Interview with Helga Stipa Madland, author of 'You're Not From Around Here, Are You? Remininiscences'
Helga Stipa Madland was born in Upper Silesia and emigrated to
the United States with her family
in 1954. She has three children and six grandchildren. She is Professor Emerita
at the University of Oklahoma and is the
author of academic and other books. Her husband, Richard Beck, teaches Ancient
Greek at OU in Norman, OK, where they live
with a dachshund and four cats.
Her latest book is the memoir, You’re
Not From Around Here, Are You?: Reminiscences.
For More Information
About the Book:
I
start with when I was born, then there was a World War, and then I went to
Norman.—Klodnitz, in Upper Silesia, now a part of Poland, was my birth
place; when everything collapsed in 1945 at the end of WWII, my family and I
became refugees. We trekked across Germany, to the west,
and eventually settled in a small village and then another one. Next was Canada, then the United States, Missouri; eventually we
settled in Idaho, where my
Father, who was a forester, found a job. I did not stop there! I was married
and continued my merry journey, California, back to three
different cities in Idaho, and later Seattle, where I earned
a PhD. My children were grown by then, I was alone and ready to find a
position. That’s when I ended up at the University of Oklahoma in 1981, and
have been here ever since.
For More Information
- You’re Not From Around Here, Are You? Reminiscences is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d
love to find out more about the process.
Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? Where did you come up with the idea to write
your book?
I have written two novels, a travelogue, and some
academic books, but never my memoirs, or reminiscences as I like to call them
because memoirs seems a bit pompous. The
young son of my first husband’s cousin’s daughter had his mother asked me in a
Facebook post when I would be writing my autobiography; apparently the twelve
year old is wild about history. Other family members mentioned it now and then,
and eventually I thought, why not? I
cannot say it has all been enjoyable, but it is now a fait accompli. You’re
Not From Around Here, Are You? Reminiscences exists
Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do
you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier
for other writers?
Considerably harder than writing academic books, or
a travelogue, or fiction! Fiction—the
German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called his autobiography Dichtung und Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth). Indeed, at times I wondered if I was
remembering certain incidents or creating them.
As a whole, though, I can say that what I described actually happened
and some of it was not very pleasant.
WWII, for example, and its aftermath experienced by a child of six! I am glad I have it out of my system, and my
husband, children, siblings, other relatives, and friends appear to be
pleased. My tip to others writing an
autobiography: Don’t be afraid to include things that could embarrass you, but
inject plenty of humor.
Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them
or did you self-publish?
Aventine Press is my publisher; this is the fourth
book I have published with them. They
make self-publishing reliable and affordable, but publish only in English. For the German translation of my first
published book, The Child Murderess,
An Adaptation of an Eighteenth-Century Play, I went to Create Space. A colleague at the University of Oklahoma, from which I
have retired, published his novel with Aventine and recommended
them. It was a good choice.
Q: Is there anything that surprised you about
getting your first book published?
I have written forever. It surprised me when my first academic book
and articles on eighteenth-century German literature were published, because no
one wanted my fiction. I have heard it
said that an academic knows who her audience is—small as it may be—but it is
more complicated when you write fiction.
When I discovered self-publishing after retirement, I was on my
way. The travelogue Dachshunds Can Fly has been my most successful book. Of course I faithfully upload everything to
Kindle and now also to Nook.
Q: What other books (if any) are you working on and
when will they be published?
Have started a second volume of Turtle Bay, a mystery (in which no one
gets murdered) set in Hawaii. The title
is The Kahamalas Take A Cruise; the
Kahamalas are James, a detective with the Honolulu Police Department, his
twelve year old twin daughters, Myra and Maya, Aunt
Beatrice, who is not really the family’s aunt, and Questor, the detective
dachshund. I better get going since I
turn seventy-six this month; who knows what could happen. But I hope to publish it in the summer of
2016.
Q: What’s your favorite place to hang out online?
That’s a tough one. Okay, I admit it, it is
Facebook. I don’t really have that many
friends who are active, but I follow at lot of entities, for example—okay, I am
going to check and list the first three that come up: The Mud Flats, a news site in Alaska, Andy Borowitz, and National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. I also have Facebook pages, a group
consisting of people with the last name Stipa, my maiden name, and a page
called Cats at our House. My husband Richard and I like cats—and
dogs. Also I have pages on three of my
books, the latest HelgaMadlandReminiscences.
I like to play with all of that and have to limit my time so I can
write—and entertain our dachshund, Maxwell.
Q: Finally, what message (if any) are you trying to
get across with your book?
Not so much a message as a collection of stories
and memories illustrating the experiences of a German child who was a refugee,
emigrated to the United States and late in life
became a Professor of German Literature.
Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?
Thank you for
reading this. I hope these won’t be my final words. Have a happy day!
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