Photo Content from Kate A Boorman
Kate A Boorman is an award-winning author from the Canadian prairies. She was born in Nepal and grew up in the small town of Rimbey. She writes speculative fiction and has a mild obsession with abandoned places, memory, and the darkest parts of the forest.Kate holds a MA in Dramatic Critical theory and a resume full of a bizarre assortment of jobs, from florist to accordion accompanist to “person-who-held-the-drywall-sheet-in-place”. She has participated as a guest and presenter at a variety of Festivals and Conferences in Western Canada.
Kate usually lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with her family. Right now she’s living in a faraway land, where there are many baguettes.
Where were you born and where do you call home?
I was born in Kathmandu, Nepal but I call Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, home.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing?
Beware of advice! J That said, I think delving into the things that grab your interest—no matter how strange or “small”—helps you write from a place of truth.
What was your unforgettable moment while writing WHAT WE BURIED?
Here is where I tell you that I have a hard time remembering the process of writing my books! I think when it clicks is always a really special moment—when you know you have the heart of the book and everything is going to be okay. I will say that putting Liv and Jory in the car and knowing I had the freedom to just let whatever happen was pretty great.
Are there authors that you’re excited to engage/work with?
The list of authors I would geek out around is long. I met Laini Taylor, of whom I am a big fan, when I was at ALA promoting my first book and she asked about it and when I told her the title (Winterkill) she was like “I’ll remember that! It’s the name of a character in my first series!”. I hadn’t remembered that but then I walked away and was like “Dang! I wonder if THAT’S why I called it that?”
What part of Liv and Jory did you enjoy writing the most?
They are in the desert for much of the book, and my love of desolate, wide open spaces (that feel a little haunted) made that part pretty exciting for me.
What book would you recommend for others to read?
Tough question since there is no one-fits-all book! Can I recommend the last great one I read? We Are Okay by Nina LaCour.
What are some of your current and future projects that you can share with us?
I am currently working on another YA thriller for my publisher (Henry Holt), and, on the side, a middle-grade historical set in the time of the Albigensian Crusade.
TEN QUOTES FROM WHAT WE BURIED
- “Do you ever just want to be believed?”
- “Justice was slippery and conditional… it only existed for certain people in certain circumstances.”
- “You can take the girl out of the pageant—hey, you can convince her those pageants caused her “irreparable and lasting harm” worthy of a million-dollar lawsuit—but you’ll never fully take the pageant out of the girl.
- “It gets old. Saying something over and over and never being heard.”
- “It takes a special kind of righteousness to believe the trauma of being told you’re beautiful since age four deserves national attention.”
- “And there it was—an uncanny sense of temporality. Like my reaction to what was happening—the focus of my attention—was a better measure of time than the minutes clicking over on the digital clock.”
- “Was I intent on finding my parents because I wanted the other survivors to think I was the best of them?”
- “Maybe I’d lost moments in time, and it had only seemed like my parents had vanished. And maybe I’d lost that time because I’d wanted to.”
- “Time was blurring; it was folding and looping back on itself.”
- “You created your reality. Now live with it.”
I attended a camp where we all ate in a big hall, and anyone caught with their elbows on the table would have to leave the table and run around the periphery of the building while all of the others chanted a song. If they weren’t back at their spot before the song was done, they might be sent back around the other way to the tune of a second verse.
What's the worst summer job you've ever had?
Working at a busy sit-down restaurant where nothing on the menu was over $5.
If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be?
When WHOEVER it was told me they could show me the man in the moon, I wish I’d refused. I don’t like seeing a face in the moon! I just want to see the moon, but now that’s ALL I see. And it’s all I’ll ever see. This upsets me, for some reason.
Where did you go on your first airplane ride?
Greece! I was 16.
What according to you is your most treasured possession?
The truth is that I don’t have too many actual possessions that I feel strongly about. I think I would save photo albums, in the event of a fire.
What do you usually think about right before falling asleep?
Travelling to far off lands, usually. Right now I puzzle out the book I’m working on.
Now Liv is suing her mom and dad for emancipation, and Jory views the whole thing as yet another attention-getting spectacle. But on the day of the hearing, their parents mysteriously vanish, and the siblings are forced to work together. Liv feels certain she knows where they are and suspects that Jory knows more than he’s telling . . . which is true.
What starts as a simple overnight road trip soon takes a turn for the dangerous and surreal. And as the duo speeds through the deserts of Nevada, brother and sister will unearth deep family secrets that force them to relive their pasts as they try to retain a grip on the present.
Praise for WHAT WE BURIED
Seventeen's 10 Best YA Books of 2019 (So Far)
"Vexing, poignant, and thought-provoking." ―Kirkus
"Perceptive." ―Publishers Weekly
"A disintegrating distinction between life and death is a known marker of mental meltdown, but also of spirits haunting the scene of a crime. What We Buried skillfully alternates the two sides every story has, unafraid of clarity with one foot in bafflement." ―The Center for Fiction
"Keep[s] readers on their toes all the way up to the intense ending, but the emotional reconciliation, which is clearly what’s been at stake here all along, enables a sense of just deserts for all involved." ―The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"The key to a truly successful mystery/detective story is the author’s clever use of misdirection, and in What We Buried, Boorman succeeds masterfully...[A] great read, one that will definitely play with readers’ minds." ―CM Magazine
You can purchase What We Buried at the following Retailers:
And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you KATE A. BOORMAN for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of What We Buried by Kate A. Boorman.
I look away at the scary parts, like the bees swarming and attacking in the Hunger Games. Growing up, The Man in the Moon, was scary for me.
ReplyDeleteNightmare on Elm Street
ReplyDeleteI don't watch horror movies.
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