Beyond the Book
Christopher Paul Curtis was born and brought up in
Flint, and worked on the assembly line in the city for 13 years until his first book, The Watsons Go
To Birmingham-1963, was published when he was 40 years old. He took a
year off from work to write to write it sitting in the children's room of the
Windsor Public Library writing in long hand. His son Steven typed his father's
drafts into their computer and served as first reader.His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, was the first book ever to receive both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.
He describes himself as a great reader but as a youth could not find books "that were about me". When asked why he writes he says, "I write because I love to. I'm...
