Author/Illustrator Interview with Linas Alsenas

Linas's new book PEANUT (published by Scholastic Press)  is just out and it is wonderful! The story opens with these simple words, "Mildred is lonely." Everything changes for the better when she finds a stray puppy, or at least that is what she believes he is. She names him Peanut and even though he doesn't seem quite like our idea of a dog, (you can guess from the book cover what he is!), we love him, right along with Mildred. Linas's story is full of emotion; you will laugh, feel sad, and fortunately (I won't tell the ending) feel happy again - all in the short space of a 32-page picture book, with just a few words on each page and expressive pictures that perfectly compliment the words.

PEANUT was just picked as "One of New York Magazine's Top Five Summer Reading Picks for Kids!" Congratulations Linas!!

I first got to know Linas when he was in my class at SVA several years ago and I have been so excited to follow his progress ever since. His first book, Mrs Claus Takes a Vacation, was published last fall. PEANUT is his second book. He now lives in Sweden. I am very happy to have a conversation with him here, where he shares how he works on his books and what it is like living and working abroad.    

Can you tell us about the process of creating Peanut, from first idea to
publication? And when you work on a book, does the idea come first with words or with images?

PEANUT originated with this picture of an older lady sitting on a park bench. I had painted it somewhat spontaneously. It sounds weird to say about something I had created myself, but I was captivated by the image, and I thought she would make an excellent picture book character—and the story quickly came together from there.

I guess when I work on a book, the words come first because I type out the whole text before I start sketching it. However, I always picture the book page by page as I come up with the text, so in a sense, the illustrations are in my head from the beginning, too. Also, I like creating tension between the text and the images in my books. If you separate the text from the pictures in my books, they become two very different things, and the books don't mean the same thing without the combination.

You'll see in the dedication that I thank my father for "seeing horses in cow pastures", and I suspect that's where the central idea of the book came from: When I was growing up, my family would take very long car trips, and to entertain us, my dad would jokingly point at cows and say, "Look, horses!"--and vice versa. He was being silly, but it was funny, and I wanted this book to get the same sort of outraged "No, they're not!" reaction that my father got out of me and my siblings. I think, too, it's fun to play with the idea that the narrator of the book doesn't always get things right—I hope that will make for interesting read-alouds.

What pets did you have - or not have - as a child, and does this have
anything to do with your story?

Ohhh, I was pet OBSESSED when I was a kid. I think I read every single book in the pet section of Brecksville Public Library at least once. My mother is not a pet lover at all, so I really had to lobby her hard for years and years for the animals that I eventually managed to get: a gerbil named Pogo, an assortment of tropical fish, and then in high school, a couple of guinea pigs named Gretchen and Eva. I think this long-term hunger that I had for pets as a kid is definitely part of Mildred.
 
It's funny, from the very beginning, I resisted suggestions from others about making clear *why* Mildred thought Peanut was a dog, and it's been interesting to see reviews of the book. Some reviewers have assumed Mildred has bad eyesight, and one reviewer assumed she is just stupid. But for me, this book has always been about the power of denial, and Mildred *wanting* Peanut to be a dog so much that she is able to make herself believe it--despite all evidence to the contrary.

Do you have any pets now?

This is Oliver. He's a black-headed caique, which is a small parrot that originates from South America. He is the absolute best—he's always clowning around, wanting to wrestle or snuggle or dance or whistle. It's funny how pets become such an important part of the family—I think we tend to think of him more as a kid than a bird.

In your books, both Peanut and Mrs. Claus, the words and pictures are so wonderfully intertwined - was there a back and forth process with the manuscript and illustrations,
through the process of revisions and changes?

I know different authors and illustrators and editors have different ways of working, but for me, I like to spend a lot of time creating "dummies" of my books before I propose them to my editor. I want to have everything pretty "finished-looking" from the very beginning so that I know everyone involved (the editor, the designer, the art director, etc.) has a very clear idea of what I think the book should look like. Then I'm more than happy to get suggestions, confident that everyone has seen it from my perspective first. I tend not to get very many suggestions on the text during the editing process--I think we only changed a few words on Peanut. (I also had friends look over the text and help me streamline it before I even started sketching.) Most of the back-and-forth with my publisher usually ends up being about tweaking the images.

A first book is a huge, difficult but exciting challenge.
Plus, when you were painting the pictures for Mrs Claus you had just moved to Sweden from New York - big changes in your life! What are some of the things you remember about working on your first book, compared to working on your second book?

Oh, gosh, it was very different. "Mrs. Claus" was painted in a blur—I was adjusting to so many different things in my life: moving in with someone, discovering Stockholm, trying to make friends, learning a new language, understanding Swedish culture, figuring out how to work for myself rather than a company... it was nuts, actually. I'm sure *I* went a little nuts! Plus there was the additional difficulty of channeling Christmastime into my illustrations during June, July, and August.

Luckily, a year later, when I was working on PEANUT, my life had settled down considerably, and I had a much better idea of what to expect with this second book. I used a faster technique (acrylic/watercolors/colored pencil on paper) than I did for "Mrs.Claus" (acrylic on gessoboard), and Peanut only has one scene with a background, so technically speaking, it was a much quicker process.

What are some of your favorite things about living in Sweden?

It's much more beautiful than I ever expected. Also, everything here is very efficient and logical, which is nice. Sweden seems like a perfect place in many ways, in that it's so pretty and comfortable--but also so much is environmentally-friendly, there is no extreme poverty, and everything seems to be done very ethically. In general, the problems they face seem very minor to me compared to the problems in America.

Here's a skyline shot of Stockholm--actually, it's of Gamla Stan
("Old Town"), the central island of Stockholm (my street is the one you can look down, on the left) Our building was originally built in 1632!

In the summer you have long long days - is that good for painting?

No, it's terrible! You always want to be outside, enjoying it! Luckily, I
rent a studio space in the basement of a fashion store, so I'm able to enter my own little world down here, no matter the weather...

Here's a picture of me in my studio (yup, no windows--but I think
that's probably good for keeping me focused!)

What is it like in the winter?

DARK. Very, very dark. It gets cold, sure, but I don't think it's particularly worse than Boston, or Cleveland, for example. The hardest part is the short days—but that's when you have to really concentrate on going to cozy, firelit places and hanging out with good friends so you don't get depressed.

Have you met other writers, artists, and people working in the children's
book field there?

There's a wonderful organization called Svenska Barnboksinstitutet (The Swedish Institute for Children's Books) that holds lectures and events with authors and publishers here. I've attended a few of their events, which were very interesting. Initially, I tried to find a workshop group to join, where I could throw around ideas with other authors and illustrators, but it was hard to find anything in English. A friend (who is writing a young-adult fantasy novel) and I meet every couple weeks to "workshop", but I'm hoping to add others to our little group in time...

Are you learning to speak Swedish?

I took classes for the first couple of years that I lived here, so I can
understand spoken Swedish, and I can read Swedish novels and watch Swedish movies and TV—but I rarely talk Swedish. I mean, I *can*, but practically everyone here speaks English, and they're happy to switch to it in a conversation—and I'm too embarrassed about my Swedish accent to force the issue and practice my Swedish!

And you are already working on your 3rd picturebook - Congratulations! Can you tell us a little bit more about your projects to come?

Sure! My next picture book is about a very, very boring bear named Bob. He likes to sit. And sit. And sometimes count toothpicks. Luckily, he has a much more exciting friend named Jack, and the book is about their unlikely friendship. That book will be out in Spring of 2009 from Scholastic Press.

In the meantime, I have a very, very different project coming out next
spring (2008) from Abrams Books for Young Readers: a book about gay history for teenagers called *Gay America*. This is a project I've been working on since before moving to Sweden, and it's exciting to see it finally coming together. There are an increasing number of YA books today that deal with homosexuality, but they are mostly fictional novels and personal coming-out stories—I haven't seen any that provide teens an introduction to gay history. I really hope this book will help fill that gap!

And I would like to add this good news about Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation: it is a CBC/IRA Children's Choice Winner for 2007 . Co-sponsored by the International Reading Association and the Children's Book Council, children vote on their favorite books, and Linas's book received the highest number of votes in its category of K-2. Wow, that is wonderful!

Linas has a great website - take a look: www.linasalsenas.com 

Update on 9/21: Linas has just sent word: "I'm participating in this year's "Robert's Snow" fundraiser benefiting the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This is a fundraiser in which 200+ illustrators working in children's books each paint a wooden snowflake, all of which are sold off in an online auction. You can see this year's snowflakes (including mine, "The Clauses") online at www.robertssnow.com (click on "Online Auction")--my flake is part of Auction 2, which takes place November 26-30. (You can also see the snowflakes in person at the Child at Heart Gallery in Newburyport, MA from Oct 3-22, or the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA from Oct 30-Dec 2.)"  Click here for a direct link to   Linas's snowflake  

And on 10/21: A wonderful interview with more from Linas about his snowflake and living in Sweden has just been posted on a librarian's blog called A Wrung Sponge - click here.  I think Linas is going to start a mass migration to Sweden - it sounds so wonderful to be living there!

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