction book by a black author, or featuring subject matter surrounding the black experience and/or characters. Poll will be open through January 10.

Dream Count

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

5 votes, 100.0%

The Bond Woman's Narrative

Hannah Crafts

0 votes, 0.0%

Wench

Dolen Perkins-Valdez

0 votes, 0.0%

Red River

Lalita Tademy

0 votes, 0.0%

The Changeling

Victor LaValle

0 votes, 0.0%

5 total votes

2 comments

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