>> Stephanie Merry: Hello.
Good afternoon.
I'm Stephanie Merry,
the Book World Editor
at the Washington Post.
Which is a charter sponsor of
the National Book Festival.
First, a word of thanks to the
Co-Chairman of the festival,
David Rubenstein and the
other generous sponsors,
who've made this event possible.
If you'd like to add
your financial support,
please note the information
in your program.
We'll have some time, after the
presentation, for questions.
And I've been asked to
remind you that if you come
to the microphone, you will
be included in the video tape
of this event, which may be
broadcast at a later date.
Our guest this afternoon
is Christopher Paul Curtis.
Whoa! [applause].
Yes, indeed.
Lots of fans.
A native of Flint, Michigan,
Christopher began his
writing career as a way
to pass the time, when he was
working on an assembly line
at a General Motors
Facility after high school.
He followed up his first
book, "The Watsons go
to Birmingham -1963",
with "Bud, Not Buddy,"
an instant classic [applause].
An instant classic about
a boy, also from Flint,
who hits the road in
search of his father.
It won the Newbery Medal and
the Coretta Scott King Award.
His most recent book is the
journey of little Charlie.
A moving novel about an
overgrown 12-year-old,
who finds himself in
a moral crossroads,
shortly after his
father's death.
It's my extreme pleasure
to welcome Christopher
Paul Curtis to the stage.
>> Christopher Paul Curtis:
Thank you, very much.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
Thank you, very much.
It's a great honor to be here
at the National Book Festival.
I was at the first one.
And now 18 years later,
it's great to be back.
Last night was a
wonderful evening.
I got to hear a hero
of mine speak,
Jaqueline Woodson [applause].
And Jackie has always
been very special to me.
And 2018 has been a
great year for Jackie.
She was named the Ambassador
for Children's Literature.
She also won the Astrid
Lindgren Memorial Award
for Lifetime Achievement.
Now, the Astrid Lindgren
Memorial part is cool,
but the award part
is unbelievable.
The amount of money that she won
with that was just mindboggling.
And nobody deserved it
more than Jacqueline.
I'm so proud to know her.
She wrote a blurb for "The
Watsons Go to Birmingham."
She was one of the
first people to read it.
And she was involved in one of
the first appearances I did.
I was going to -- soon
after "The Watsons Go
to Birmingham" was published,
the publishers called me
and said, "Would you
like to go to California
to speak in San Diego?"
And I said, "Of course."
So, I flew out to San Diego.
I didn't understand
how things worked.
I was broke.
I had like $40 and
I was going to be
in San Diego for four days.
So, I was trying to
figure out how I was going
to ration this to buy my meals.
We're driving in
from the airport.
And the cab driver
said this is the hotel.
It was on one side
of the expressway.
On the other side of the
expressway was a Denny's.
And this was back when
Denny's had the $1.99,
Are You Out of Your
Mind, promo going on.
And I thought, halleluiah,
Denny's.
So, I go in, in this
beautiful room.
I'm in there, but I'm hungry.
So, I decide to go to Denny's.
I walk out, there's
about a two-mile run
of expressway this way.
A two-mile run of
expressway that way.
So, I decide I'm going
to cross the expressway.
And if any of you have ever
seen the movie "Bowfinger,"
I'm pretty sure that
was based on me.
Where Eddie Murphy's trying
to run across the expressway.
So, anyway, I ran
across East bound.
I ran across West bound.
I got to Denny's.
I had my $1.99 meal.
I ran across West bound.
I ran across East
bound, came back.
And then I had the
chance to meet Jackie.
And we talked for a while.
And I said to her, "How do you
-- you travel a lot, don't you?"
And she told me she does.
And I said, "How do
you afford this?"
And she said, "What
do you mean?"
I said, "Doesn't it
get expensive eating
out all the time?"
And then she said, Jaqueline
Woodson has said two things
to me that are just
emblazoned in my mind
that I remember forever.
And she said, "No, no, no, the
publisher pays for everything."
And the words she says
that I remember forever,
"They don't even care if you eat
the peanuts out of the minibar."
So, I was very grateful
to Jackie.
I said, "You know what, Jackie,
is there anything I can
do for you, anything?"
And the second thing that
Jackie said to me was
and this is emblazoned
word for word too.
She said, "Look, why
don't we make a pact."
"Let's say that you win
some great award with a lot
of money attached to it or I
win some great award with a lot
of money attached to it."
"Let's agree to divide it
50/50 [brief laughter].
Jackie was notified
of the award in March.
By the time May came around,
I was wondering why I
wasn't getting any calls
or e-mails or anything.
So, if any of you know Jackie,
please let her know
that I'm waiting.
It's a real pleasure to
be here in many ways.
One of the reasons, I am the
father of a seven-year-old girl,
a six-year-old girl
and four-year-old boy.
And the noise they
make is unbelievable.
And it was nice to be in a room
last night and not to hear,
you know, wake up every second
with a child in your face.
My seven-year-old -- first,
are there any Somalis
in the audience?
Anybody speak Somali?
Great. My seven-year
old's name is Ayaan.
My six-year old's
name is Ebyaan.
My four-year old's
name is Libaan.
And in Somali tradition,
names are very important.
It's something that the
child's going to have
for the rest of their life.
So, it's got to be something
that's very important.
So, I did a lot of
research on the names.
And the name Ayaan, I discovered
means, and I get this confused,
daughter of the handsomest,
kindest, most intelligent,
most charming man in the clan.
Ebyaan means another daughter
of the handsomest, kindest.
And Libaan, who we call "our
little surprise," is a prayer.
And the prayer is, oh, God,
let this be the last child
of the handsomest, kindest,
most loving man in the clan.
Yeah, a lot of times I'm asked,
how did you become an author?
Well, that's one of those
questions that there are
so many variables that
come into it that it's hard
to pinpoint exactly what it was.
For 13 years after high school,
I worked in Fisher Body Plant
in Flint, Michigan,
putting doors on Buicks.
I hated this job.
And after 13 years, I
got the courage to quit.
It was a scary thing.
I was thrown into the
world of menial jobs.
I worked as a garbage man.
I worked as a maintenance
man in an apartment complex.
I hit bottom when I was actually
the coal campaign chairman
for United States
Senator for a year.
But I finally moved
to Windsor, Ontario.
And got a job just
outside of Detroit
at a check writing place.
And I was the lowest
paid person in the place.
I was making $7.00 an hour.
This was through man power.
And I found out they were
paying man power $17.00 an hour.
And I was getting $7.00 of it.
It doesn't make you want
to be a happy employee.
But I was happy to have the job.
And I was eventually
hired fulltime.
So, I got raise to
$7.50 [brief laughter].
An opening came up
in consumer --
customer service representative.
So, I applied for it.
And I knew the two women
who ran the customer
service representatives.
So, I figured this was kind
of pretty much a slam dunk.
I came to work that
day of the interview.
I had my work clothes on.
I did a half a day of work.
I put my suit on,
I brought a suit.
I walked in and as
soon as I walked
into the room, the
women laughed.
And I though, oh, this
is not a good reaction.
And they said, "Oh, you
didn't have to wear a suit."
And I thought, no, I'm
very serious about this.
I want this to happen.
And so, we talked for a while.
And about a week later, the
Human Resources woman called
and I went into her office.
And you could tell right away, I
mean, the air just wasn't right.
And so, she said, "You did a
great job at the interview."
There were two or
three things like that.
And then while I was
waiting for the but.
And then the but came.
And the but was,
she said, "Well,
we don't think you're ready
to speak to the public yet."
I was crushed.
I was absolutely crushed.
So, I started looking
for other places to work.
Something came up where I was
able to take a year off work.
And then I'd get my job back,
when I came back after a year.
So, I said to myself, I'm going
to take this year and I'm going
to take it very seriously.
And what I'm going
to do is I'm going
to go look for another job.
But the main thing I'm going
to do is I'm going to try
to follow a dream that I have.
I'm going to try
to write a book.
So, every day I'd get up
and when the library opened,
I would be right there.
I'd go in, I'd start writing.
I was my own boss.
I had to give myself the same
respect I gave my other bosses.
Every day I went and did it
and ended up with a manuscript
that was 250 pages long.
The next step was to
try to get it published.
I sent to Little Brown.
It was rejected.
I sent it to Random
House, Wendy Lamb Books.
It was rejected.
But then she called and said
that they wanted to
publish it anyway.
This was a cause for such
celebration in my house.
You know what we did?
No, we didn't party.
We went to Red Lobster
for dinner.
Because I knew once
you publish a book,
you're not a millionaire,
but you're filthy rich.
The book came out,
did very well.
Then -- what's -- the kind of
ironic thing is, when I was back
at work, I got a
call from a principal
of an elementary school
in Garden City, Michigan.
And he said, "We've heard that
you've written a book and we'd
like you to come and
speak to our school."
And I said, "Sure,
I'd be happy to."
And he said, "We don't have
much money to give you,
we can only give you $300."
I was making $280
a week for 40 hours
at the check writing place.
I said, "Well, okay, this one
time, I'll do it for $300."
So, I did it for $300.
The word got out.
I just, I love talking
to young people.
The word got out.
And after a while, I was
able to quit the job.
Not because of royalties
from the book,
but because I was getting enough
money from speaking engagements.
So, it's kind of
ironic that I was able
to finally leave the place where
they didn't think I could speak
to the public, by
speaking to the public.
[ Laughter and Applause ]
Thank you.
I felt the same way.
I applauded a long
time [brief laughter].
The book I'd like
to talk about now is
"The Journey of Little Charlie."
This, of course,
everybody knows is Michigan.
This is Michigan.
And I'm from a city
right here called Flint.
Right here is Detroit.
About 40 miles inside
of Canada, over here,
is a little settlement
called Buxton, Ontario.
And Buxton was started by
a Presbyterian minister.
I believe he was from Kentucky,
whose wife inherited slaves.
He felt it was immoral.
So, he allowed the slaves
to work on the farms
around there and
keep their wages.
He still thought
that was immoral.
So, he bought this
land in Canada.
It was three miles by six miles.
And he used it as a
settlement for people
who have escaped from slavery.
The cool thing was, this became
very well known throughout the
United States.
And this is where
a lot of the people
from the underground
railroad ended up.
I'd always wanted to write
a book about slavery.
But I write first person
and it's difficult for me --
I like to put myself into
the mind of the character
that I'm writing about.
And it's difficult for me
to imagine what it would
be like to be a slave.
I had -- I don't think any
of you could imagine it.
And I knew I couldn't imagine
what it would be like to have
to think of yourself
as an animal.
And the worse thing I
thought is, is that you'd have
to think of your children.
You'd have to teach your
children that they are animals,
if you wanted them to live.
If you wanted them to
survive as a slave.
So, I knew I couldn't
write a story from first --
first person story from
the viewpoint of somebody
who had even escaped slavery.
Because we understand so much
about post-traumatic stress.
There must have been
post traumatic,
severe post-traumatic stress.
So, I thought, okay, if
I write about Buxton,
I can write about the first
child who was born free there.
So, I wrote Elijah Buxton.
I'm asked a lot of
times by young people,
"What is your favorite book?"
And at author school, when
you go to author school,
they teach you a standard
answer to a lot of questions.
That's not real.
There's no such thing
as author school.
They teach you standard answers.
And the answer to that is you're
supposed to look very serious
and say -- when a child says,
"What is your favorite book?"
You're supposed to say, "Oh,
my books are like my children,
I don't have favorites."
I have favorite books and
I have favorite children
[brief laughter].
And since this is being recorded
and my children will see this,
Ayaan is my favorite
seven-year-old.
Ebyaan is my favorite
six-year-old.
Libaan is my favorite
four-year-old.
[ Applause ]
So, I wrote the story from
the point of view of Elijah.
And I was able to do a
lot of research on Buxton.
And there were just so
many beautiful stories
that came out of Buxton.
One of them was the
story of a girl
from New Orleans, a slave girl.
Who had been brought by
her enslaver's family
to Detroit as a servant.
She was toy really, for
the slave family's child.
Black children were done
-- used like this often.
They were to be a
companion and a toy.
So, she was a toy for this girl.
She went to -- she was
about ten years old.
She went to Detroit.
She came back home.
Her mother asked
her how things were?
What happened?
And she told her mother, "I
was in Detroit and did you know
that I looked right across a
river and on the other side
of the river was Canada."
And the -- this was in
the records in Buxton.
The mother slapped the girl.
And the girl grabbed her
face and said, "Why?"
"Why did you slap me?"
And the mother said,
"You saw Canada
and you didn't do anything that
you could to try to get to it."
And the little girl said, "But
mommy, I'd never see you again."
And she slapped her again.
And she said, "Do you know
what's waiting for you here?"
"Do you know I know what's
waiting for you here?"
"If that happens again,
you go do whatever you can
and you get across that river."
They took her again
and she escaped.
She was one of the people
who grew up in Buxton.
"The Journey of Little Charlie,"
which is the third of the books,
is the story of a boy named --
he was originally
called Chuckie Bobo.
But see that -- and
the name was changed.
And you -- writing to the
young people, my relationship
with my editors is a lot
like your relationship
with an English teacher.
They know things
that you don't know.
And if you're smart,
you listen to them.
I listen to what my
editors have to say.
And they didn't like
the name Chuckie Bobo.
Because they said when you
say Chuckie, everybody thinks
of the little murderous doll.
And so, I thought
about it and you know,
you write the whole story.
And I -- it was hard, but
I said, okay, I agree.
So, we called the
book "Little Charlie,
The Journey of Little Charlie."
And little Charlie is a six
foot four, 12-year-old boy,
who is shanghaied
into going North
from Possum Moan,
South Carolina.
He goes North to Detroit
to try to retrieve a family
that had run away years before.
They finally were found.
And the slave catcher took
Charlie with him to find them.
The story goes into Canada.
It touches on Buxton again.
And it's called -- one of the
part of the "Buxton Chronicles."
I -- it's funny, as an author,
the relationship you
have with a book.
Because I didn't particularly
think it was a strong book.
Even after we had worked
on it for a long time.
And but it's been the
best reviewed book
that I've done, that
I've written.
And I'm happy for that.
But I'm beginning to
wonder if I can judge --
if I'm a bad judge
of my own books.
My career, as a writer, has --
a lot of great things
have happened to me.
One of the coolest things is
several years ago I got a call
to come to New York City because
somebody wanted to make a movie
out of "The Watsons
go to Birmingham."
So, I go to New York City
and I met Whoopi Goldberg.
And she bought the
rights to make a movie.
And that wasn't the cool thing.
The cool thing was, Whoopi
brought a doll for my daughter.
And it's a Whoopi doll.
And I think Whoopi had some
bad ones she was trying
to get rid of.
Because mine looks like
its got a sore neck.
And its head is hanging
like this
and its dreads are
hanging down like that.
And it's holding
something called Hi-Chew.
And Hi-Chew was a
candy from Japan,
that the people weren't
eating right.
They were chewing it and
spitting it out like gum.
They wanted them to
chew it and swallow it.
So, their solution
was to make this doll.
So, I'm sitting at this
table and Whoopi --
there's Whoopi, there
her five assistants are.
One of them reaches in the bag,
puts the doll on the table.
And Whoopi claps her hands twice
and the doll starts to walk.
And it walks like
Frankenstein, with a sore neck.
But it also starts to talk and
it says over and over, "Chew,
chew, swallow, chew,
chew, swallow."
I brought the doll home.
The doll is still
under my bed in a bag.
No one will ever see that doll.
Anyway, we have time
for a few questions,
if anybody has any
questions they'd like to ask.
>> Hello.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: Hello.
>> In your book, "The
Watsons Go to Birmingham,"
what was your inspiration
for the pet hospital?
>> Christopher Paul Curtis: Ah.
The world-famous
Watson pet hospital.
As a writer -- are you a writer?
>> Yes.
>> Christopher Paul Curtis:
Okay, you're a writer.
As a writer, we have a real
advantage over the readers,
in that we can take
things that happen to us.
We can take things that
happen to other people.
We can take our own
imagination and use it
to make the story interesting
and to make the story work.
The pet hospital was
something that happened to me.
I noticed that -- this was back
in the days before
dogs had diseases.
I don't know, all of a sudden,
dogs now are getting every
disease you can think of.
Back then, you got hit by a
car, you know, and that was it.
And I noticed that if a dog
got sick or was hit by a car
or something, it always
would run behind the couch.
And you'd come back the next
day and the dog was either gone
or the dog was sitting back
there, you know, getting better.
And I, in my mind, I said well,
this must be like
a pet hospital.
So, that is something that
really happened to me.
I thought that the dogs
went behind the couch
and were either healed
or went to doggie heaven.
>> What's your favorite
part about writing books?
>> Christopher Paul Curtis:
What's my favorite part
about writing books?
I love just about everything
about writing books.
But the only thing I don't
like is getting my first
editorial letter from my editor.
Because I know how they do it.
The first three pages -- like
you get a 25-page letter.
And the first three pages are
how wonderful this book is.
And oh, it's a great book.
And the last 22 pages are,
change this, do this
differently.
We don't like this, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah.
So, when I get a letter like
that, I won't open the e-mail
for a week or so, before I
finally say, okay, let's do it.
That's my least favorite part.
My favorite part I think -- and
this has changed over the years,
is the fact that I'm
able to give something
to today's students
that I didn't have.
When I was younger, there
were no books for by
or about African American kids.
And I have teachers come up to
me all the time now and say,
you know, thank you
for writing the book.
And I think teachers are,
even though they're overpaid
and underworked [brief
laughter].
I think teachers are some of the
greatest people in our society.
And the fact that [applause],
the fact that I could
do anything
that can make a teacher's
job easier, I think is great.
>> Hello.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: Hello.
>> Oh. I just want to say
my group read the book "Bud,
not Buddy," and we
really liked it.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: Well, thank you.
>> And we were wondering if
you could make a second book?
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: About Bud?
>> Yeah [brief laughter].
>> Christopher Paul Curtis: You
know, when you finish a book,
one of the things that happens
is the characters are gone.
And it's almost like they die.
Because when I write the book,
I go every day, I talk to Bud,
I talk to his friends.
And Bud is gone.
There's a little bit about Bud,
and I don't know if you've read
"The Mighty Miss Malone?"
There's a little
bit of Bud in there.
But if I was to write a sequel
to Bud, I think I'd have
to be really desperate
to write a sequel.
So, if you see a sequel and if
you see "Bud, Not Buddy Two,"
you can say, I know that author,
he's desperate [brief laughter].
>> If you want to make a
second "Bud, Not Buddy,"
what would it be about?
[brief laughter].
>> Christopher Paul Curtis: If
I were to write a second "Bud,
Not Buddy," what
would it be about?
Ah, I don't know.
I think that Bud became
a great saxophone player,
that he found happiness in life.
Nah, that wouldn't be a
good book [brief laughter].
Yes?
>> Okay, so, my friends named
the whirlpool, the whirlpool.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: The Wool Pooh.
>> Yeah [brief laughter].
And how do you make
that character?
>> Christopher Paul Curtis: How?
>> How do you make
the whirlpool?
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: The whirlpool?
The question is about
the whirlpool.
That's the thing I get
most questions about.
How Grandma Sands,
warns the boys not to go
down to the water,
they'll get caught up --
she's got a southern accent.
You'll get caught
up in the Wool Pooh.
And Kenny didn't understand
what she said so he asked Byron,
the 13-year-old juvenile
delinquent.
And he said to Byron,
"What did she say?"
And he said, "You'll get
caught by the Wool Pooh.
And he said, "What's
the Wool Pooh?"
And Byron told him,
"The Wool Pooh,
is Winnie-the-Pooh's evil
twin brother [brief laughter],
that nobody writes about.
Because he sits in the water and
pulls kids down and drowns them.
So, that's where that came from.
Yes?
>> How did you come up with the
inspiration for Dolly Peaches
from "The Mighty Miss Malone?"
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: The inspiration for?
>> Dolly Peaches.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: Dolly Peaches?
>> Yes.
>> Christopher Paul Curtis:
Every authors nightmare
[brief laughter].
I -- refresh my memory.
I'm going to see if
you know about Dolly.
Tell me a little bit about
Dolly Peaches [brief laughter].
>> He bullies Jimmie.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: He bullies?
>> Jimmie.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: Oh, oh, oh.
It's just a bully.
And I can't remember, there was
some reason I chose that name.
I can't remember why, though.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You did a very good job.
I'm glad you were
paying attention.
[ Laughter and Applause ]
How many months does it
take to release a book?
>> Christopher Paul Curtis: Wow.
How old are you?
>> Seven.
>> Seven. I have
a seven-year-old,
she wouldn't have asked me that.
She would have asked
me something like,
what's your favorite
unicorns name?
But how many months does
it take to release a book?
That's a loaded question.
It can take years.
A minimum probably of two years,
from the time I finish it,
from the time I started,
to the time it comes out,
probably two to three years.
Because it goes through
the publishing process.
And that's very involved.
The publisher's names on there.
They don't want to
get embarrassed.
My names on there.
I don't want to get embarrassed.
So, everybody is very
careful what they write.
Very good question.
>> Do you have a question?
>> Is there any pattern to when,
in "Watsons go to Birmingham,"
when Byron is being like
a nice friend to Kenny
and when he's playing tricks
and getting in trouble?
Like, he seems like a bad guy
and then he's super nice
and solving problems.
>> Christopher Paul Curtis:
I know this question.
Is there any pattern to why
does Byron change so suddenly?
The book is narrated by Kenny.
We're getting Kenny's
point of view.
Do you have an older
brother or sister?
>> No.
>> Christopher Paul
Curtis: If you did,
you would think they were the
worst person in the world.
And that's what Kenny
thought about Bryon.
He thought he was the
worst person in the world.
But if you read between
the lines,
you can see Byron's not a bad
a person as Kenny thought.
And Kenny really started to
see what Byron was really like.
Byron was really kind of
a sensitive, nice guys,
underneath all the bravado.
Good question.
Yes?
>> Hi, I teach.
>> Christopher Paul Curtis: Hi.
What grade are you in?
[brief laughter].
>> Twelve point something
[brief laughter].
Twelve point something.
Anyway, I used to teach
and I taught sixth
grade for a long time.
So, I always -- I missed you
when you came the first
time, like 18 years ago.
But I wanted to basically tell
you that any chance I got,
I taught English, Language Arts
and sometimes I taught
Geography.
No matter which subject
I taught,
I always had them
read that book.
And I have my copy still
that's underlined quite,
you know, just all throughout.
But anyway, but basically, I
just wanted to let you know
that every time we got to
the whirlpool and we got
to the bombing, I cried.
>> Christopher Paul Curtis: Oh.
>> Every single time.
So, I just wanted
to let you know
that it always had
that effect on me.
I came across you as an
author just by accident.
But that is like one of my
absolute favorite books.
I was not somebody who grew
up reading books for children.
I started reading
them as an adult.
And so, I absolutely love them.
And I love everything
that you've written.
Thank you.
>> Christopher Paul Curtis:
Thank you, so much [applause].
Thank you.
I'm getting the wrap it up sign.
So, I'd like to say
thank you to all of you
for supporting me
through the years.
And keep reading and
support your teachers
and your librarians.
Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]