Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly by Conrad Wesselhoeft

They became role models for 'The Thicks' in my first book, Adios, Nirvana. My son, in particular, liked to bring home a pack of buddies whose collective voice mixed confidence, frailty, arrogance, timidity, enthusiasm, laziness, idealism, courage, cadence, and spontaneity.Ĭonrad: Yes, I'd be doing dishes or driving them somewhere and these boys would be handing me golden nuggets, so to speak. (Man, was I wrong.) Also, I had three teenagers in my life. So why did you decide to write for young adults?Ĭonrad: I thought it would be easier than writing for grownups. Tam: Wow! How incredible that you can pinpoint an exact day like that. It set me on the path to writing YA fiction. That day is one of the most important of my life. I shared my literary dreams with him, and he urged me to start writing a novel immediately, not to concoct excuses or bog down in planning. What path led you to writing novels for young adults?Ĭonrad: Years ago, I met the acclaimed young-adult author Scott O'Dell ( Island of the Blue Dolphins, Sing Down the Moon, and many more). Tam: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed, Conrad. He lives in West Seattle with a poodle named Django (the 'D' is silent). His three children are in various stages of university study or career exploration. His ancestors were doctors to Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

He is the author of the young adult novels Adios, Nirvana (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010) and Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014). He has served on the editorial staffs of five newspapers, including The New York Times.

This article relates to Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to FlyīookBrowse's Tamara Smith Interviews Conrad Wesselhoeft, Author of Dirt Bikes, Drones and Other Ways to FlyĬonrad Wesselhoeft worked as a tugboat hand in Singapore and Peace Corps Volunteer in Polynesia before embarking on a career in journalism.

Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly by Conrad Wesselhoeft