Featured Interview With Katlynn Brooke
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Zimbabwe, a small land-locked country above South Africa. Due to my father’s job, building bridges in out of the way places where few to no roads or towns existed, I developed a familiarity with the bushveld and living off the grid, as sparse as the grid may have been in the late ‘50’s in Africa.
I was home-schooled for the first few years of my schooling, then sent to a boarding school far away from my home. I hated school and yearned to return to the freedom of the bush. Eventually, freed from this captivity my parents returned to a life in a town where I attended a real school.
Alas, I fared no better. The teachers did not approve of my chronic day-dreaming, and I encountered much hostility in my academic failures in math and science from my teachers. My mother, both a writer and artist, understood my predicament. Since I loved reading and writing, along with art, She encouraged me to be creative instead.
I somehow managed to complete enough schooling to get by and later in life left Africa to explore more worlds, living for several years in India and Indonesia, and traveling at every opportunity. I settled in the US and now reside in Virginia with my husband and a cat.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I began to read as soon as I could string words together, perhaps around age six. I devoured books, and I was never happier when I had my nose in a book, a pen, or a paintbrush, in my hand.
At age 13, I was forced into boarding school again when my parents returned to the bush life, but this time it was not as traumatic. Coming home for the school holidays we had to create our entertainment. We had no electricity, running water, or television. We lived in small encampments as my father moved from location to location in the middle of the bushveld.
I penned plays, with my mother’s help, and as a family unit, we produced them—complete with sound effects—on an 8-track battery operated recorder.
My perceived failures at conventional schooling only made sense much later in life. I was not meant to excel at certain subjects; I was meant to write, and my day-dreams have now become my reality and are the material upon which I base my stories. My mother would be proud of my accomplishments if she knew, but she passed many years ago. I still think of those plays we produced, and the books we read and know that this was my real schooling.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite author has always been J.R.R. Tolkien. I love fantasy, and science fiction. I grew up reading Isaac Asimov, and Arthur Clarke. They were, and still are, my inspiration, and I still can’t get enough of the Lord of the Rings trilogy!
Tell us a little about your latest book?
I wrote my first fantasy book in the Ialana Series in 3 months (The Six and the Crystals of Ialana). Looking back, I realized that my first attempt was a good draft, so I rewrote it in 2018 and republished it in August. It’s the same story, but now meets my improved standards for writing.
After I wrote the first in the series, two more followed quickly on its heels; The Six and the Gardeners of Ialana, and The Six and Anwyn of Ialana. In 2017, taking much longer with this one, I published The Tree Wizard of Ialana, a continuation of the series.
The Six teens in the first two books soon reached adulthood, and I felt that a younger character was needed, so I introduced Anwyn, the daughter of two of the Six.
I am working on a fifth book, still keeping the original characters around, but once again introducing a new character in the appropriate age group. Readers will enjoy my strong female characters. Although they’re far from perfect, they endure frightening and difficult circumstances with courage and determination. Some of them are adepts in the metaphysical sense, i.e. “wizards”, but they always show their humanity and ethical behavior.
The Ialana Series is safe for all ages to read, the young and the young at heart.
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