| Interview with Sylvia Louise Engdahl |
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com!
My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time
out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers
and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
Not until I was in my early 20s, and then for many years, I was too busy with my computer programming
job to write anything.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I left programming in 1967 to serve as companion to my elderly mother, which gave me a lot of time free
for writing. I wrote Journey Between Worlds first and then Enchantress from the Stars, which I thought
was too long and too unusual to be published as a Young Adult book in the market as it was at that time.
However, I submitted it to Atheneum because after I finished it I couldn’t bear not to have it read by
anyone, and to my surprise it was accepted. Then Atheneum accepted Journey Between Worlds also.
And to my much greater surprise, Enchantress was chosen as a Newberry Honor book. All my novels
were first published between 1970 and 1981, and now they have all been republished in the 21st century.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one
thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
An updated edition of Journey Between Worlds is being published this week. It’s about the colonization of
Mars -- but if you’re not a science fiction enthusiast, don’t let that stop you, because it’s meant to be
enjoyed by teens who don’t read other science fiction. It’s a romance about an ordinary girl who finds that
Mars isn’t as different from Earth as she thought it would be. When you fall in love, where you happen to
be living isn’t what matters to you.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
My belief that humankind’s future depends on expanding our civilization beyond a single planet, and that
therefore what new generations think about space, and how they feel about it, is very important.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My mother published some books for teens shortly before I did. She was happy when my books were first
published, and I wish she could see their new editions. But she died in 1987 at the age of 90, and I have
no family now.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Dark chocolate and enchiladas (not together!)
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
It’s afternoon by the time I wake up because I can’t sleep at night and so usually don’t go to bed until
about 5 a.m. -- I work at my computer until at least 3 a.m. When my day does start I put on my glasses,
put on a bathrobe, and feed my two cats.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
That one person living alone could have accumulated so much stuff over the years.
No matter how much of it I sell on eBay, the closets and cupboards overflow!
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Blue, because it makes me think of the sky and what may lie beyond our sky.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
My favorite strip is “For Better or for Worse” -- none of the characters are like me, but they’re like real
people I’d enjoy knowing. I don’t care for most cartoons.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
To a space colony a hundred years from now, to see how the future turns out.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
Sound tracks, some New Age, some classical -- and pop from the pre-rock era (which reminds me of my
youth). But while writing, I need silence.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
I haven’t been to a theater for many years, but I rent DVDs from Netflix several times a week. I watch
mostly drama, both movies and old T.V. series, especially some of the BBC productions. My favorite
current T.V. show is “Lost.”
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Don’t be taken in by pessimistic predictions about Earth’s future. I have lived long enough to know that
fears about imminent doom are always exaggerated, and that human progress, although slow, does occur
over time. The world is not in worse shape than ever before -- it seemed that way in every era to the
people who lived then. But enough of them worked toward positive goals to make a difference.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I wish I knew! All my novels were based on ideas I got during one short period of my life, and then for
many years, I did not have any more story ideas. Recently, I got an idea for an adult science fiction novel
with much older characters, but I don’t know whether it will be published. If and when I get a new idea for a
teen novel, I will surely write one.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
Thank you for the opportunity! Being in touch with my readers via the Internet means a lot to me.
My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time
out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers
and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
Not until I was in my early 20s, and then for many years, I was too busy with my computer programming
job to write anything.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I left programming in 1967 to serve as companion to my elderly mother, which gave me a lot of time free
for writing. I wrote Journey Between Worlds first and then Enchantress from the Stars, which I thought
was too long and too unusual to be published as a Young Adult book in the market as it was at that time.
However, I submitted it to Atheneum because after I finished it I couldn’t bear not to have it read by
anyone, and to my surprise it was accepted. Then Atheneum accepted Journey Between Worlds also.
And to my much greater surprise, Enchantress was chosen as a Newberry Honor book. All my novels
were first published between 1970 and 1981, and now they have all been republished in the 21st century.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one
thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
An updated edition of Journey Between Worlds is being published this week. It’s about the colonization of
Mars -- but if you’re not a science fiction enthusiast, don’t let that stop you, because it’s meant to be
enjoyed by teens who don’t read other science fiction. It’s a romance about an ordinary girl who finds that
Mars isn’t as different from Earth as she thought it would be. When you fall in love, where you happen to
be living isn’t what matters to you.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
My belief that humankind’s future depends on expanding our civilization beyond a single planet, and that
therefore what new generations think about space, and how they feel about it, is very important.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My mother published some books for teens shortly before I did. She was happy when my books were first
published, and I wish she could see their new editions. But she died in 1987 at the age of 90, and I have
no family now.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Dark chocolate and enchiladas (not together!)
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
It’s afternoon by the time I wake up because I can’t sleep at night and so usually don’t go to bed until
about 5 a.m. -- I work at my computer until at least 3 a.m. When my day does start I put on my glasses,
put on a bathrobe, and feed my two cats.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
That one person living alone could have accumulated so much stuff over the years.
No matter how much of it I sell on eBay, the closets and cupboards overflow!
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Blue, because it makes me think of the sky and what may lie beyond our sky.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
My favorite strip is “For Better or for Worse” -- none of the characters are like me, but they’re like real
people I’d enjoy knowing. I don’t care for most cartoons.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
To a space colony a hundred years from now, to see how the future turns out.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
Sound tracks, some New Age, some classical -- and pop from the pre-rock era (which reminds me of my
youth). But while writing, I need silence.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
I haven’t been to a theater for many years, but I rent DVDs from Netflix several times a week. I watch
mostly drama, both movies and old T.V. series, especially some of the BBC productions. My favorite
current T.V. show is “Lost.”
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Don’t be taken in by pessimistic predictions about Earth’s future. I have lived long enough to know that
fears about imminent doom are always exaggerated, and that human progress, although slow, does occur
over time. The world is not in worse shape than ever before -- it seemed that way in every era to the
people who lived then. But enough of them worked toward positive goals to make a difference.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I wish I knew! All my novels were based on ideas I got during one short period of my life, and then for
many years, I did not have any more story ideas. Recently, I got an idea for an adult science fiction novel
with much older characters, but I don’t know whether it will be published. If and when I get a new idea for a
teen novel, I will surely write one.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
Thank you for the opportunity! Being in touch with my readers via the Internet means a lot to me.
