Janet Luongo
Author Interview - Janet Luongo
Author of Rebellion, 1967: A Memoir
When spunky Irish, seventeen-year-old Janet Duffy's dreams are dimmed by family neglect, she finds comfort in the Black community working for civil rights in NYC. She values her Jewish friends and relationships with Black folks she meets - a mural painter, an activist, a neurosurgeon, and marches with Martin Luther King to the United Nations for freedom and peace. After running away with a Black musician to become an artist, however, she experiences heartbreak, poverty, and danger - and has to summon the courage to escape.
Author Interview - Janet Luongo
Author I draw inspiration from: Mary Karr inspired me with her spirited trilogy of celebrated best-selling memoirs, The Liars' Club, Cherry and Lit. A reviewer, Lev Grossman of Time, wrote, "[Karr] seems to have been born with the inability to write a dishonest --or boring-- sentence. One critic mentioned she didn't know how to write a dull sentence - my view exactly! Her language is vivid and visual, her stories can be shocking, and her young protagonist (herself) prevails against daunting odds. I related to it because, as a teen, I also faced daunting obstacles, and Mary Karr gave me the courage to put down all the nerve-racking details of the light AND the dark sides of growing up. Karr, a professor of creative writing, also wrote a brilliant book, The Art of Memoir, that guided me in motivation: Burning memories demand "to be set down"; and revision - "If you can't rewrite, give it up."
Author Interview - Janet Luongo
Favorite place to read a book: I find a spot in my living room where I can put my feet up, sit under a reading lamp with a cup of Egyptian licorice tea on my side, and under my book, my luscious black cat curled up asleep on my lap.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: I would love to have a deep conversation with the character, Lila Ames , the protagonist in the book, Lila, by Marilynne Robinson. It is part of a fiction trilogy that Oprah Winfrey recently recommended, which includes Gilead, earning Robinson a National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Lila was rescued from an abusive home, wandered with a band of people trying to survive before she found some stability and became a mother. I related to her situation, her bravery and - always alert - her sharp perception of her surroundings. I would rather skip a meeting stuck in an elevator, because that would make me feel trapped. I'd prefer to converse with her in a field of wildflowers in the springtime.
Author Interview - Janet Luongo
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: In fourth grade my public school teacher in New York City noticed that when I finished my class assignments early, I worked on a "novel," based on my fascination with the curious and adventurous Nancy Drew. When the days in June, countdown to the summer, became too hot for school work, Miss Earl asked me to entertain the class by reading my story. They listened with interest, which thrilled me. It was then I decided I would one day be an author.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Paperback books often feel more pliable in my lap. I have dozens of bookshelves stuffed with books that are hardback and paperback - the trouble is, after forty years old, eye sight fades and the print often seems too small! So I often will read ebooks, where I can enlarge the text. I also find it easy to take notes in ebooks. Listening to audio books during long drives is a saving grace, and hearing an author read while following in an ebook (not while driving!) is a luxury. My book, Rebellion, 1967: A Memoir, is in paperback and ebook and will likely be done as an audio book as well. A previous book I wrote, 365 Daily Affirmations on Creativity, is in all three formats as well.
The last book I read: The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton's memoir. The Seeker and the Monk, written by a friend of mine, Sophfronia Scott, about her seeking conversation with the Trappist Monk, Merton, got me interested in him. He was a very deep man, who strove to rise up from a self-accused sinner to become a highly spiritual person. Honesty is a necessity in any memoir, and he amazed me with how candid he was about "mistakes" he made in youth. Who doesn't make mistakes in youth? I consider them less often as "mistakes," and more like lessons." I enjoy the self-reflection in memoirs, andlearning how others find their way, as I did, from confusion to self-knowledge. I also enjoy the coincidental similarities of geography - Merton wrote about places I also knew: Long Island suburbs, where I was raised; Columbia University campus, which I lived near as a student at City College of New York; and France, where he was born, and where I traveled when I lived in Europe and gave birth to my son.
Author Interview - Janet Luongo
Pen & paper or computer: My handwriting is terrible, so if I want to save and be able to read, I type it. I touch type and I'm fast. When I want to dream and explore and discover my thoughts, I free write with pen and paper.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Michele Obama's memoir, "Becoming." She is such a funny, self-aware, smart and spirited person, I think if we talked, we'd laugh a lot.
Author Interview - Janet Luongo
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: A painter or an environmentalist. Or a Unitarian minister! Because of all the volunteering I do for Unitarian Universalists - offering webinars, programs on Women, Spirit and Imagination, organizing activists for voting rights, sometimes preaching in the summer and planning worship services -- a friend recently asked if I'd ever considered being a UU minister. Yes, long ago I did, but I am happy at this stage to not be employed, and to be free to create.
Favorite decade in fashion history: The Sixties because I loved mini-skirts, tie dye and color. Also because my mother was in the fashion field in New York City when it was seen as the art and fashion capital of the world after Paris had that honor for a long time. As an art director, my mother, Fran Duffy Savin, drew elegant drawings that I still cherish. My mother was also a model, and she taught me and my two sisters how to wear make-up artfully so it brought out our best features. She also taught up tips of dressing that was less about the fashion fad of the moment, and more about finding a unique style that most flattered our figures. Later, after I learned about which colors work best for my skin tone, I developed a wardrobe of jewel tones, and most people associate me with bright colors.
Place I’d most like to travel: I'd like to see the Taj Mahal in India, a tribute by ruler to his wife. Then on to Bhutan, a Buddhist village, that I've heard from travelers there is absolutely enchanting. My husband and I have traveled extensively throughout Europe when we lived in Switzerland, teaching and following creative pursuits for eight years. We experienced Swiss chalets, the French Riviera and Paris, Florence, Italy, the British Isles, Germany, Spain, and as far away as Egypt and Israel. In the past decade we visited several glorious U.S. national parks. For now I look forward to exploring the stunning beauty of Colorado where my son and his family live.
My signature drink: Egyptian licorice herbal tea. Or Swiss processed decaf coffee (free of harmful chemicals). I rarely drink alcohol. Possibly because I've seen the destruction alcoholism caused in my family. A new observational study was published in the U.K. in May 2021 (medrxiv.org) that states there is "No safe level of alcohol consumption for brain health." Any type of alcohol consumed in even small amounts correlates with less grey matter in the brain. Grey matter is where information is processed, and decreasing it can harm memory. As a memoirist, memories are especially important to me. As I move forward in life, I want as much brain power as possible!
Favorite artist: Henri Matisse. He wrote "Look at life with the eyes of a child." His art reflects play, fresh vision, curiosity, experimentation. I love his color, design and freedom of application, like in "Dance," that I viewed so often at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Its simplicity makes us see it as something "a child could paint," aptly hiding its mastery. Matisse also said that he would like his art to be "a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." I appreciate this sentiment because he managed to express pure joy, which might appear superficial or sappy in another artist's work. I appreciate his desire to reach viewers and heal them from the stress of the industrialized cities. Living in New York under stressful conditions as a teen, gazing at his paintings did actually soothe me. When I worked as a painter abroad, exhibiting in Paris and Geneva, I studied his works. My paintings are not all sweetness and light, but some of my largest, brightest paintings are clearly influenced by Matisse. And I know, you, Ashley, are also an artist. It's wonderful to be able to express ourselves in more than one medium!
Number one on my bucket list: Now that my burning desire to publish my coming of age story is accomplished, high on my list is being a dynamite grandmother.
Anything else you'd like to add: I hope my book will allow people, especially young girls, who go through troubles to be confident they can work their way out and in the process discover things out about themselves and the world that they would not have otherwise learned. I hope my rounded portrayal of all characters (including me) as having many sides, and portraits of my Black friends, and stories of the 1960s freedom movements, all give my readers food for thought as we are, in our current period, working toward social justice in America.
Find more from the author:
Facebook: janet.luongo.
Instagram: @JanetLuongo.
Twitter: @JanetLuongo
Linkedin: Janet-Luongo
Author Bio: Janet Luongo writes stories, creates art, and gives speeches and workshops. Raised Unitarian Universalist in New York City, she holds an M.S.Ed from Queens College at CUNY and taught art from kindergarten to college. While teaching abroad for several years at the International School of Geneva, she exhibited paintings in Geneva and Paris. In Connecticut, she taught communication at Sacred Heart University. As an art education curator in Bridgeport museums, her innovative programs garnered grants, awards and media attention for connecting urban and suburban children and developing leadership in underserved teens. Her book, 365 Daily Affirmation for Creativity with a foreword by Jack Canfield, was published in five countries and led to speeches in the US and as far as Xian, China. To make diverse feminist artists visible in CT she founded a non-profit chapter of Women's Caucus For Art, which mounted forty exhibits. She co-produced the movie Women Make Art, which was screened at the UNIFEM film festival. Currently, photography is her art. She resides in Norwalk, CT with her cat and husband Jim and they enjoy hiking with their son and family in Colorado.
