Catherynne Valente was born in Seattle and spent time up and down the West Coast of the U.S. while growing up, and then struck out for Japan where she spent a great deal of time before coming to reside in Ohio. Catherynne's story is not dissimilar from my own, living abroad before moving to Ohio, so I was intrigued not too long ago to have gotten to read the first book in her Orphan's Tales fantasy series.
It turns out Catherynne has a reputation for sensuous, rich sentences, and even richer structure in her writing. Not surprisingly, Catherynne was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for her work, and ended up winning the Tiptree. I've had my own suspicions about the impact and inspiration for her amazing work, so it was a treat to get a chance to interview her.
I have to say your book The Orphan's Tales: In The Night Garden is an amazing work. I never thought I'd be handing a book to friends that I would describe as a 'mix between 101 Arabian Nights and a Russian nesting doll.' How challenging was this complex structure to write and what inspired you to use it?
Well, you nailed the inspiration right there: about five years ago I read a new translation of Arabian Nights and was struck by the structure, how interesting and unique it was, and it seemed so natural to take it to the next level, to close the frame and link all the tales within it together. I wanted to create one gigantic folkloric system, and at the same time to touch the core of so many fairy tales: a simple story about a lost little girl.
It is and extraordinarily difficult structure to work with. It requires a great deal of fact-checking
As an Ohio native who lives downstate (Columbus), I appreciate the kind words about the state. Sometimes I feel like I am living on the frontier, but this article reminds me that _everywhere_ is the frontier. - which is kinda cool.