It made me believe that I could go outside the boundaries of my white, straight, female, middle-class self and write about the characters who really interested me. I guess it gave me a certain amount of clout with my publisher that I didn’t have before, but then, clout is not anything I know what to do with anyway, so I probably wasted it.Īnd I was as proud, if not more proud, of winning the Lambda Book Award that year too. I’m not really sure how it changed my career. Suddenly I felt confident about saying, “Yes, this is what I do–I write novels for teenagers.” Even though it was my third YA novel, winning a major prize gave me a feeling of acceptance in the field that I hadn’t had before. Maybe the most important thing that winning the Printz Honor Award did was make me feel legitimate in my own eyes. Looking back, in what ways did that recognition change your career? How about your own attitude and approach to your books and publishing? For more information go to her website: We last spoke in February 2000, shortly after the announcement that your YA novel Hard Love had been named a Printz Honor Book. Read a February 2000 Cynsational interview with Ellen Wittlinger. Her most recent novel is Sandpiper (Simon and Schuster, 2005). Many of her books are on the ALA Best Books lists. Printz honor award and a Lambda Literary Award. She’s published ten novels, one of which, Hard Love (Simon & Schuster, 1999), won a Michael L. Ellen Wittlinger wrote poetry and plays before settling on writing fiction for teenagers.

Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger