ZARR: Yeah, well, they call all the finalists’ names and project our books onto the screen, and that’s very exciting, and when the woman, Elizabeth Partridge, whom I’m sure was very nervous, as she was the first presenter, announced my name as Sara Zane, which is not really close to Zarr at all, so that was kind of a tip-off. I’m not the type to chase someone down, so that was unfortunate, but it was a great night, and I met so many wonderful people.ĪNDELMAN: I understand that something tipped you off even before the announcement that you hadn’t won. I’m a big fan of his, and I saw him walking through the reception, but he was very purposely walking somewhere. I really wanted to meet Jonathan Franzen. We had a press conference with 250 teens from local schools that had all been given copies of the book and read them and came and did a press conference format and asked us questions, and then we had a signing at the library, and I got to enjoy the company of my fellow finalists there. The other finalists in the young people’s literature category were all delightful, and we got to spend most of Tuesday together, the day before the awards. ZARR: It’s interesting, because I, of course, I’ve been pondering this since last night, and when you are in a situation like this, you have to be prepared to win because if you do win, you want to speak eloquently and thank everybody, and you don’t want to trip on your way up to the podium, so you kind of walk through it so much in your mind and practice your speech that some part of your consciousness, even though you know you have just as good a chance of losing, or not winning, I should say, as you do of winning, some part of your consciousness has mentally practiced this so much that it’s a little bit of a shock to the system, I think, when it doesn’t happen because at least I didn’t walk through or practice what I would do if my name wasn’t called, and perhaps I should have.ĪNDELMAN: Did you meet anyone particularly interesting last night? I have a feeling you’ll get to use it for something else down the line. But it’s definitely, as much as you can say it’s an honor just to be nominated, it would be even more wonderful to win, but it was a great night, and it’s all a positive.ĪNDELMAN: You mentioned in your blog entry at 2:00 AM that you had quietly put your acceptance speech aside. ZARR: It was fabulous, and it was devastating all at the same time, and it was a really wonderful evening that I will not soon forget. MEDIA: First of all, congratulations on being nominated.ĪNDELMAN: How are you doing today? Last night must have been a little rough after all the build-up. Order Once Was Lost from Order ‘What We Lost’ by Sara Zarr, available from by clicking on the book cover above!īOB ANDELMAN/Mr.She’s young, talented, and has already completed her second young adult title, Sweethearts, due on Valentine’s Day 2008 from Little, Brown. Writer Sara Zarr had an experience last night that any author would kill for – sitting in the audience at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in Manhattan, her first novel, Story of a Girl, a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award for young people’s literature.įor a first-time fiction author, such a nomination is remarkable, and it would be fun for both of us to tell you that she won, but it wasn’t meant to be, not this time around.ĭon’t shed too many tears for Sara, however.
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