After I won the Newbery Medal for ‘From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,’ children all over the world let me know that they liked books that take them to unusual places where they meet unusual people. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
I was the first one in my family to go away to college. I came from a small town where there was no guidance in the high school at all. It was a mill town, and I never knew anyone who made their living from the arts. When you did go away to college, you went away to be something – an engineer, or a teacher, or a chemist. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
Growing up in a small town gives you two things: a sense of place and a feeling of self-consciousness – self-consciousness about one’s education and exposure, both of which tend to be limited. On the other hand, limited possibilities also mean creating your own options. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
I think most of us are outsiders. And I think that’s good because it makes you question things. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
When I was in college at Carnegie Mellon, I wanted to be a chemist. So I became one. I worked in a laboratory and went to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh. Then I taught science at a private girls’ school. I had three children and waited until all three were in school before I started writing. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
I think it’s important to experience kindness so that you can experience it more in the future. I believe that patterns of emotional behavior are set down before adolescence. And I think that if you have not observed kindness, you will not recognize it. You have to experience kindness in order to be kind. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
Characters are so important to a story that they actually decide where the story is going. When I write, I know my characters. I know how things are going to end, and I know some important incidents along the way. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
I was born in New York City. But my family moved when I was still an infant. Except for a year and half when we lived in Youngstown, Ohio, I grew up in small towns in Pennsylvania. I graduated from high school in Farrell, Pennsylvania. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
I get ideas for my books from people I know and what happens to them, from places I’ve been and what happens to me, and from things I read. E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
Readers let me know that they like books that have more to them than meets the eye. Had they not let me know that, I never would have written ‘The View From Saturday.’ E. L. Konigsburg Read Quote
