Q&A with 2012 Featured Author K. Michael Crawford
K. Michael Crawford has been creating magical art and whimsical writing for children’s books since 1991. Michael’s latest drawing books, “The Mystery of Journeys Crowne,” “The Island of Zadu,” “Batty Malgoony’s Mystic Carnivale” and “Professor Horton Hogwash’s Museum of Ridiculous” are part of a drawing series that get children to use their imagination, to teach them how to figure things out and lets them make choices.
Where do you find inspiration?
I get it from everywhere so that makes it so important to me to go out and visit museums, art galleries, lectures, and any place that gives knowledge and let’s me see things in a different way. Once a famous artist told me that if you have a 3-D life (meaning go out and have adventures and discover new things) then you can put all that information in your work.
What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Just write as much as you can. Or if you choose to be an artist, draw as much as you can. I carry a sketch book with me wherever I go, so I can write down any ideas I get along the way. Find a niche that needs filling and write stories about that niche. Most important, write from heart and tell a story only you can tell.
What are you reading right now?
I read a lot of middle grade and YA novels to keep my imagination strong for my work. I just got done reading “Savvy” and now I am reading “Story Beginnings.” I like to read magical books like “A Wrinkle in Time” and “Wizard of Oz.” I read about five to ten books a week.
What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
Oh, I don’t know if I have one. I have favorite lines from inside books. I guess if I had to pick it would come from “Treasure Island” or “The Once and Future King.” But “Alice in Wonderland” has a pretty good opening line. So there are too many to choose from.
What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
Ray Bradbury’s books taught me to see visually. I could see all the stories play out in my head from the “Illustrated Man,” which I even saw the tattoos change on the man. I actually got the chance to meet and thank Mr. Bradbury in person for writing such wonderful books. I have to give credit to the one writer who taught me to read and that is Dr. Seuss.
If you could sit down at dinner with three other authors, living or dead, which three authors would you choose, and why?
The three authors I would like to have dinner with are Lewis Carroll for his imagination , Frank L. Baum for his ability to tell good stories and Madeleine L’Engle for her love to the written word and the magic way she uses the words. But I would also have to throw one more interesting person into the mix to give new perspectives and that person would be Leonardo de Vinci. Just add in Cheesecake for dessert and that would be a wonderful dinner.
