add permit no. SUMMER 2014
HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES 300 Pulteney Street Geneva, New York 14456 This publication was printed using recycled paper which enables the environmental savings equivalent to the following: 300 trees preserved for the future 87,500 gallons of water saved 750 pounds of air pollution not emitted 37.5 cubic feet of landfill space saved 51,250 kwh of energy not consumed
Magazine printed on 100% post-consumer fiber paper.
Insert printed on 10% post-consumer fiber paper.
Sarah Ford ’14
is an award-winning Geneva-based author of more than 30 books for young readers including Wild Life and The Ghost of Cutler Creek. Her books have been nominated for an Edgar Allen Poe Award and listed as American Library Association Notable Children’s Books and Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, among numerous other honors.
Why do you write? Writing for children is the most rewarding thing I can imagine doing. Children’s minds and hearts are still open, which means I have an opportunity to write something that might truly touch them in a deep and lasting way. Personally, I feel my moral universe was formed by the books I read, more so than by any other influence – including parents, church or school.
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What was your favorite book as a child? Charlotte’s Web Do you ever get writer’s block? Yup. Typewriter, computer, dictate or longhand? Computer.
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When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? I was a late bloomer. I had many, many different jobs before I wrote my first book at age 36 and realized, “This is IT!” But none of those early experiences were wasted, and they all led me to where I am now.
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What is your work schedule like when you’re writing? I get up, go for a run with my dog, shower and “go to work.” Even though my office is at home, I have to think of it that way or nothing would get done.
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What was the last book you recommended? The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.
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If you could travel in time, where would you go first? I would go to 1956-58, to our tiny back yard on Cumberland Road in Abington, Pa., which seemed to my 5, 6 and 7 year old self to be vast and filled with worlds of adventure.
1. Why do you write? I write because I have stories in my head that I want to read. I very much believe in the idea of writing the story you want to read, so that’s exactly what I do. I’d like to think other people want to read them, too.
What is your favorite quote? From a seventh grade boy: “I know art when I see it, and this book just takes the cake. It takes the salad and the pie; heck, it takes the full eight courses!”
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What was your favorite book as a child? Charlotte’s Web
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Do you ever get writer’s block? Absolutely.
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Typewriter, computer, dictate or longhand? Longhand for short stories, computer for longer works.
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When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Up until I was seven or so, my parents made sure they read to me every night. One night they ran out of books so my dad told me to make up a story. Then, I read the first Harry Potter book and decided if I couldn’t have adventures like Harry did, I could at least write them.
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What is your work schedule like when you’re writing? I write really well when I first get up in the morning. I try to get up early, write for an hour or two and then go to classes or work.
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What was the last book you recommended? The Magicians by Lev Grossman.
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If you could travel in time, where would you go first? I’d really like to see a play at the Globe Theater, so Elizabethan England.
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What is your favorite quote? The dedication to IT by Stephen King is “children, fiction is the truth inside the lie and the truth is this: magic exists.” I’ve always loved that as the idea that books have magic inside them and that magic can be any truth you want it to be.
10. If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why? The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. Those books had a huge effect on a lot of people my age and that effect is still there.
10. If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why? Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. She only wrote one book, but it’s a doozy. You could learn everything you need to know to live a decent life by reading it, and be utterly gripped and enchanted while doing it.
11. Who was your childhood hero? When I was a kid I had an odd fascination with Elizabeth I of England. There are a lot of young adult books about her (I loved Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer) and I probably read most of them.
11. Who was your childhood hero? Mr. Hank Garback, captain of the fishing boat Tarpon II in Barnegat, N.J., who allowed my brothers and me to first-mate for him.
Summer 2014
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DeFelice ’73 and Ford ’14 pose in the Children’s Room of the Geneva Public Library, Geneva, N.Y.
PARALLELS PARALLELS
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is an aspiring young adult author. An English major, she is involved with the Little Theatre.
Geneva: Tracking The Renaissance
Cynthia DeFelice ’73
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The Pulteney Street Survey
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Geneva: Tracking The Renaissance
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