1. Could you tell us a little about yourself? How you got from Charleston, SC to Portland OR?

I've spent my bread and butter life as a doll designer, having designed for the Gorham Company of Providence, RI back in the 80s and also for my own business, The Kezi Works. I always knew that one day I would have to put that aside and follow my truest self. I'm a born writer with an intuitive pilot that is also my own merciless editor. I wrote my first 'novel' at age 10, a turgid melodrama about a beautiful gypsy girl trying to solve a mystery in Silver Springs. I have no idea now what the mystery was only that I loved the name Silver Springs and used it lavishly throughout the story. Though I've been a closet writer all my life, I am primarily self-taught and have tried to keep my inner voice intact without too much outside progamming. I approach my writing in the trusting, passionate spirit of primitive art expression. I didn't try for publication until about ten years ago when I finally felt my timing was right and my writing good enough. I got to Portland in a round-about way. In the late 50s I worked in radio and television in Alaska and went to San Francisco on vacation with friends. While there, a visiting Portlander told me what a beautiful little city Portland was and invited me to see for myself. I visited, fell in love and have been here ever since. I can't imagine living anywhere else in the world. No matter where I go, I always come home to Portland. But, that said, having grown up in the South, it's my emotional core and my writing touchstone--there are winding corridors that seem to go on forever.

2. "John Riley's Daughter" is a powerful, unsentimental look at family relationships. What made you write THIS story?

I was working on something entirely different when Memphis Riley showed up, grabbed me and wouldn't let go. She'd obviously been pacing around in my subconscious for a long time and finally bubbled to the surface. Her story poured out during the next six weeks. When I finally read the first draft all in one piece to get the sense of it, I was amazed at how boldly she told her story, which is that of an unloved, unwanted child discovering life's painful necessity for compassion and forgiveness.

3. You have great insight into the mind of a 13 year-old girl. Memphis is a great character. What do you think will happen to her?

I think the empathy factor in writers and actors is highly developed, enabling them to slip inside different skins with ease. My own childhood was right out of Charles Dickens and while I don't write my life, I do use all of my emotional history to feel what has to be felt in order to write honestly. What will happen to Memphis? Who knows? Life is uncertain--but she has discovered that she is a survivor and has the ability to shape her life. I like to think she'll make her way, make her mistakes, learn from them and grow herself into a strong, grounded woman.

4. As a writer for young adults what do you see as the future of the book in America?

Right after we eat, sleep, and procreate comes our insatiable hunger for story, our need to find out all we can about what it means to be human. That's always going to be with us. Technology is giving us new ways to present and read stories, but I can't for the life of me ever foresee a time when the comforting pleasures of holding a beautiful, carefully produced book with its softly rustling pages will be replaced by downloads of plain text. Is there room for downloads? Sure. Better to read that than not read at all. Is there room for video/text story tables in classrooms? Sure, it's the story they'll connect with. But just as the movies didn't wipe out stage productions and the light bulb didn't do away with candles, I don't think electronic book presentations will ever replace the printed book; they'll simply be options for one reason or another. Electronic technology is only as good as the power source. The printed, bound, hand-held book IS the power source. It's here to stay and in the long run, will probably be more cherished than ever.

5. What are you working on now?

My seond, YA nove, "Scorpio's Child", will be published in fall of 2001 by Front Street/Cricket Books. I also work sporadically on my Garnette O'Brien short stories. The first three were published in Cicada, the Cricket Group's literary magazine for teens. I'm beginning to pull together my thoughts for my next novel. I know the name of the protagonist, her age, the novel's setting and the first line of the first chapter. After that, it's all discovery.

6. What does winning the PNBA award mean to you?

It means validation, surprise, honor, delight and enormous gratitude to the people who love and sell the books!

7. What are you reading now?

Le Carre's "The Constant Gardener", Jimmy Carter's "An Hour Before Daylight" and rereading anything written by Banana Yoshimoto, one of my all-time favorites.