{"id":1091,"date":"2018-12-31T15:36:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1091"},"modified":"2018-12-31T15:36:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:36:58","slug":"lone-star-listens-interviews-archive-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1091","title":{"rendered":"LONE STAR LISTENS interviews\u00a0\u00a0 >> archive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Author interviews by Kay Ellington<\/span><\/h1>\n

10.8.2017\u00a0 Ask Baba Yaga<\/span> author Taisia Kitaiskaia: \u201cEverything has to feel like a surprise\u201d<\/h1>\n

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Taisia Kitaiskaia of Austin scores two otherworldly debut titles this fall,<\/span> in time for Halloween. Drawing from the traditions of Russian folklore and feminist creativity, her works are bound to cast a spell over readers. After interviewing her via email this week, we predict you\u2019ll be entertained and enlightened, witch-ever you choose.<\/span><\/p>\n

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: <\/span>Taisia, you lived in Russia until you were five. What inspired your family to come to the U.S.?<\/span><\/p>\n

TAISIA KITAISKAIA: <\/span>My parents are scientists, and my dad wanted to get his Ph.D. here in America. We actually moved right before the Soviet Union crumbled.<\/p>\n

When your family moved to the U.S., where did you live and grow up, and how did your upbringing influence your writing?<\/p>\n

We moved around a lot to follow my father\u2019s academic posts, and I moved even more for my education. When we left Russia, we landed in southern California. It was November, and the bright colors of California were a shock after the muted winter in Siberia. I fell in love with it. The cheerful weather agreed with my personality and boosted my creativity, because I started drawing and writing a ton. I wrote and illustrated these little stapled \u201cbooks\u201d for my parents\u2019 friends when they came over. I was shy but wanted to connect, so I\u2019d work on a book while the guest had dinner or tea, sort of shove the finished book over to them at the end of visit, and run blushing up the stairs. Then we moved to Seattle, a climate hospitable to reading, so my reading habits blossomed there. By the time my family moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, I was already off at boarding school, studying creative writing at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan as a teen. That experience was absolutely incredible\u2014I got an invaluable head start on developing as a writer.\u00a0 >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Texas’s only statewide, weekly calendar of book events
<\/span>Bookish Texas<\/span> event highlights\u00a0 10.8.2017 <\/span>>><\/span><\/a><\/span> GO this week\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Michelle Newby, Contributing Editor<\/span><\/h1>\n

SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEK<\/span><\/p>\n