Lois Lowry '56 Speaks with Packer Students
Newbery Medal-Winning Author Offers Advice to Young Writers
“Write
letters to your grandparents,” Lois Lowry responded, when asked by a
Packer 2nd grade students to offer advice to young writers. “Instead of
sitting down and telling yourself to write a novel, which can put a lot
of pressure on you,” she told the assembled group of Lower School
students, “pretend that you are writing a letter.”
On Thursday, April 7, Lois Hammersberg Lowry ’56
visited Packer to talk with students from the Lower, Middle and Upper
Schools. Ms. Lowry is the author of over 20 novels and was awarded the
prestigious Newbery Medal twice, for Number the Stars in 1990 and The Giver in 1994.
Not one to demur from controversial topics, her subject matter has
dealt with issues such as adoption, mental illness, cancer, the
Holocaust and futuristic societies. Whatever the theme, Ms. Lowry
portrays realistic life experiences to her audience. She injects her
characters and readers into many thought-provoking situations which
challenge young adult readers and compel them to confront society with
its many imperfections. Ms. Lowry has stated that she measures her
success as an author by her ability to “help adolescents answer their
own questions about life, identity and human relationships.”
Later
in the day of her Packer visit, while conducting a small group
discussion of Upper School students, Ms. Lowry described how
letter-writing had actually been the reason for her first publication,
an article in Redbook magazine. When a student asked how she
decided to focus her writing on the younger audience, Ms. Lowry told of
how that article had originally been a letter to friend about a
childhood moment. The friend was so moved by the descriptions, she
suggested removing the salutation and the closing, and submitting it
for publication.
During her lunchtime conversation with a large group of Middle
School students, Ms. Lowry was asked about the most noticeable change
in her writing over the years. “The technological advances in word
processing,” she said. “In the old days of the typewriter, revisions
took so much longer. Now I find that I revise everything many more
times, because I don’t have to re-type the entire book with each
revision.”
After
graduating from Packer, Ms. Lowry attended Brown University, but left
after her sophomore year to get married, then raised a family of four
children. Her family settled in Maine, where she returned to college
and received a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Southern
Maine. Ms. Lowry’s interest in writing began while she was at Packer.
Her story “On Being Thirteen” was included in the spring 1954 issue of
“PCI”. In the mid-1970s, she fulfilled a childhood dream when she began
writing short stories.
The Lois Lowry Papers-1977-1993 are housed in the Kerlan
Collection at the University of Minnesota. This collection comprises
2.5 linear feet and includes manuscripts of The Giver, Number the Stars, Rabble Starkey, and A Summer to Die, among others.
Additional information about Lois Lowry, as well as a complete listing of her works can be found at her website: http://www.loislowry.com/books.html
