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1:1 with award-winning Minnesota author Kate DiCamillo
DiCamillo hoped her first book, “Because of Winn-Dixie,” would sell 5,000 copies. It went on to win a Newberry honor that would help propel sales to 11 million.
MINNEAPOLIS — Kate DiCamillo is one the most successful children’s authors in the country and lives right here in Minnesota — a move she actually credits as a big part of her success.
Though Kate DiCamillo did not grow up here, her reaction to her massive success is decidedly Minnesotan.
When asked about her career she shakes her head in disbelief.
“It’s impossible,” she said.
DiCamillo is a New York Times bestselling author with more than 43 million books in print. Two of them, “The Tale of Despereaux,” and “Flora and Ulysses,” are Newberry Award winners. Six of her books have either been made into movies — or soon will be.
DiCamillo came from humble beginnings. Growing up in Florida, her childhood battles with chronic pneumonia caused her to miss a lot of school and fueled her love of reading.
“I was home alone a lot and I had books,” she said. “And that was fantastic.”
When she got to college, a professor complimented her on her writing and suggested she go to graduate school. She took the compliment to heart but skipped grad school. Instead, she said, she started calling herself a writer and “wearing turtlenecks and acting cool” while working odd jobs at places like Disneyworld.
She didn’t start writing until she turned 30 and moved to Minnesota.
“You know, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if I hadn’t moved from Florida to Minnesota and gotten a job in a book warehouse down in the Warehouse District called The Bookman,” she said.
By sheer chance, DiCamillo was assigned to the children’s section where she started reading the books and decided to try her hand at children’s literature.
Every day before work, she would set her alarm for 4:30 a.m. She dedicated herself to writing two pages a day, five days a week. Eventually, she had a story to send out, but for six years, no one noticed.
The rejection letters piled up, but she kept writing. She would collect 473 rejection letters before a publisher contacted her.
“I look at that number, 473, and I think, ‘What if it stopped at 471?’ I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you today,” she reflected. “I wouldn’t be this person who has found what she wants to do with her life and gets to do it, you know?”
Her first book, “Because of Winn-Dixie,” is a tale about a girl and her dog. DiCamillo wrote it during her second winter here in Minnesota.
“Because of Winn-Dixie is a book about homesickness in many ways and it’s a book about missing the South,” she said. “And so, you know, it’s like I couldn’t have written it unless I left.”
DiCamillo hoped the book would sell 5,000 copies, but it won a Newberry honor, which propelled it to the top of the charts. It went on to sell 11 million copies, forever changing her life.
She quit the warehouse job, bought a house in Minneapolis and started writing full-time.
She still writes out of her home office, still before dawn, still two pages a day, five days a week. But the homesickness of her early days and her very definition of home has changed.
Minnesota, she said, now feels like where she is supposed to be.
“This…this is home,” she said. “This is my place.”
DiCamillo is scheduled to appear at two reading events next month, the details of which can be found below.
- B&N Summer reading event – Maple Grove
Saturday, May 6 at 1 p.m.
Maple Grove, #2749,
8040 Wedgewood Lane, Maple Grove, MN 55369 - B&N Summer reading event – Eden Prairie
Saturday, May 13 at 11 a.m.
Eden Prairie Center, Store #2048
8251 Flying Cloud Dr. #3000, Eden Prairie, MN 55344
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The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday in Welcome, Minnesota after the bus driver failed to yield to the truck, which had the right-of-way.
WELCOME, Minn. — Nine students were injured Wednesday morning when a truck crashed into a bus in southern Minnesota.
The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m. in Welcome, Minnesota after the bus driver failed to yield to the truck, which had the right-of-way at the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, according to the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office. In a press release, officials say the nine students sustained “minor injuries” and were transported to a nearby hospital.
The initial investigation indicates that the truck, an F550, was traveling north on County Road 7, while the bus, which was providing service to the Wabasso Public School District, was traveling east on 280th Street. The news release says the truck had the right-of-way at the intersection.
“We are grateful that no serious injuries happened to our students, the driver or the other driver, however, nine students were transported to area hospitals for follow-up treatment,” Superintendent Jon Fulton said in a letter to parents. “… The District and 4.0 bus transportation company is praying for a speedy recovery for the students and families involved.”
Several fans said this team has inspired them to pursue a career in sports.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Lynx is inspiring the next generation of athletes regardless of whether they win or lose.
Sophia Witkowski went to the game with her mother, Christy, to watch Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.
“For her to see all her idols it’s just so fun,” Christy said.
“I like it because women’s sports aren’t that popular. Now the WNBA is really popular,” Sophia said.
They weren’t the only mother-and-daughter duo at the game. Amanda Williams took her 10-year-old daughter Abby to watch.
“It’s really awesome to have my daughter here to see great role models from the team and the fact,” Amanda said.
“I think that it’s super cool that they get to do what they want to do, and they get paid for it too,” Abby said.
Maggie Niska with Her Next Play, a nonprofit working to empower the next generation of female leaders through sports, said their visibility is everything.
“I think it gives these girls someone to look up to, and it gives them something to aspire to, and by having them in the community it makes seem a little more reachable too,” Niska said.
She said the Lynx Academy put on a basketball clinic for some of her girls in Hopkins Tuesday night. Niska said all of the professional women’s sports teams in Minnesota show girls they can have a future in sports.
“I just think that any visibility these girls can get to women competing at sports at a higher level, hearing these women speak, and seeing them succeed, and getting insight into their lives and what they do to compete at this higher level, I think all of that serves as a great inspiration to these girls,” she said.
It’s something Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve understands well.
“For young girls to see the opportunities for them to play in any sport and then also more in sport, jobs in sports that sports can be a career,” Reeve said.
Sophia Ritter and Taylor Tool drove hours to see the players in action.
“We traveled from Aberdeen, South Dakota and the Northern State women’s basketball team took two vans,” she said.
Ritter and Tool both said it was a cool opportunity for them to see two great teams play on the professional level.
“Growing up, WNBA wasn’t really a big a thing and something that everyone was watching and now that it’s growing it’s really nice to see,” Ritter said.
“It’s really fun seeing all the support and seeing how many people come to watch the games like it’s really cool to see all the fans in the stands filling up and it’s growing,” Tool said.
Gophers’ Shoot Guard Mara Braun went to the game with her team after practice.
“These women out here are just amazingly talented and they play with this toughness that I think we’re really trying to embody as a team,” Braun said.
She knows young girls are looking up to her and her teammates just like they are with the Lynx.
“Especially growing up, you know, you want to play college basketball, and the next level is WNBA or overseas or whatever it is, so for me this is obviously a dream and something I’m working towards to be able to see it,” she said.
Braun dreams of playing in the WNBA and watching the Lynx and the Liberty in the finals makes that dream feel like it could be her new reality.
The department is the only one in the state to start a non-fatal shooting unit that launched in January.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The City of St. Paul has seen a number of deadly shootings recently, but often it’s the ones that aren’t fatal that don’t get as much attention. And for police, they can also be harder to solve.
The department, though, is trying something new to try and reverse that trend.
“The amount of guns that are on the street right now,” St. Paul Police Commander Nikkole Peterson said about the biggest change she’s seen in the 22 years she’s been a cop. “It’s jaw-dropping.”
Commander Peterson is now in charge of the department’s non-fatal shooting unit that launched in January focusing only on those crimes.
It’s the only department in the state implementing something like that, after it saw success with the police department in Denver, Colorado doing something similar.
“If there’s a shooting, it doesn’t matter what time of night that happens or time of day, that sergeant will get called in to begin the investigation immediately,” said Commander Peterson.
The crime used to fall on the homicide unit that’s already burdened by heavy case loads. There’s also usually little victim cooperation which can stall solving non-fatal shootings.
“A lot of times we wouldn’t investigate it any further or the prosecutor wouldn’t charge those crimes and we knew that something different had to be done,” said Commander Peterson.
The unit is now treating non-fatal shootings like homicides and making them a priority. The investigators also rely more heavily on evidence and devote just as many resources, from forensics to video management and even SWAT teams.
“We are utilizing all these different resources to help solve these crimes,” said Commander Peterson. “We’re chasing down every lead that we can.”
In a press conference on Tuesday, St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said there have been 86 non-fatal shootings compared to 99 this same time last year. But two years ago, there were 170, putting the city’s solve rate around 60%.
“Anything above 50% is just incredible and so we’re really happy with where we’re at right now,” said Commander Peterson.
Commander Peterson also credits the city’s ASPIRE program that focuses on intervention, particularly with youth. She also points to the Office of Neighborhood Safety that partners with local organizations working on prevention, saying this cooperation is ultimately what will reduce crime.
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