Casey Robinson '96
Name: Casey (Watts) Robinson
Place of Birth: Flint, MI
Current Home: Maynard, MA
Education: Majored in English at Amherst and earned an MBA from Simmons School of Management
Why did you choose to come to Amherst?
I attended the New England Young Writer's Conference at Bread Loaf in high school, and as it so happened the Green Dean from Amherst came to visit my high school in Maine the following week. When I told him how inspiring it was to be surrounded by other kids who were passionate about writing and literature he told me I could spend four years of my life in that same kind of environment. I went home and applied to Amherst early decision.
Most memorable or most influential class at Amherst
There were many influential classes...but what also stands out were the memorable opportunities outside of class. I met Irish poet Seamus Heaney freshman year after he spoke in Johnson Chapel. When I asked him to autograph a book of poetry, he noticed a bookplate on the inside cover and asked me about it. I explained I'd won the book for an academic prize at my high school graduation and he was so pleased! I'll never forget his bemused and mischievous expression as he signed my book. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature a few years later.
Most memorable or most influential professor
Visiting professor Jay Grossman who taught a course on Whitman—I've loved 19th C. American literature ever since.
Research Interests
I am fascinated by children's literature and read everything I can get my hands on, old and new—this kind of research is a daily practice.
Awards and Prizes
I was 4th grade chess champion, edging out the previously undefeated Maurice Day for the title. Does that count?
Favorite Book
Recent - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr; Classic - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; Children's - Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Favorite Author
Kate DiCamillo
Tips for aspiring writers?
Have persistence—write, write, write. Be prepared for a lot of rejection, it's part of the process. Nurture your curiosity about what others are writing, but don't lose the threads of your own voice. Give yourself permission to write and finish the first terrible draft (it's harder than you think, to finish something terrible). Go to conferences and find your people. Join a critique group who can point out the places in your manuscripts that need work. Find a space, a desk, a corner in your apartment to go to write, headspace is important. Pay attention to the seeds of ideas when they strike, as in, jump out of the shower and write them down.
Tell us a bit about your path to becoming an author
It took me a long time to find my way to children's literature, and to writing picture books specifically. When I was at Amherst I was very aware that I did not have the natural instincts of novelist. Spinning epic plots was not my thing; I much preferred poetry. I didn't discover children's literature until I had kids of my own. When I turned 40, I signed up for a 3-hr picture book bootcamp workshop through Boston-based writing center GrubStreet, to indulge a craving I had for the genre. Everything resonated. I spent another 18 months learning everything I could, showing up at meet & greets with other members of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and studying the books I loved as well as the ones I didn't. All the while I wrote terrible manuscripts! But I slowly learned what worked and what didn't. So by the time I wrote Iver & Ellsworth, I knew I had something. And luckily I found a publisher who agreed!
Learn more about Iver and Ellsworth on the author's website.