Our conversation with Maureen Boyer, author of Where is Lola?

Maureen Boyer, author of our Haiti series title Where is Lola?, is a life long reader and storyteller. This young woman’s love for Haiti motivated her to pen a title encouraging young children to do the same.

OMB: When did you realize that you wanted to write for a living?

Maureen: I didn’t always know that I wanted to be a writer but I always loved stories. When I was young I used to make up these wild stories in my head and sometimes I would tell them to my younger sister. It wasn’t until after college that I realized that writing was something I really wanted to pursue, I was going through a tough and I was always writing, on the Internet, blogs, notes etc.

OMB: If you weren’t a writer, what other career would you aspire to?

Maureen: All the careers that I would aspire to have some kind of writing involved, and are somewhat creative. I currently work in communications which involves a lot of writing. I can also see myself doing some business/finance related jobs.

OMB: Who inspires you the most? Why?

Maureen: Some of the writers who inspire me the most include Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz and Truman Capote. For my writing, I’m usually inspired by the everyday people around me. I like personal stories, stories that tap into the human mind and show all the aspects of humanity, the good, the bad, happiness, all the hurt and why people act they way they do.

OMB: Describe your creative process.

Maureen: What usually prompts a story are either images I see around me, or conversations I hear between strangers. I think about about the social implications, what does it mean? How does it impact the world? How does it impact me? Then I imagine a story from the topic. For example, the idea for “Where is Lola?” stems from the many discussions I’ve overheard about how to teach children to love Haiti. To me this was an important topic, because how can a country develop if the future adults of the nation don’t have confidence in the country? I thought of all the reasons I love Haiti, then I imagined this Haiti from the eyes of a fictional little girl, Tika. Most of what I write is from my own experience, what I’ve witnessed and felt. Lola is actually a dog I had, the Lola in the story is my Lola in real life.

OMB: Thanks Maureen!

You can meet Maureen and check out her story Where is Lola? at the launch of our Haiti series on this Saturday, January 26th. Tickets are available at http://onemoorebookhaiti.eventbrite.com . We hope to see you there!