Let's welcome Tammi Truax today. Tammi why don't you begin by telling us a little about yourself?
I am teacher,
historian, writer, and graduate student.
What got you into writing?
I had / have
stories in me that needed to be told.
Tammi if you could travel anywhere in the world where would you
go and why?
Right now
Portugal tops my list, but my list is long. I love to travel.
I just had a niece come back from living in Portugal for about 18 months. She said it was beautiful. Currently, what are you working on?
The second
book in a two volume historical novel for adults.
How did you decide on what to title each book?
The title of
For to See the Elephant were spoken by President George Washington, important
both to the story and the time period / setting.
That's interesting. I love learning about history when I read. How do you promote your books? Any tips you can share?
I’m learning
as I go!
Is this a stand-alone novel or part of a series?
This is a
stand alone story.
Tammi, do you have people read your drafts before you publish?
How do you select beta readers?
Yes, I do. I
think it is very important. I don’t so much select them as seek them out.
I agree, I think it is a crucial tool for any writer to use. Who designed the artwork for your cover? Or did you
design it yourself?
Tom Holbrook,
publisher at Piscataqua Press designed it with my input.
What brought about the idea for your book?
That is a long
story in itself. Years ago a woman I was interviewing for my newspaper column
mentioned that long ago an elephant had
stopped at her family farm for a drink. I determined to some day get to the
bottom of that. Years later, after I’d done some research, I took it on as my
NaNoWriMo project.
It's always amazing to me how the simplest things can spark the idea for an entire novel.
SYNOPSIS:
In the
autumn of 1795 on board a ship from Massachusetts an enslaved boy named William
finds himself tasked with caring for the first elephant to be brought to
America. Upon arrival in the city of New York, he and the elephant are sold
together. They walk back and forth across the growing country for years so that
everyone may see the elephant. A second elephant and owner replace the first
and again William is with the elephant every hour of every day, until she too
dies. Now a grown man, William has a fleeting moment to decide if he will
remain a bondman, or walk off on his own.
Told in
verse, and incorporating songs, news clippings and diary entries from the period,
this novel is a stark, soulful, and surprising portrait of early America and
the origins of the American circus.
“Tammi Truax doesn’t flinch from the harsh realities
of a boy growing up in a time of slavery or in the lives of elephants forced to
live away from their kind on another continent.
But she also shows the beauty found by those who look close into the eye
of an elephant, the love an animal and caretaker forge, the occasional kindness
of strangers who can see beyond spectacle, and the brief freedom of leaving
dusty roads to frolic in ponds.”
Jeannine Atkins, author of Borrowed Names: Poems about
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, and Marie Curie and Their Daughters
and Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science
Thanks for Sharing with us. Happy Reading!!
Find out More about Tammi at the links below.
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