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You are an author. Have you always enjoyed writing?
I enjoy writing, sometimes; I think that most writers will tell you about the agony of writing more than the joy of writing, but writing is what I was meant to do. I was too heavy to be a jockey and too honest to be a producer, so I became a writer.
At what age did you discover a love for writing?
I was a terrible English student. I never even got a High School diploma; I went into the Marine Corps in World War II. English of course is your major tool, but it is not nearly so important as other aspects of writing for example you have to have some natural ability you can't buy it no one puts it there you're born with it. You have to have a tremendous drive and belief in yourself and you have to live with many, many years of rejection. To have all of this and to say I'm going to break down the walls and any barriers there are. Usually a good part of the people trying it end up not making it. So writing is a very, very difficult position to obtain...and retain. As I go along I learn more and more words; I am learning new words every day. Writing, basically breaks down to relationships between people and that is what you write about.
What inspired you to write for young children?
I don't! I do not write for an audience. I essentially write for myself. I have been pretty hip. I have been writing for 50 years and readers still read my first book from when I was in the Marine Corps. You can try to reach an audience, but you just write what comes out of you and you just hope that it is accepted. You do not write specifically to a generation.
How do you develop a story? Can you describe the development process?
Battle Cry? (one of his first novels influenced by his military experience) is pretty much the history of my regiment or battalion in World War II.
I have drawn inspiration from the Marine Corps, the Jewish struggle in Palestine and Israel, and the Irish. Those are my three major sources.
I wanted to write a book on Ireland and when I went over there, I interviewed many people. On one occasion I went to Afghanistan to look at the borders and learn something about the situation there to see if my book was there?and it wasn't. You usually don't know what you are going to write about so you go to the places and talk to the people who were identified with the events.
What do you consider to be your greatest professional accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment is Exodus. It changed a lot of peoples lives, it changed the conception of the Jewish people in the international scene. A lot of countries that published this book did not have a lot of interest in the Jewish question. Ultimately it helped spur the migration of the Russian Jews out of Russia. That was it's greatest accomplishment.
Can you please elaborate on the "Jewish question".
Oh yeah, You did not know what the Jews had gone through, and the fact that they had to fight so hard for their country. And what the Jews had gone through in World War II. The Jews struggled and stuck together.
Their tenacity kept them alive. The fact that my book was a part of this struggle is my greatest achievement.
What advice would you give a teen that would one day like to be a successful writer?
OH YEAH! Certainly your earlier writing is almost autobiographical. That is how you begin. You start with your life experience and then you can become more inventive, but the human relationships always come from your own life experience.
My first book was rejected nine times. It turned out to be a best seller, Battle Cry? in 1953. I had to work hard to push my book around because we did not have these normal book signings that you have now at Barnes & Noble. Your book catches on like any other new product and once it does you are there and how you behave when you get there is up to you.
Which of your books would say is most popular?
Of all my books, the book that connects with my readers the strongest is Mila 18, a book that describes the west side ghetto uprising in Warsaw during World War II. This uprising was one of the greatest stands for freedom that man has ever made.
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this man's books. they are so inspiring. in exodus i found myself completely disgusted by the descriptions of the concentration camps. mila 18 i was awed and inspired by the courage and strength of the Joint Forces. amazing stories!!!
that you write for yourself... that must mean you really enjoy it even if you say you only enjoy it sometimes.