Geraldine Brooks

So many things to love about our community. Recently I was able to go to the nearby performance center to enjoy listening to a great author - and it was free!

Geraldine Brooks is the author of five novels, the Pulitzer Prize–winning March, Caleb’s Crossing, People of the Book, Year of Wonders, and The Secret Chord. I've read all but this last one. 

People of the Book is one of those books I read every few years. See my post about People of the Book here and Caleb's Crossing here.

Born and raised in Australia, Brooks came to Columbia University on a scholarship to the journalism master’s program. She mentioned to a fellow student that when she was younger she had a penpal from Menemsha on Martha’s Vineyard and that she’d always wanted to go there. The man mentioned he lived on Martha’s Vineyard and invited her to come with him that weekend and he’d take her to the town. She accepted. She went to Martha’s Vineyard and later married that man, Tony Horwitz.

She and her husband traveled the world for 12 years as foreign correspondents for the Wall Street Journal. Eventually they settled down on Martha’s Vineyard to raise their family. While living there, she became acquainted with the story of Caleb (Cheeshahteaumauck), a Wampanoag, who was the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, in 1665. 

What are the chances of a girl from Australia to get a pen pal from Martha’s Vineyard? Then to move to the States and have a classmate who lives on Martha’s Vineyard. Marry that man and live on Martha’s Vineyard where she learns about Caleb. She must have been destined to tell his story.

Some notes I made from her presentation in Kirkland - 

Talking about subjects for her books - find implausible truths. Write about "shards of history." She said she tries to hear "the unheard voices." 

Brooks said the key to art is to keep doing it. She doesn't believe in "writer's block." As a journalist she had to produce stories according to deadlines. There could be no writer's block. Brooks said writing is much like a description a friend gave of producing art - "Mess, mess, mess, art!" You have to get started and make the "messes" before you can have "art."

Geraldine Brooks' website
NPR interview with Brooks 
More about Cheeshahteaumauck here, here, and here  

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A totally unrelated tidbit discovered while finding links for this post - At one point one in four children was born on Martha's Vineyard! More here