Susan Rowan MastersAuthor and Playwright
A little bit about me
In my novel Summer Song the main character, Etta May, was full of surprises right to the very end. I first imagined her as a plucky, energetic girl facing tremendous challenges. As I began to write I remembered a skirt I once had that attracted lint as if it were a magnet. I put the two thoughts together and that became the opening: "I've got this skirt. It's navy polyester and it sucks up all the lint and dust within a six-block radius. All I have to do is put it on and whoosh, I'm standing there in this dust rag. I'm like that skirt. I suck up every speck of disaster that's lying in wait."
If a character can surprise and delight me, chances are he/she will surprise and delight the reader as well.
Ever since first grade, when I first discovered books, I have had a passion for reading. A few of the most memorable books I read while growing up are Heidi, The Secret Garden and Alice in Wonderland. Patricia Maclachlan and Katherine Paterson are among the many fine writers for young readers I admire today.
When I am not writing I enjoy dancing, reading, walking, eating pj sandwiches, and visiting schools as an author-in-residence. Some things I don't like are eating anything with nuts in it, getting up at 6:00 a.m., and facing a blank page.
Bio
The author of four novels for young readers, Night Journey to Vicksburg, The Secret Life of Hubie Hartzel, Libby Bloom, and Summer Song. Libby Bloom was nominated for the Rhode Island Book Award and was chosen for inclusion on the Sequoyah Award Masterlist. She has published many short stories and articles in a variety of publications. The New York State Council on the Arts awarded her an individual artist grant to adapt her novel The Secret Life of Hubie Hartzel into a radio style play. For several years she led the Young Writers' Workshops through the Writers Center at Chautauqua Institution. The mother of two grown sons, Masters lives in a century-old Victorian house in Western New York State with her husband. She is available for school/library presentations and writing workshops.