Books-And-Authors.net:
Where did you
grow up? Were reading and writing a part of your life? Who were
your earliest influences and why?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
I grew up in the l960’s in Tipton, Iowa, a small county seat near
Iowa City. I come from a large family and reading was entertainment
in our home. We read stories to each other and to ourselves. We
didn’t watch much television. In addition, there was a grand public
library in Tipton, a beautiful historical building sedately located
in a landscaped square. This was a refuge, a haven on Saturday
afternoons. I would leaf through teen glamour magazines (forbidden
at home), browse the book shelves, and spend several hours in peace
before checking out some books and walking home.
I was the only girl in a family of boys and had my own room filled
with dolls and toys where I spent hours creating fantasy worlds. In
school I excelled in English classes and was recognized for my
ability to write stories and poems.
I remember reading “David Copperfield” when I was in 6th
grade, for the challenge of plowing through a big volume. In my
earlier years I read popular books such as Little Women,
Little House on the Prairie, the Donna Parker series, and
American Girl magazines. Fairy tales were my favorites for a
long time, initially because of their magic, and mystery, but as I
grew older because of their symbolism, imagery, and complexity. I
have always enjoyed good love stories and Gone with the Wind
enthralled me as a teen. Much later I discovered The Lover
by Marguerite Duras which was a turning point in my studies and
became the focus of my doctorial dissertation. This book was of
great inspiration to me as I revised Souvenirs because of
Duras’s use of tropical imagery and a fragmented point of view to
tell a story of forbidden love.
Books-And-Authors.net: Why
do you write?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne: I
write for different reasons, depending on circumstances. Most often
it is because I feel compelled to tell a story. This is certainly
the case with Souvenirs. My goal is to create a world so
vivid that the reader becomes immersed and forgets all else. I also
write because it is a pleasure and a therapy for working out other
problems. Writing is also a habit, an activity that has become part
of my daily routine, similar to working out at the gym.
Books-And-Authors.net:
Your new book,
Souvenirs, takes place in Africa and is a look into Kwassi’s
culture. How did you research for this story?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne: I’ve
been working on Souvenirs for about twenty-five years. The
book began with journal entries of my experiences in the Ivory Coast
during the mid seventies. I wrote scenes, descriptions, and
characters but there was no plot. As I continued my graduate
studies, I examined how authors used imagery to advance a storyline.
I went back to information collected from my Peace Corps days and
read about different tribal cultures, ceremonies, and belief systems
in the Ivory Coast. I began to think about how this could help me
describe the environment of Souvenirs in a more significant
way. I also took several screen writing classes at Columbia College
in Chicago and actually rewrote Souvenirs as a screen play.
At that point I created the subplot concerning the conflict between
the two tribes, using some of the information I had found in my
earlier research.
After the
classes were over, I converted the play back into a novel and
Souvenirs became a much tighter narrative that closely resembles
the present text.
Books-And-Authors.net: What
is the game of Mankala? How do you play? Have you ever played
Mankala?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
Mankala (also spelled “mancala”) is an African stone game of
strategy that was played in Egypt over 3,000 years ago. The board is
composed of two rows of six holes each. Three stones are placed in
each of the twelve holes and each player has a “mankala” or “store”
to the right side of the board. The objective is to accumulate as
many stones as possible before one of the players clears his side of
all stones. The game begins with one player picking up all of the
stones in any one of the holes on his side and moving counter
clockwise depositing one of the stones in each hole until the stones
run out. If a player places his last stone in his own mankala he
gets another turn. If the last stone is placed in an empty hole on
his side of the board he captures all of the stones in his
opponent’s hole directly across. All captured stones plus the
capturing stone are placed in his mankala. Once a player touches the
stones he must play them. Players cannot touch stones to count them.
The game ends when one of the players depletes the stones in his
small holes. When this occurs, the other player who still has stones
on his side of the board captures all of those pieces. The player
with the most captured stones wins.
I have played mankala, but I’m not good at it, nor any other board
game for that matter. The only game I consistently win is dominoes.
Books-And-Authors.net: I
understand you were in the Peace Corps like your main character Ruth
in Souvenirs. How much of the author can we see in Ruth?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
That’s a tough one to answer! I’m not sure how much we share in
terms of personality. I used to jog so that aspect of Ruth I can
relate to and I love water. Some of my teaching experiences in
Africa were used to create Ruth’s reactions in the classroom and my
memories of heat, fatigue, boredom, and frustration also become part
of Ruth’s life in Souvenirs. I think Ruth reacts to African
life in a different way than I did, however. I see her as a more
innocent, trusting, and carefree person than I. She is willing to
take chances and is not materialistic in any real sense, although
she guards her privacy. She’s rather timid yet clever, and when she
decides to act she gets results. I love music and dancing so
certainly I am like Ruth in this way, although I was not a music
major. I visualize Ruth as a woman who is willing to embrace a new
life without looking back, swept away by emotion with little thought
of what the future may hold. After the Peace Corps in l976 I
returned to my family in Nebraska. A year later I decided to go to
France to join a man with whom I had fallen in love. We didn’t know
each other very well, and neither one of us had a steady job or
income, nor did we have a plan for our life together. We got
married, made ends meet, overcame cultural differences, and are
still together. Perhaps Ruth would have done the same.
Books-And-Authors.net:
Please explain
your title Souvenirs as it relates to the plot and
development of the book.
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
The word
“souvenirs” means memories in French, and “souvenir” is the verb “to
remember”. From the book’s first inception Souvenirs was the
title. I chose it because as I mentioned earlier the book began as a
recollection of different people, incidents, and dreams from my
Peace Corps service in the Ivory Coast. The structure of the book
was originally fragmented similar to an album of snapshot memories.
These short paragraphs were like the souvenirs, mementos, and
trinkets I had acquired in the Ivory Coast because they were
evidence of that special time in my life. As author I struggled to
bring these words to life as a story, just as Ruth acquires
experiences that will become
memories more
precious than the physical souvenirs she buys. The book plays with
the ideas of remembering and forgetting, acquiring and losing
possessions. The
structure has retained some of the fragmented quality of
recollection as indicated by the blank spaces between paragraph and
chapter breaks. Although it is a work of fiction, the narrative has
largely replaced what happened to me “in real life”, becoming the
most authentic expression and “souvenir” of my days as a Peace Corps
Volunteer in the Ivory Coast.
Books-And-Authors.net:
What do you feel
the two main characters Ruth and Kwassi learned about each others’
culture that is significant to the book’s plot and theme?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
Perhaps more than anything they learn that love can’t always bridge
cultural differences. As the book progresses, Ruth becomes more
familiar with the fundamentals of social etiquette in her new world.
She also catches on to the role of small bribes and the value of
knowing the right people in the right places. She learns not to be
so judgmental and accepts the fact that life has a different logic
in the Ivory Coast. But she remains an outsider, clearly in the
minority and recognizes that she will never understand much of
Ivorian life because of its tribal nature, secret to foreigners.
Kwassi’s eyes are more open than Ruth’s from the beginning because
he knows his tribal heritage imposes restrictions upon him. He has
traveled and studied in Europe and is more knowledgeable about
Ruth’s culture than she is with his. He wants to share what he can
with her, even though he knows their love is doomed. Kwassi
discovers that it is possible to love Ruth, even though he doesn’t
accept many Western cultural norms. Ruth appreciates the music,
stories, and beliefs that Kwassi introduces to her. She is genuinely
touched and wishes she could find out more. But in the end, there
are too many obstacles due to cultural differences and
misconceptions that prevent their love from becoming a permanent
relationship.
Books-And-Authors.net:
What do you hope
readers will learn and take with them after reading Souvenirs?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
Souvenirs
is about traveling to unknown territory and I hope readers will
experience an unforgettable journey of discovery. I hope this
adventure is outward as represented by the Ivorian environment and
inward, as the story invites readers to explore how it feels to be a
stranger, break taboos, and take risks when nothing is predictable.
Books-And-Authors.net:
What’s next?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
I’ve been working on a number of writing projects. One of them, A
Fashion Diary, is a journal about living in Paris and
interviewing young fashion designers. This is a mix of haute
couture research and personal anecdotes that eventually become
interwoven stories. Another project, Space Wars, is a story
about remodeling and renovating homes, moving into new environments,
and what happens when living space is threatened by neighbors,
incompetent contractors and builders, and bad luck..
Books-And-Authors.net:
What was the
last book you read?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
I usually read several books at once. I’ve just finished Holy Cow
by Sarah McDonald and Casino Royale by Ian Fleming as well
as excerpts from In Praise of Flattery by Willis Regier.
Books-And-Authors.net:
Do you have any
hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?
Julia
Lauer-Cheenne:
As a visual artist I am concerned with color and composition. I do
some photography but consider myself primarily a mixed media artist
with emphasis on collage. I spend hours in my studio painting,
cutting and gluing which reminds me of the hours I spent playing in
my room as a child. This type of activity enters my writing most
obviously through my descriptions. I begin my writing projects
through the setting. Once I get a good sense of place, my characters
are born and begin to move in that space. But I never know what will
happen to them and plotting a narrative has never been an easy task
for me. I think I have a fine sense of visual detail although I
prefer to concentrate on a few pertinent traits rather than write
lengthy descriptions. Above all, I think imagery is highly
suggestive and an effective means of communicating mood and
emotion.
I am also a musical person. I studied piano for a number of years
and grew up singing in choral groups in church and school. These
days I spend more time listening to music instead of singing or
playing it, although I do my share of dancing whenever I can. I
think good writing has a musical quality to it, a rhythm that flows
from one sentence to the next. I strive to develop a cadence that
lures the reader into the story.
I love fashion design, textiles, clothes! I am interested in how
identity and clothing interact, and the role of adornment in women’s
lives. I’m working on a project that includes this theme.
I practice a number of sports such as skiing, swimming, hiking,
yoga, and biking. I enjoy gardening, bird watching, and nature in
all its variety. I use these activities throughout the day as a way
to clear my mind and keep my outlook fresh. I also love traveling
and visiting the world gives me great inspiration. My favorite
cities are Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, New York City, and Honolulu,
potential settings for future stories.
Julia
Lauer-Chéenne was born in Kansas and grew up in Iowa. In
1974 she graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.A.
in French, joined the Peace Corps and headed off to the
Ivory Coast, Africa for two years. Her life was never the
same. One journey led to another and before she knew it that
"worthless" degree in foreign language had opened many
magical doors including a job in France and a French husband
to go with it. Her life has taken many twists and turns but
the main threads may be summarized as a series of degrees
and work experience: a paralegal degree in l976, a Masters
followed by a Ph.D. in Modern Languages and Literature from
the University of Nebraska in 1991, over thirty years of
teaching English as a second language in colleges in Chicago
and Lincoln, Nebraska as well as over 20 years of artistic
endeavors as a professional photographer and mixed media
artist. She loves language, literature, reading, and
writing; "I love traveling, adventure, and exploration. Art
pulls these passions together, allowing my imagination to
reinvent, revisit, and reestablish my role and my vision as
teacher and artist." Visit her online at