Betsy, for a picture book, how much interviewing do you expect to do, compared to your longer biographies? And do you expect that the emotional core you settle on will determine which interviews you pursue, or do you expect that interviews will be necessary to help you identify that emotional core in the first place? Chris Barton Blogger at Bartography, and YA biographer of Pete's pal Alan Lomax

Good question, Chris. I was hoping to interview Pete Seeger. I sent him a letter asking if he'd meet with me, and he wrote back, saying he's really busy right now, could we do it in a year or two? You gotta love that kind of optimism in a man in his late eighties! But I do have a taped two hour interview I did with him when I was writing my book on Woody Guthrie. The tape is sitting on my desk, and I'm kind of saving it. I remember he spoke about himself as well, and I'm hoping there is something special in there I'll be able to use. I may also query Pete again -- it's been over a year since I asked (when I first discussed the idea with Jill) so perhaps he'll have time. I'll also have more specific questions. And I don't want to get anything wrong. Pete went over my Woody manuscript with a red pen, making changes, then finally wrote in the margin "Elizabeth, call me!" when he really disagreed with my portrayal of Lead Belly. I really, really appreciated it.

Chris, how did you decide about interviews for your book on alan Lomax?

Betsy and I were talking about the problem of context -- the same issue that Jim Giblin mentioned for the McCarthy book he is writing. I almost wish that, when a group of us writes about a similar period (I'm also working on McCarthy) we could somehow assign bits of the context to each book, so that, together, they tell the full story. That way we could each do a part close to our book well, rather than having to repeat a precis of the same general information in each book.

Betsy, I'm still deciding! Given the breadth and extensive documentation of Lomax's career, I'm still taking my first rough cut at the emotional core of my story, based primarily on letters, recordings, and other materials that I've had access to. Once I've got a pretty good idea of the shape of the story I think I'm telling (geez, am I qualifying this enough?), I'll have a much better sense of who I need to speak with in order to flesh out the details, fill in the gaps, and set me straight.

Marc and Betsy, the context of McCarthyism is something I've been very curious about with regard to the Pete Seeger picture book. In that limited space, how much context could be conveyed, and how much would have to be conveyed, in order to address the Peekskill riots in 1949 or Seeger's stand against the HUAC?