Winsor Student Writers Interview Author Kwame Alexander at NaNoWriMo Kickoff Event
November 6, 2022—Lower School students, led by English Faculty Lisa Stringfellow (pictured right) represented Winsor at a virtual NaNoWriMo kickoff event with New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander and NaNoWriMo Executive Director Grant Faulkner (pictured left). Short for National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo is a non-for-profit organization that encourages writing through a 30-day November writing challenge where all participants finish the month with the beginning of a novel. Seven Winsor students, current and past participants in the challenge, joined others on the video call and had the opportunity to pose questions directly to Mr. Alexander about his writing process and inspiration.
Following an opening question from host Mr. Faulkner, Mr. Alexander thoughtfully spoke on his journey as an author and how he tries to be a “yes person,” remarking that while everyone will receive many “nos” throughout their lifetime, all it takes is one “yes.”
Starting off the student questions, Saron Tesfay ’30 asked Mr. Alexander what inspired him to become an author. Mr. Alexander reflected on how while he loves being a writer now and “grew up immersed in story,” he never had the intention of being a writer, instead wanting to be “a tennis star or a pediatrician.” He remarked, with his father a preacher and his mother a storyteller, “I was created to become a writer by my parents. I never really had a choice.” Jocelyn Ji ’30 followed by asking Mr. Alexander if he ever participated in NaNoWriMo in the past. After acting comically shocked, Mr. Alexander explained how he participated in NaNoWriMo 10 to 15 years ago but was “embarrassed to say [he] never completed a book. It’s tough work,” promising Jocelyn he would try again next year.
Following a question from Mischa Loeb ’30, Mr. Alexander spoke briefly on impactful teachers he has had in his life. He reminded the audience that people can be influential in both positive and negative ways. He recalls one experience where he received an F on an English paper because the teacher didn’t believe Mr. Alexander had the skill to have written such a high-quality paper himself. After his father spoke to the school, he got his grade changed; however, that experience stuck with him. He now reminds kids how much they are worth, and reminds teachers of the value and importance of their students, “you never know who is sitting in your classroom or what is going on in their lives.”
Mr. Alexander went on to answer questions from Jaya Goud ’27 and Zadie Schopf-Malone ’30 about his writing process, sharing that the process of writing can then take anywhere from six months to four years for him. Kaiya Goud ’30 asked if he ever felt discouraged in his work by the success of other writers. Mr. Alexander reflected on how at the beginning of his career he would write a book and would “want there to be a lot of buzz.” While he has watched his friends win awards, he never got discouraged because “I believed I was a good writer, and I didn’t write books to win awards.” In short, “I knew I was doing what I loved, and I knew that it was good.”
Rounding out the student questions, Lila Patel ’30 asked Mr. Alexander which of his books was his favorite and why. Mr. Alexander explained how he has recently spent a lot of time with his new book, The Door of No Return, but “I love all of my books.” He always feels a lot of excitement when he releases a new book, and he even gave Lila and the audience a sneak peek at the book he is releasing on January 4 called An American Story.
After explaining how one of the best parts of NaNoWriMo is the community, Ms. Stringfellow asked Mr. Alexander, “where do you find community as a writer?” Mr. Alexander explained how he has a lot of writer friends, whom he invites to stay at his house in Virginia and “spend all day writing, talking, and cooking.” He also loves going on writing retreats to places such as Tuscany and Brazil because he loves the writing community.
The webcast concluded with Ms. Stringfellow and the seven Winsor students imparting pieces of NaNoWriMo writing advice to the audience during this month’s challenge. Ms. Stringfellow encouraged the participants: “anything you do this month is a success—everything [you write] will be more words you have than you had at the beginning of the month” and encouraged writers to celebrate that milestone even if they didn’t hit their goals. Winsor students also offered their words of encouragement. Mischa Loeb ’30 remarked, “You don’t want to give up. You want to stay strong through the whole thing. If you feel like you don’t have any more ideas, take a break and come back.” Many students also echoed the advice to get words out on the page before going back to edit.
The Winsor delegation received many compliments and kudos praising Ms. Stringfellow and the eloquence of the Winsor students in the webcast chat. Winsor would like to thank Mr. Faulkner and the NaNoWriMo headquarters for the invitation to participate in this kick-off event. Good luck to all NaNoWriMo writers this month!
