Eowyn Ivey, author of 'Black Woods, Blue Sky' - Pulitzer Prize finalist discusses magical realism, why success isn't relevant, and being tempted to write again
Writer's Routine
Dan Simpson
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
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Summary
This week we chat with Eowyn Ivey, the acclaimed author of The Snow Child and To the Bright Edge of the World, ahead of her new novel Black Woods, Blue Sky. We explore the inspiration behind her vivid Alaskan settings, her journey from bookseller to bestselling novelist, and the themes of resilience and wonder that thread through her work.
Black Woods, Blue Sky, tells the story of Birdie and Emaleen, mother and daughter travelling through the Alaskan wilderness, until they meet the timid Arthur. They soon form a close-knit group and move in with him, only to discover that he came transform into a Grizzly Bear.
It's a story inspired by a difficult childhood, and Eowyn explored how she was effected by her father's brutality through the story. We discuss how she managed to keep a plot going and grounded, when unpacking what had happened to her. You can hear why she has published just 3 books in 14 years, and how she keeps saying she's done with writing... only to be tempted back to the page.
Eowyn reveals how much she thinks about genre, why the benegits of success don't apply to storytelling, and when she started to understand that the novel was drawing to a close.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome along to a brand new episode of writers' routine. This week we're talking to |
| 0:14.0 | the Pulitzer Prize finalist, Owen Ivy, who is back with her third novel in 14 years. It's called Blackwood's Blue Sky. We talk about |
| 0:24.5 | why she keeps saying that she won't write again, only to find herself writing again a few |
| 0:30.4 | years later. I feel like it's just this feeling I can't resist. I think that when I'm out, |
| 0:35.5 | you know, for a run or a ski or I'm washing dishes, my brain just goes there almost against my will. |
| 0:42.9 | I start thinking of storylines or things I want to express. |
| 0:47.6 | And it feels like I keep getting kind of pulled in against my will to some extent. |
| 0:53.0 | And it has happened already. I'm already starting to toy with |
| 0:55.9 | ideas and my family laughs at me because I think, no, no, I don't want to do, I don't want to do |
| 1:01.0 | this again in ways. I mean, there's certainly parts of it that I really enjoy. I feel like there's |
| 1:05.9 | these moments where, you know, things just click and you're writing and it feels like I'm doing what I've |
| 1:11.3 | always wanted to do and it's working. But other times, it's a struggle. It's hard work. And I'm |
| 1:16.8 | always a little resistant to go back into that process. Also, why for her, success would never |
| 1:22.1 | really dictate any story decisions. You know, in terms of getting published, I'm very fortunate |
| 1:27.3 | that the Snow Child did as well as it did |
| 1:28.9 | because it allows me opportunities to have editors look at my work and be interested in it |
| 1:34.2 | maybe more quickly than they would have been otherwise. |
| 1:36.4 | So that's my, you know, that's the greatest blessing of having a book do well is that you, |
| 1:41.4 | you know, you're taken seriously as you're working on something. |
| 1:45.4 | But beyond that, it wouldn't, you know, the success or failure of a book doesn't really affect |
| 1:50.3 | what I do next. As I said, that kind of just comes from some sort of internal drive as I slowly |
| 1:57.5 | start to get interested in something new, a new story to tell. |
... |
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