Spotlight on Kate DiCamillo

If anyone knows about underserved communities, it’s Kate DiCamillo. That’s why her publisher, Candlewick Press, has chosen to honor the award-winning author with its new “Light the Way” grant for libraries with exemplary outreach programs.

The choice really fits because your characters are often underdogs.

It is fabulous, because libraries meant so much to me personally; I always felt safe there. And, coming from a single-parent home, it was a place where I felt welcome. My first reaction was, “anything with libraries delights me.”

When I read the final copy, I thought, “Well, this is just the same story over and over again.” All my preoccupations are there on the page! It’s just wanting people to come in from the cold, into the warmth and light of community. I don’t know why I’m so preoccupied with it, but I am.