Author interview with Kirby Larson, speaking about her young adult novel, Hattie Big Sky.

Kirby Larson

I have lived in Washington State my whole life (except for one year as a baby in Alaska), growing up in a family with four noisy children and two warm and easy going parents. I was an ordinary kid who never broke any bones or world's records but I did flunk Boy's PE when I was in 8th grade. When I was a senior in high school, I got into an argument with this guy in the library. Four years later, we got married. We have two grown children, Tyler, who works in the film industry in New York and Quinn, who is an interior designer/project manager here in Seattle. Most of my jobs have involved writing but I never thought about writing children's books until I read Arnold Lobel's Ming Lo Moves a Mountain to my children. I loved the character and the way the author solved the story problem. I loved the words and the pictures. I loved everything! That picture book changed my life - it made me want to try to write books for children. So, I took some classes and workshops and I read hundreds of children's books. And I wrote and wrote and wrote -- really bad books! People don't realize that learning to write is like learning any new skill. Without practice, you're nowhere. After several years of practice, I wrote and sold Second Grade Pig Pals and I've been writing ever since.