Ann Dixon's published picture books for children include: Big-Enough Anna: The Little Sled Dog Who Braved the Arctic (Alaska Northwest Books, 2004); Winter Is (Alaska Northwest Books, 2002); Alone Across the Arctic : One Woman's Epic Journey by Dog Team (Alaska Northwest, 2001), written with Pam Flowers; Waiting for Noël : An Advent Story (Eerdmans, 2000); Blueberry Shoe (Alaska Northwest, 1999); Trick-or-Treat! (Scholastic/Cartwheel, 1998); The Sleeping Lady (Alaska Northwest, 1994); and How Raven Brought Light to People (McElderry, 1991). Her poetry for children appears in the anthology Once Upon Ice and Other Frozen Poems (Boyd's Mills, 1997), as well as Cricket and Ladybug magazines. Ms. Dixon was honored with an award for Contribution to Literacy In Alaska (CLIA) in 2000.

Before writing for children, Ms. Dixon wrote freelance magazine articles, most often about outdoor and environmental topics. For ten years she was the director of the Willow Public Library, where she continues to conduct preschool Story Hour. Many years ago she earned a B.A. in Swedish Language and Literature from the University of Washington, an experience which sparked a continuing interest in the poetry and folk tales of northern countries.

Ms. Dixon grew up in the Puget Sound area of Washington. Before coming to Alaska more than 20 years ago, she milked cows in Sweden, sheared sheep in Oregon, and planted trees all over the Pacific Northwest. She lives in Willow, Alaska with her husband, two daughters, and assorted pets. She enjoys reading, writing, swimming, skiing, biking, gardening and basketball.

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I was born in Richland, Washington on February 26, 1954 but spent most of my growing-up years in Port Orchard, Washington. There I put in lots of miles on my bicycle and lots of hours on the beaches of Puget Sound. When I wasn't biking, swimming or playing outdoors, I was reading. Early on I became hooked on the combination of fresh air and books. As soon as I was old enough to be allowed, I biked a mile or so to meet the bookmobile that served my rural community. Later, I biked several miles to the local one-room library.

My father, mother, and grandparents nurtured my love of reading. At our house reading was a routine part of life, like eating and sleeping. Stories, too, were important. I quickly learned that if I was very quiet when company came (usually relatives) the adults would forget my presence and all manner of surprising stories might be told.

As you may guess, reading and writing were my favorite subjects in school. I loved it when the teacher told us to put away our workbooks and take out a clean sheet of paper, the kind with blue lines for writing on the bottom half and empty space for pictures on top. That meant it was time to write a story. Often she gave us a topic, but I remember few rules. That was fine with me. The fewer rules, the better!

I liked to keep journals and write letters. As I grew older I began writing poetry, all of which I foolishly destroyed in an adolescent fit. (Don't do this! You will want to read them when you are older.) I also wrote for the high school newspaper.

In college I wrote papers, lots of papers, because I studied lots of literature. I didn't take any writing classes, however. My major was in Swedish Language and Literature, an impractical choice, perhaps, but one which I enjoyed immensely. (Part of my heritage is Swedish. I loved learning the language and found Swedish literature both beautiful and intriguing -- their children's literature most of all!) I was interested in children's books even in college. For one class I wrote a paper on "Sex Role Stereotypes in Caldecott Award Books." More than once, while shelving picture books at the campus library where I worked, I earned the evil eye from my supervisor. Once again, she’d caught me reading, rather than shelving, those books!

I didn't know yet that I wanted to be a writer, mostly because it didn't occur to me that I could be a writer. I had never met an author and assumed writing was something only very special people could do. I was pretty sure I wasn't that special. Besides, just how did a person go about becoming a writer?

As I tell aspiring authors now, you become a writer by reading and writing. Reading and writing. Reading and writing. I didn't realize it, but that's what I was doing.

Eventually, out of college, I took a class on freelance writing for publication. That got me started writing magazine articles, which I worked at for a number of years. This was around the same time I moved to Alaska, over 21 years ago. I gave up magazine writing after my second child was born. By then, I was working as a librarian and simply didn't have the time.

Still, I had the longing to write. Because I spent so much time in libraries and around children, reading stacks of picture books, my interest turned naturally back to children's books. And that's how my writing for children began.

Now I write full-time, or as close to full-time as I can achieve between parenting, managing a rural household, and my once-a-week Story Time at the Willow Library. I love writing and hope to always be able to continue it.

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How long have you been writing?

Since I was about five. I insisted on being able to write my name before I started kindergarten.

Okay, seriously: as long as I can remember. I wrote stories, diaries, letters, and poems as I was growing up. In high school I wrote for the school newspaper. In college I wrote reams of essays and term papers. After college I began writing magazine articles. Finally, when I was about 34, I started writing books for children. Sometimes I also write poems for both children and adults, and essays for adults.

How long have you been writing books?
My first book, How Raven Brought Light to People, was published in 1991. I worked on it for two or three years before that. So I've been publishing books for more than ten years. Where do you get your ideas for stories? All over. Sometimes they come from something that happens in my family; sometimes they start as a thought or phrase; sometimes they come from someone else. When I get an idea, even if it's just a little one, I try to pay attention to it. I write it down right away so I can come back to it later. I try to keep paper and pencil nearby all the time, just in case. For information on the ideas behind the stories for individual books, go to the "Story Behind the Story" link for that book.	Ann receives her first acceptance letter, 1990

How do you choose your illustrators?

I don't. I send my typewritten story to an editor. If the editor likes the story and wants to make a book out of it, she (they've all been women, so far) chooses the illustrator. Some of my editors let me help make the decision, which is wonderful. Ultimately, though, it's up to the editor.

Do you ever draw your own pictures?

Only to put on my refrigerator. There are many talented artists; I am not one of them. (I wish I were!) I work best with words, so that's what I do. I let the talented artists make the pictures so we can create the best books.

Which is your favorite book of the ones you've written?

I can't answer that question! It's like asking a mom which one of her kids she loves the most. She loves them all, even the ones that gave her the most trouble or didn’t turn out as expected.

I can’t give you favorites, but I can give you a few "mosts." The most difficult book to complete was Alone Across the Arctic. The most fun to write was Trick-or-Treat! Most surprising was The Sleeping Lady and the most personal was Waiting for Noël.

How long does it take you to write a book?

A picture book can take anywhere from six months to six years to write. I don’t work only on one book during that time, however. I usually work on one story for a while, then set it aside to work on a different story. At any time I have numerous stories in various stages of completion. I go back to my stories repeatedly to improve them. Sometimes it takes years for all the pieces to fall into place; things like just the right ending (Blueberry Shoe) or an idea about plot (Waiting for Noël) or characters (Trick-or-Treat!). That’s not counting the time it takes to find a publisher, or the year to two years it takes for the illustrator, editor, art director, printer and binder to do their work.

Do you like writing books?

Most of the time, yes. Sometimes it's hard and then I enjoy it less, but only because I'm having an attack of frustration or laziness. When the story is finished, and especially when the book is published, it's worth all the trouble. I love writing, it makes me happy. If I'm not able to write I become unhappy. It's just the way I am.

Why do you like writing books?

This is harder to answer, but here are some possibilities. Because I like to read. Because writing makes me feel good. Because it's something I can do well, at least some of the time. Because it's satisfying to watch nothing but words and ideas turn into something beautiful I can hold in my hand. Because it makes me happy to think about people enjoying my books and that I might be contributing something useful to the world after all.

Who is your favorite author?

I don't have one favorite; I enjoy the works of many authors. I like to read lots of different kinds of books, too.

Some of my favorite authors as a child were Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beverly Cleary, Astrid Lindgren, L.M. Montgomery, Robert McCloskey, Mary Norton, and L. Frank Baum. Of course, Harry Potter hadn't been invented yet!

Some of my favorite authors for adults are Doris Lessing, Barbara Kingsolver, and Willa Cather.

How long have you lived in Willow, Alaska?

Longer than I've lived anywhere else. I moved to Alaska in 1981, and to Willow in 1982, so you can figure it out. Over twenty years!

What is it like in Alaska?

Dark all the time and a bit damp in the summer when my igloo starts to thaw....just kidding! Alaska is a huge state, so it is different in the various regions. I live a bit inland in Southcentral Alaska. Our winters are long (four to six months, depending on how you define "winter") and can be very cold sometimes (-20° F to -30° F) but mostly temperatures range from -10° F to 20° F. Much of the winter is quite pleasant around Willow.

We usually get lots of snow so there's plenty of cross-country skiing, sledding, snowmachining, snowboarding and dog mushing. The days get short toward the end of November through mid-January, with only five to six hours of light. But when the sun shines, which it does often, it can be very bright, reflecting off the snow. A full moon can seem almost as bright as day.

But that's just the winter. Summer comes on fast and hard. The snow melts into mud, the mud dries up, and suddenly it's green everywhere. The geese and ducks return in big flocks. And the sun returns, staying up most of the night at midsummer. A fun thing to do is to go fishing all night long!

What else about Alaska? We have lots of wildlife. I see moose frequently and bears occasionally, both black and brown. (No polar bears here; you have to go farther north to the Arctic for that.) Sometimes foxes run across the road or through the yard. Not long ago I saw a lynx. Each summer our rivers fill with salmon and berries ripen in the mountains and lowland bogs. Often there are hoards of ruthless mosquitoes.

In Alaska, the forces of nature are active. We have earthquakes fairly frequently and volcanic eruptions occasionally, plus the usual winter storms, blizzards, and summer wildfires.

Just so you know, Alaskans hardly ever say "snowmobile." We say "snowmachine," as in "I went snowmachining last weekend." Also, when we say we went "outside," we might mean "out the door." But there's a good chance we mean "Outside," as in "outside of Alaska."

I live in a regular house made out of cement and wood, not an igloo. So do my neighbors, although some live in lovely log homes. My husband and I (mostly my husband) built our house ourselves.

Contact Ann by e-mail or snail mail with
questions about her books and public appearances.

Ann Dixon
P.O. Box 1009
Willow, Alaska 99688

Phone: (907) 495-6595
Fax: (907) 495-6599

E-mail:
ann@anndixon.com

If you have general questions about writing, please see the links page.
There are many informative sources about the craft and business of writing
on the Internet as well as at your public library. Another helpful resource is
the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (www.scbwi.org).

If a telephone call to Ann is necessary, please note
that Alaska time is four hours behind Eastern time.
Thank you!



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