Verónica

Verónica asked Laurie Halse Anderson:

I finished Speak a few days ago and I JUST LOVE IT! I've already read Wintergirls and you always surprise me :) None describes feelings and thoughts like you! Sometimes it scares me a little bit how well you do it haha My questions are: How can u do it? Who inspires u? people u know or u just create the characters?

Laurie Halse Anderson Writers are strange creatures. We pull from memory, from observation, and from imagination. But there is a serious element of magic in writing. It's there in all creative processes. It's hard to explain, but if you show up to to the work every day, you begin to see its influence.

Glad you liked the books!

More Answered Questions

Christopher Eddy

Christopher Eddy asked Laurie Halse Anderson:

Mrs. Anderson, I am currently a Junior in college, and I recently reread Speak for my young adult literature class. I first read the book about five years ago, and having a time lapse between readings opened my eyes to the "evolution" of bullying. If you were to write this same story in 2015, would you focus on cyber bullying as opposed to physical or direct harassment? How would this change the book's dynamic?

Duygu Özcan

Duygu Özcan asked Laurie Halse Anderson:

Hello, Mrs. Anderson. I work with Pegasus Publishing House in Turkey and I am currently translating your novel, 'The Impossible Knife of Memory' into Turkish. I wanted to introduce myself and I was wondering if I could pick your brains when I come across some hard to translate words or ambiguities. I will go ahead and leave my e-mail address here: duygu.ozcan@ymail.com hoping to get an e-mail from you! :) ?

Michele

Michele asked Laurie Halse Anderson:

I work in a large public high school in Brooklyn, NY. We have many English Language learners at varying levels of proficiency in our student population. There are some classes that are reading your novel, "Fever 1793." We are looking for some copies in Spanish. I cannot find any copies for under $100 per copy. Do you know of a publisher or other source that I can contact to acquire some Spanish language copies?

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