Beyond the Book: Background information when reading Ida B

Beyond the Book

This article relates to Ida B

Katherine Hannigan was raised in western New York State and earned degrees in education, mathematics, and art. She has worked as the education coordinator for a Head Start program and, most recently, as an assistant professor of art and design. She lives in northeast Iowa.

Ida B is her first novel; she says, "Ida B came to be, in large part, because of my move to the Midwest. Hers is the life I would have chosen, if I could have. And I think I try to live up to her example -- brave and true, full of fun, and fiercely loving."

She was inspired to write a children's book after hearing Kate DiCamillo speak in St Paul.  She had never read anything by DiCamillo, but thought it would be interesting to hear what an author had to say about the process and inspiration of writing.  So she says that she went to the Fitzgerald Theater and "started crying before Kate even opened her mouth. The place was full of people who had obviously been deeply affected, in a positive way, by this woman's writing, and that moved me profoundly. That night, I went home and started writing Ida B in a spiral notebook."

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This article relates to Ida B. It first ran in the January 4, 2007 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.