Rebecca Stead
Rebecca Stead
Rebecca Steadis an American writer of fiction for children and teens. She won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, the oldest award in children's literature, for her second novel When You Reach Me...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChildren's Author
Date of Birth16 January 1968
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
stopping
The wonderful thing about writing fiction is that no one is stopping you. There's no one saying, 'You can't do that.'
published suffers time
Every published writer suffers through that first draft because most of the time, that's a disappointment.
authors bit books course experience hoping mystery publishing remember since time work writers
I am hoping to work with writers publishing books for first time, since I of course remember what that experience is like. It's all a bit of a mystery for new authors who don't know what to expect.
felt hallway horrific knowing remember steady vulnerable
I felt vulnerable and very much between friends. I remember walking down the hallway and thinking I had no way of knowing what was coming, literally. This wasn't because I had some horrific bullying story, but because of a steady drip of negativity.
broader exploring questions time
I'm always thinking about identity. And the middle-school years are a time of exploring questions about who you are and who you want to be. For the first time, you see the world in a broader sense.
felt giant known sort within
I like the idea of a world, even within a big giant city, where you're not anonymous. You have an identity, and that's an identity that's known just sort of by shopkeepers. I felt that as a kid, and I loved it.
embody everybody kinds people prefer
As a reader, I much prefer to read a book where people embody all kinds of ideas and everybody is making mistakes.
avoid books tend
My books tend to have a lot of questions in them, and they tend to avoid black and white, for lack of a better metaphor.
kid lived manhattan parts section west
I try to remember what it was like to be a kid in New York. I lived in different parts of my childhood in Manhattan on the Upper West Side, where 'When You Reach Me' is set, and also in the Midwood section of Brooklyn.
families met seven
I've met seven homeschooling families through many, many extracurricular activities such as fencing. I don't have a point of view of homeschooling. For some families, homeschooling works.
becoming literary love thinking
Probably because I really love this bookmaking and storytelling world, I'd been thinking for years about the possibility of becoming a literary agent.
anyone familiar knows plenty time
Anyone who's familiar with my writing schedule knows that there is always plenty of time between books for me!
home
I have nothing like a writing routine. I sometimes have trouble buckling down to write at home.
anymore books few fiction kinds loved people robert science wonderful
I loved reading all kinds of books, but I particularly loved books like 'Red Planet' by Robert Heinlein, which very few people read anymore but is a wonderful science fiction story.