Meet Our Mentors: Gary D. Schmidt

Hey, Gary!

Author of more than a dozen books for children and young adults, Gary Schmidt is a two-time Newbery Honor and Children’s Choice award winner, and a National Book Award finalist.

Your favorite book of all time?

I go back and forth between Bleak House, which is brilliantly structured, and The Little World of Don Camillo, which has the most fascinating mix of tones and moods I've ever read. It also has the world's only perfect ending other than Gatsby.

Your favorite children's book?  

The Big Jump by Benjamin Elkin, which is actually a grouping of three stories. I loved this book as a kid and was amazingly happy to find it again as an adult and to not be disappointed upon rereading.

The book by your bed right now? 

By my bed right now are these books, starting at the top and moving down: Daniel Nayeri's The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams; Edward L. Greenstein's Job: A New Translation; Jon Klassen's The Skull; Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See; Billy Collins' The Trouble with Poetry; and M. T. Anderson's Elf Dog and Owl Head.

What is your go-to writing/editing snack?

Since graduate school, my go-to editing snack has been pretzels. Nothing fancy here - just dry-as-dust, salt-excessive pretzels.

You're the go-to mentor for?

I'm most in tune with dealing with character growth and development. I enjoy, more than I can say, taking a character and suggesting ways that they might become more fully rounded and psychologically interesting and authentic. I think I'm also good at sentence-level revision — though I will drive you nuts with suggestions on this. 

Coffee or tea?

Always tea. Hot or cold, it doesn't matter.

Secret talent?

I know way too much about collecting first editions of nineteenth-century New England writers. And yes, I do have a first of The Scarlet Letter. But no, not a Walden.

What would you say to a writer considering our mentorship program?

The entire faculty takes this mentorship very, very seriously; this is, after all, writing for young readers — our most important and precious asset in the chaotic country in which we live. We want to do our best art for children. That means that the faculty here will encourage you — and push you. We'll cheer you on — and hold your toes to the fire. We'll ask for hard work and ignore any whining. And believe me, we want you to succeed and write the work you have dreamed of writing, even beyond what you yourself might wish or conceive.