I first encountered Miriam Körner’s work while reading picture books to my kids. I was captivated by her illustrations in “When the Trees Crackle with Cold.”
Then I found out she also writes young adult novels. I recently read her book, “Yellow Dog,” and I fell in love with the story. You can read my review here.
Her illustrations and stories have a way of transporting me out of my currently urban life into the world of the backwoods, which is one of the reasons I love her books so much. Check out some of her illustrations on her website here.
Miriam was kind enough to respond to a few questions.
Question: What advice would you give someone who is trying to establish a writing life?
Miriam: Write what you are passionate about. Don’t worry about the success of your stories, worry about the truth of your stories. If you want to capture your audience, then you have to be deeply passionate about what you write first. What makes you unique? What are the stories that only you can tell? I don’t mean to write about yourself, but about what’s in your heart. For me, that’s our connection to the natural world – it plays a big part in all my writing.
Question: What has writing brought to your life, for better or worse?
Miriam: Writing is a way for me to express my love for the place that I have called home for the past 21 years. I learned so much from the people and the land around me. My novels and children’s books are all about finding one’s place in the world and finding our relationship to the natural world. The importance of that relationship only became clear when I moved into a remote northern community where I’m surrounded by Elders who have a deep relationship with place and see the interconnectedness of all beings.
Question: Why do you believe writing stories is important?
Miriam: Someone (I wish I remembered who) once said, that we only reached the moon, because we collectively dreamed about flying to the moon long before technology was capable of getting us there. It was the stories, songs, imagination that made this journey possible. Right now, we need stories to dream a future where we have healed our relationship to the earth. Stories that become roadmaps to guide us past the climate crisis not in an end-of-the-world sense of way, but in a way where we learn to live with only what we need and honour the earth that sustains us. That’s why I believe stories are important. They have the power to shift the way we relate, think, dream, act.
