[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 48 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  KATHERINE PATERSON, WINNER OF THE 1998 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON AWARD

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, my wife and I have lived our lives 
in Vermont. One of the great advantages of that is the wonderful 
Vermonters we have gotten to know over the years.
  One of our valued Vermonters is Katherine Paterson, who has just won 
the 1998 Hans Christian Anderson Award for her authorship of children's 
books.
  Mrs. Paterson has written 27 children's books, and she and her 
husband, the Reverend John Paterson, live on Cobble Hill in Barre Town, 
not far from our tree farm in Middlesex, Vermont.
  While I was home for Easter Break, I read a wonderful article about 
her in the Saturday, April 11th, Times Argus, and I ask that it be 
printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                 [From the Times Argus, Apr. 11, 1998]

 Barre Author Wins Writing Award--For Katherine Paterson ``The Closest 
                    I'll Ever Get To A Nobel Prize''

                          (By David W. Smith)

       Barre Town--Author Katherine Paterson has just won what may 
     be the most prestigious award in her field, the Hans 
     Christian Ansersen Award, but that doesn't make finding a 
     last-minute seat on a plane to New Delhi any easier.
       ``It's hard to get a ticket to India,'' she said with a 
     sigh, as yet another phone call interrupted her train of 
     thought.
       Paterson, the well-known Barre author of 27 children's 
     books, needs to find her way to the other side of the world 
     by April 20 to receive the award, bestowed every two years by 
     the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). An 
     international jury of children's literature specialists 
     selects a recipient who has created a body of work important 
     to the genre. Paterson's work has been translated into 22 
     languages.
       ``An award for a body of work is the best kind,'' said 
     Paterson. ``None of your children get neglected.''
       Sitting in the parlor of her house on Cobble Hill Road, 
     Paterson joked about the award and the prestige that 
     children's authors accept in lieu of money, but also 
     reflected with a sense of wonder on the amount of attention 
     she's received in her 34-year writing career.
       ``It's thrilling. I'm surprised at how thrilled I was,'' 
     she said. ``It's the closest I'll ever get to a Nobel 
     Prize.''
       Paterson's first attempt at serious writing was a book for 
     the Presbyterian Church explaining questions of religious 
     faith to children. ``Who Am I?'' was published in 1964, but 
     from there it would be a long seven years until another of 
     her works went to press.
       ``I feel I've paid my dues,'' she said.
       Working in a small corner room of her house with a single 
     skylight which she described as ``the room that has books all 
     over the floor,'' Paterson tries to rise each day and write 
     for a few hours before breakfast.
       ``(It's when) your critical mind is lazier than your 
     creative mind,'' she said. ``I'm glad I have a critical mind, 
     it just gets in the way when you're trying to get through the 
     first draft.'' Paterson writes for children of all ages, but 
     is best known by her novels for 10-14 year-olds, like 
     ``Lyddie,'' The Great Gilly Hopkins,'' ``Bridge to 
     Terabithia,'' and ``Jip, His Story.''
       ``I really am a writer for children and very happy to be a 
     writer for children,'' she said. ``They're your best 
     audience. They want your book to be the best book they ever 
     read.''
       The recipient of many awards, Paterson has also been 
     subject to critical scrutiny. Her books have been singled out 
     as containing everything from obscenity and profanity to 
     religious blasphemy and have even been banished from 
     libraries.
       Never one to shy away from difficult subject matter, 
     ``Lyddie,'' deals with the sexual harassment and exploitation 
     of mid-19th century factory girls, while ``Terabithia'' 
     focuses on a child's grief at the death of a special friend. 
     Paterson said that usually it is the adults, not the young 
     readers, who are upset by her work.
       ``(Adults) don't want to believe that children feel things 
     as deeply as they do,'' she said. ``They want them to stay 
     innocent.''
       Paterson said she felt her more controversial work was 
     often released at the same time as other children's books 
     which dealt with similar topics.
       ``We all breaths the same air,'' she said, ``and we all 
     sort of breathe in themes at the same time.''
       A play based on her novel, ``The Great Gilly Hopkins,'' 
     which was adapted by her son David, will be presented by the 
     Center Stage Theater Group on May 8 and 9 at the Barre Opera 
     House. The same play is being performed on Broadway.

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