Kathleen Basi
Author Interview - Kathleen Basi
Author of A Song For The Road
SONG FOR THE ROAD is the story of a musician who, a year after losing her entire family, embarks on a cross-country pilgrimage to the place where they died, guided by a road trip app written by her daughter. It's a story of rebirth and renewal, of friendship and hope, and of learning what love really looks like. It is meaty but uplifting women’s/book club fiction structured around a road trip across America.
Author Interview - Kathleen Basi
Author I draw inspiration from: I am inspired by so many authors--Sonja Yoerg, Katherine Center, Sara Gruen, and dozens of others. But would it be completely ridiculous for a women's fiction author to include middle-grade and YA authors, too? :) I am in awe of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles (I remember writing, "Please God, make me like her!" after I read the first of her books), and the sheer complexity and plot layering of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is inspiring. And how could we ever fail to mention Jane Austen, for simply managing to be brilliant and published at a time when women weren't supposed to be either?
Author Interview - Kathleen Basi
Favorite place to read a book: Under a tree or on my Adirondack swing.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Referring back to my "authors I draw inspiration from," I would say Cinder from Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles--because she could fix the darned thing and get us out. I am a huge wimp about elevators. I thought I got stuck in one when I was in college (turned out it just never started moving, and it was so loud and slow I didn't notice), and I've avoided them as much as possible ever since!
Author Interview - Kathleen Basi
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: People ask this question a lot, but I can't imagine a time when I didn't know. I wanted to be an author before I knew I wanted to be author! I started writing stories in the second grade in the back of the school bus. I can tell you the moment I got serious, though. I was already an adult and working on my long stories, and I thought, "Huh, I wonder how long a novel is." I Googled it and realized what I'd been doing my whole life was, in fact, writing novels. That moment is crystal clear in my memory. I thought, "Well, if I'm already writing novels, then I'm going to be published!" (It only took another twenty years...)
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: It depends. I prefer to read print in good light, while eating good food! That's my ideal. But I read a lot on the e-reader these days, too; it's versatile and lets you take a whole library along. And if I have a lot of laundry to fold, or a long drive, audio is just the ticket!
The last book I read: A Bright Young Thing, by Brianne Moore--it's not releasing until mid-July but it was FABULOUS!
Author Interview - Kathleen Basi
Pen & paper or computer: Both! I prefer to type, because I move much faster and it's wwwwwaaaaaaayyyyyyy more legible (just ask my husband). But distraction is a real thing, and sometimes when I'm going out to brainstorm by the Missouri River after a long bike ride, I just bring paper and a pen.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: WOULD be? I already AM friends with lots of book characters! :) But you know, there are three young women in classic literature who stand out: Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet, from Pride & Prejudice, and both of L.M. Montgomery's iconic characters--Emily Starr from the Emily series and Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables series. I really hesitated to put Lizzie Bennet on the list, because I mean, everybody wants to be friends with Lizzie. But these three characters come to mind because regardless of whatever else they do, they have a love of solitary rambles in nature--the books are full of references to these girls/women communing with nature, and that really resonates. Nature is where I find myself again.
Author Interview - Kathleen Basi
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Chef. Seriously. Every job I ever had taught me valuable life skills; I wish I'd had a chance to work as a cook in a nice restaurant so I could figure out how to do things like make asparagus someone wants to eat!
Favorite decade in fashion history: The 20s-40s, I think. I mean, there's beauty (and not-beauty) in every era. More than an era, I particularly love traditional ethnic clothing--African, Japanese, Indian, etc.--they're all so beautiful!
Place I’d most like to travel: I have a dream of walking the Camino de Santiago.
My signature drink: Water. How boring is that? I drink from the hospital "measuring cup" they gave me when I was in the hospital with my kids!
Favorite artist: I love landscapes--the kind you could almost step into. I'm finding that photography is really my love these days. I don't know famous photographers, but two people I'm connected with whose photos I love are Deni Cary Phillips (https://www.denicaryphillipsphotographs.com/) and Jerrold Hagstrom (http://www.jerroldhagstromphotography.com/).
Number one on my bucket list: I want to live one year in Alaska so I can really make friends with the Northern Lights.
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/kathleenmbasi
https://www.instagram.com/kathleenbasi/
Author Bio: Author and liturgical composer Kathleen M. Basi is mother to three active boys (read that: always breaking something) and one chromosomally-gifted daughter. A proud native of flyover country and an honest-to-goodness farm girl (as in cattle, hogs, chickens, grain bins and a combine), she spent her childhood climbing trees, jumping off hay bales and chasing cattle back into their pasture when they broke through fences. (But she never once tipped a cow.)
Her nonfiction has appeared in magazines, Chicken Soup for the Soul and on NPR’s All Things Considered. Her fiction is represented by Sonali Chanchani and Claudia Cross, and her novel, A SONG FOR THE ROAD, is now available.
