“I never know how to give advice to
a writer because there's so much you could say, and it's hard to translate your
own experience. But of course, I always try. The main thing that I usually end
up saying is to read a lot. To read a great deal and to learn from that.” –
Sue Monk Kidd
Monk Kidd is perhaps best known for her novel The Secret Life of Bees,
the story of a white girl who runs away from home to live with her deceased
mother's former black nanny, who now works as an independent beekeeper and
honey maker. A wonderful study of relationships and understanding,
the book also has been made into a long-running Broadway play and award-winning
movie.
Born in Sylvester, GA on Aug. 12, 1948
Monk Kidd’s first published work was a personal essay written for a class,
published in Guideposts and then reprinted in Readers’
Digest. She went on to become a Contributing Editor at Guideposts and
a regular writer for numerous magazines and journals.
A strong advocate for keeping daily
journals, she keeps notes about her life and her writing process, “particularly
when I get the ideas, and I am trying to brood over the chaos phase. In writing a novel, you really have to brood
over a lot of chaos of ideas and possibilities.”
Monk Kidd said she is always glad to
hear that readers feel immersed in her stories. “I want my words to open
a portal through which the reader may leave the self, migrate to some other
human sky and return 'disposed' to otherness,” she said.
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