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Actor and author Barbara Dana’s eighth book “A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson” was released by HarperCollins earlier this summer and, written as a young adult title, is her second book on the great American poet. 

An award-winning author of titles as diverse as “ Wider Than the Sky: Essays and Meditations on the Healing Power of Emily Dickenson” – a non-fiction title for adult readers – and young adult and children’s titles such as “Young Joan,” “Zucchini Out West” and “Rutgers and the Water-Snouts,” Dana has also written a number of screenplays which have been used for movies, television and stage.  A resident of South Salem, New York, Dana continues to split her time as both actor and author.

Thank you Barbara for answering a few questions for us!  To start, please tell us about the latest project you've worked on.

My latest project is a novel for young adults (and up) based on the young life of Emily Dickinson. It's called "A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson" (HarperCollins, 2009).
 
What inspired you to write this book?

I have always been inspired by strong young girls, individuals who have a powerful inner voice that may differ from others around them. Emily was such a girl. Her courage to be herself, to express things the way she saw them in the face of many challenges inspired me.

I was also inspired by Julie Harris' portrayal of the poet in William Luce's play, THE BELLE OF AMHERST. Another strong young girl, Joan of Arc, was introduced to me by my acting idol, Julie Harris, who played Joan in the THE LARK. An earlier novel of mine, "Young Joan" (HarperCollins, 1991) was inspired by Julie's performance in that play.
 
Have you received any awards for your work?

My children's book "ZUCCHINI" received the Washington Irving Children's Book Choice Award, The Maude Hart Lovelace Award, and the Land of Enchantment Children's Book Choice Award. My screen adaptation of my young-adult novel "Necessary Parties" for PBS won the International Monitor Award.   
 
Do you also do speaking engagements, or seminars?

I do. I enjoy interacting with my readers. I love talking about writing with children. They are so, enthusiastic. Being and actor as well as a writer, I very much enjoy reading from my books, especially when I get to play Joan of Arc and Emily Dickinson! I have a workshop that I do  on portraying a well known person as a writer and/or actor. I have a lot of fun with that.    
 
How has your education, profession or background helped you in your writing career? Or conversely, how has you writing success helped you in your  profession?

I was helped in my writing, especially in historical fiction, by my training as an actor with Uta Hagen. She had an exercise called the Historical     
Exercise in which you pick a character from another time. I picked Nina in Chekov's, "THE SEAGULL".

You study the time period the character lived in, down to the smallest detail of everyday life. After that, you explore what would have been the same for the character as it is for you, living in the present. This part of the exercise makes the character so real, so accessible. My work in acting has helped in other ways. As in acting, in writing I try to imagine what life would have felt like for the person I'm portraying. I draw on my own experiences.
 
Can you give an example of this?

When writing about Emily's experience growing from a spunky young girl to a serious writer, at first I was hesitant to draw on my own experience. How could I presume to liken my experience of being a young girl coming into the knowledge that I was a writer to that of the famous poet. But my editor, Anne Hoppe, suggested that was the only way to make Emily's journey fully alive. I was telling the story after all. As Emily would say, one's self is all one has.
   
What kind of other works (books, scripts, poems etc.) have you had published?

My first play, "WAR IN PARAMUS", was done in workshop at HB Playwrights and subsequently produced in New York at the Abingdon Theatre Company, directed by Austin Pendleton. It is published in the anthology, "NEW PLAYWRIGHTS: The Best Plays of 2006." I have had two screenplays produced, "CHU CHU AND THE PHILLY FLASH" and "NECESSARY PARTIES", the adaptation of my novel for PBS. I recently
co-edited my first non-fiction book, "WIDER THAN THE SKY: Essays and Meditations on the Healing Power of Emily Dickinson" (Kent State University Press), with Dickinson scholar, Cindy MacKenzie. 
 
Is there any aspect to your profession that gets you in touch with your readers directly?

Doing readings, book signings, school talks and workshops.

What will your next project be?

I have a few. I am currently writing an article for the Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin on the experience of playing Emily Dickinson in "The Belle of Amherst" in Canada this summer. And I am doing an adaptation of  "A VOICE OF HER OWN" for a concert version which will juxtapose text from the book with musical settings of the poems. I am working with mezzo-soprano, Kathleen Shimeta on this. I am also working on a new play.
 
Who inspires you on a personal or business level?

My sons, my friends, my yellow lab, Riley.
 
What type of work is the most rewarding or satisfying for you?

I love writing novels, children's books, plays, screenplays and acting on stage. I really can't choose one.
 
What can you recommend for writers who are just getting started and are trying to make a name for themselves?

Write. I remember a thought I had one day while I was working on "YOUNG JOAN", which took ten years (as did A "VOICE OF HER OWN"). A question came into my mind. Why do I have books published and most people don't? Am I that much better than other people? No. I write. I actually sit here day after day and do it. That's the main thing. i also suggest reading good writers.  
 
How did you get started as a writer?

I started in the 3rd grade when I wrote a series of short stories for the school newspaper. I first got published professionally when I was 25. Since 3rd grade I had continued writing, but "on the side" as I called it. I was mainly acting. I was doing a play on the road for many long months and wrote several chapters of a children's book during the long days in when I wasn't working. Through a friend I got these to an agent who liked the chapters and began sending them out as a proposal for the book. I was fortunate to get an advance from Atheneum to finish the book and it was published.  
 
Which is your favorite book/work published? Is there a favorite?

I don't have a favorite. The first that come to mind are "A VOICE OF HER OWN", "YOUNG JOAN" and my play, "WAR IN PARAMUS".
 
What does a typical work day look like for you?

There isn't one. I try to work for at least two hours a day and hope that I can work longer, which I often do. I like to work in the morning before I do a lot of other things because that way I don't have to worry that something will come up and keep me from writing at all that day, which of course sometimes happens.
 
Have you ever had a mentor, or someone who sparked your passion for writing?

My father. He earned is living as a radio writer. He also wrote novels and plays.
 
Who is your favorite writer/author?

I don't have a favorite. My first thoughts are Tolstoy, A.A. Milne, E.B. White, J,D, Salinger, Chekov.
 
Finally, a most important question: what was the last song you sang out loud when you were by yourself?  :)

A song I made up on the spot this morning about my dog's favorite toy, a red rubber "Kong", that you can put peanut butter in.

Thank you Barbara! We wish you ongoing success with your novels, children's books and screenplays!