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I think Tony Fucile, who did the illustrations [for Bink & Gollie], is an absolute genius. I've never met him.

Kate DiCamillo

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Kate DiCamillo
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: March 25
Novelist
Writer
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo
Genius
Gollie
Never
Bink
Think
Illustrations
Thinking
Tony
Illustration
Absolutes
Absolute
Mets

More quotes by Kate DiCamillo

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Alison [McGhee] and I have known each other since the summer of 2001. One evening we were sitting around talking about how we wished we had a good story to work on. Alison said: Why don't we work on a story together? I said: A story about what? And Alison said: A story about a short girl and a tall girl.
Kate DiCamillo
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When I was a kid I loved to read, but I didn't write and I didn't create imaginary worlds. So, if one student walks away thinking, She's obviously just an ordinary person, yet she gets to make her living doing what she wants to do. Maybe that applies to me, too, then I feel like my time has been well spent.
Kate DiCamillo
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Hands down, the biggest thrill is to get a letter from a kid saying, I loved your book. Will you write me another one?
Kate DiCamillo
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Despereaux marveled at his own bravery. He admired his own defiance. And then, reader, he fainted.
Kate DiCamillo
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I will be brave, thought Despereaux. I will try to be brave like a knight in shining armour. I will be brave for the Princess Pea.
Kate DiCamillo
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There is nothing worse than war in the summetime.
Kate DiCamillo
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I journal for about half an hour, and by the time that's done, the business day on the East Coast has begun. The phone starts to ring, and the rest of the day is spent dealing with the business of writing. My workday is done at about 3:00.
Kate DiCamillo
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The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time.
Kate DiCamillo
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I've never worked with a co-author before [Alison McGhee]. Writing for me is a pretty scary thing, so it was a huge comfort to have someone in the room working with me. It became less like work and more like play.
Kate DiCamillo
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Going out and not only meeting the kids, but meeting the teachers and the librarians and seeing the world, fills me up.
Kate DiCamillo
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The funny thing is, when I've gone through the relentless editing process, my editor and I are amazed the Mercy Watson books still make us laugh. The same jokes that made us laugh the first time around still make us laugh in the 16th rendition.
Kate DiCamillo
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In The Tale of Despereaux, there is a lot of darkness, a lot of despair. There's also a lot of light, redemption, hope. There's forgiveness, there's friendship, there's love. But the world in all of its potential craziness is also there.
Kate DiCamillo
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Her sister, Holly McGhee, is an agent, and she's my agent in New York. She's Alison's agent too. Even though Alison lives here in Minneapolis, I met Alison through Holly, when Holly came to Minneapolis to visit Alison.
Kate DiCamillo
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I think of Mercy Watson like a superball there's a bouncy kind of optimism to her stories. She allows me to play, and she makes me laugh. Hopefully readers feel the same way.
Kate DiCamillo
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We all live in fear of getting blocked no matter what kind of art we're trying to do. It happens all the time, but I prefer to think of it as a bad day.
Kate DiCamillo
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I write two pages - that's all I write. It takes me about an hour. I've learned that's all I'm capable of and to push myself beyond that is foolhardy. It's a very delicate thing, and I will not abuse it. So I write two pages, then I get up from the computer.
Kate DiCamillo
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When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see one another.
Kate DiCamillo
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... every time you look at the world and the people in it closely, lovingly, imaginatively, it changes you. The world, under the microscope of your attention, opens up like a beautiful, strange flower and gives itself back to you in ways you could never imagine.
Kate DiCamillo
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When it is my editor telling me how to rewrite a story, I listen and do what she asks because I have learned that I get a better book in the end. I can't say I'm happy when I read that editorial letter. It is always a little painful and scary. But I have learned that - bit by bit - I can make the changes and do the work.
Kate DiCamillo
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Each new friendship can make you a new person, because it opens up new doors inside of you.
Kate DiCamillo