Melissa Roske author

Melissa Roske - author of Kat Greene Comes Clean

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Media
  • Contact
  • Teacher’s Guide

Ask the Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney

September 28, 2020 By Melissa Roske Leave a Comment

The Proust Questionnaire, popularized by the French novelist and essayist Marcel Proust, is said to reveal a person’s true nature through a series of probing, soul-searching questions. In the hot seat today: Andrea Davis Pinkney, is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of nearly 60 books for young readers, among them The Red Pencil and A Poem for Peter, as well as several collaborations with her husband Brian Pinkney, including Sit-In and Hand in Hand, which received the Coretta Scott King Book Award. Her latest book, Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It, is a series of dramatic monologues. The novel has received four starred reviews to date; from Kirkus, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly and Booklist. The book is illustrated by Brian Pinkney and available (tomorrow!) from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Spending a day hiking with my hubby, Brian.

What is your greatest fear? Fear = Forgetting Everything’s All Right (though I do have a snake phobia).

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself and in others? Nothing good grows from criticism, so I try to focus on the positive qualities in all of us.

Which living person do you most admire? My mom, Gwendolyn Davis, who was one of the first Black members of the League of Women Voters.

What is your greatest extravagance? Two weeks at the Langham Hotel and spa in London.

What is your current state of mind? Serenity.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Being “lady-like.”

On what occasion do you lie?Honesty is the best policy.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Um. . .

Besides writing, which talent would you most like to have? The ability to play piano and sing at the same time.

What do you consider your greatest gift? My children.

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?I’d actually come back as a place, which is the skating rink at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, where I spend my Saturdays and Sundays throughout the winter. Everyone out on that ice is always smiling! So are the spectators.

What is your most treasured possession? Our home.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I just don’t allow myself to go there. “Misery” isn’t healthy for the soul.

What do you most value in your friends? Their loyalty, kindness, and lack of judgment.

Who are your favorite writers? Patricia C. McKissack, Langston Hughes, Virginia Hamilton.

Who is your hero of fiction? Peter in Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day. He’s contemplative and effervescent.

Which historical figure do you most identify with? Augusta Baker, whose life-work was devoted to  the positive portrayal of African Americans in works for children.

What is your motto? “Live and let live!”

ANDREA DAVIS PINKNEY is the New York Times bestselling an award-winning author of numerous books for children and young adults. Her work has received multiple Coretta Scott King Book Award citations. She is a four-time nominee for the NAACP Image Award, and has been inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. Andrea is the recipient of both the Regina Medal and the Arbuthnot Honor Award for her distinguished and singular contribution to the field of children’s literature. She has been named among the “25 Most Influential People in our Children’s Lives” by Children’s Health magazine, and is listed among the “25 Most Influential Black Women in Business” by The Network Journal. Andrea is the librettist for the Houston Grand Opera’s The Snowy Day, an opera based on the beloved bestselling children’s picture book classic The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. She has served on the creative teams for several theatrical and audio productions based on works for young people, including those drawn from her acclaimed books, Martin Rising: Requiem for a King, The Red Pencil, and Rhythm Ride: A Trip through the Motown Sound. Andrea lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and frequent collaborator, illustrator Brian Pinkney, and their two children. Find Andrea on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Filed Under: Ask the Author Tagged With: #WNDB, author, author interview, children's books, children's fiction, children's literature, Diversity, kidlit, middle grade fiction, publishing, reading

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Melissa Roske on Facebook Melissa Roske on Twitter Melissa Roske on Good Reads

Categories

  • Ask the Author
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015