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Jan Wahl
What is your connection to Ohio?
I was born in Columbus--my father was a med student at Ohio State; he'd been a high school chemistry teacher. I was raised in North-West Ohio, mostly Toledo. I returned here (from Mexico where I' lived for 18 years) when my mother got cancer; she passed away last month. [March 2002] so here I am back in Ohio again.
What inspired you to become an author or illustrator?
Originally I really wanted to write music and I took piano lessons for 11 years; music composition too; then when I went away to Cornell U., I had no piano and I moved to the typewriter. But already I loved to write; in the 4th grade I had a traveling puppet show and I "rewrote" Jack in the Beanstalk for instance, but soon realised it was more fun to make up new stories. Who inspired me? Well, my favorite writers are Willa Cather, Mark Twain, and probably Beatrix Potter. My favorite book? Wind in the Willows. Beautifully written and funny too.
What advice do you have for a young author or illustrator?
Keep writing! Like any craft or art, you have to keep practicing. It's hard work; and learn especially how to rewrite and make a thing better.
What do you like to do for fun?
Travel; watch old movies (I collect them); good conversations and friends; and I'm a collector of all kinds of stuff. I love to get packages!
Some of your most popular books are:
- The Field Mouse and the Dinosaur Named Sue (2000)
- I Met a Dinosaur (1997)
- Little Eight John (1992)
- My Cat Ginger (1992)
- Tailypo! (1991)
- The Toy Circus (1986)
- Humphrey's Bear (1987)
- Rabbits on Roller Skates! (1986)
- The Teeny, Tiny Witches (1979)
- The Woman ith the Eggs (1974)
