“What
you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful.”
– Scott Westerfeld, 2005
Scott Westerfeld has written eighteen
novels, thirteen of which were for young adults. He has also ghostwritten
various projects, including three Powerpuff Girl choose your own adventure
stories. He is most famous for the Uglies
series, but other notable titles are the Leviathan trilogy and the Midnighters
trilogy.
Westerfeld was born in Texas, but spends
his time in New York City and Sydney, Australia. He was born on May 5, 1963 to
Pamela and Lloyd Westerfeld and he has two sisters. He is married to writer
Justine Larbalestier. He received his BA in philosophy from Vassar in 1985 and
attended New York University to undertake graduate work in Performance Studies.
His favorite writer is Samuel R. Delany and his favorite book from childhood
was E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web.
Interview with the Author:
Q: Have any personal experiences in your life led you to create a future world where appearances are all that matters? Are there trends or currents in contemporary society that suggest this could be our future?
A: Cosmetic surgery gets cheaper every day. So eventually, having the right face may be like carrying the right handbag -- people will do it as a way of showing off their wealth and excluding those who can't afford it, and simply as a way of feeling good about themselves. But it may not wind up mattering any more than wearing the right label does now, because our responses to human beauty are wired deeper into our DNA than our responses to Prada. And that, in turn, may give wealthy people an advantage unimaginable today.
In "Uglies," I'm writing about a society that deals with that issue by making cosmetic surgery compulsory. Of course, that only creates another set of problems, as technological solutions often do.
Q: How long have you been writing and what drew you to becoming a published author?
A: I come from a big family in Texas, in which storytelling was very valued. And I've always written, as far back as I can remember. My big realization was that I'm not a very good short story writer and that the novel was my natural length.
Q: Where did you grow up? How well did you handle high school?
A: I grew up all over the country: Connecticut, California and Texas, where I was born. Everywhere I went, I got a chance to reinvent myself and my past, which was good practice for becoming a writer.
I really enjoyed high school (in Dallas). It was an arts school, so some of the classic high school stuff wasn't going on there. People were judged more by their work--whether it was music, theater or visual art--than on their appearance.
Q: Why do you spend so much time in Australia?
A: In 2001 I married an Australian writer named Justine Larbalestier. The third volume of her fantasy YA series, "Magic or Madness," comes out next March. Moving back and forth between the two hemispheres keeps both of them strange to me, which is useful inspiration for a writer.
Q: Do you believe blogs and Web sites will eventually replace books?
A: Long-standing technologies like books are never completely replaced, but they do change in reaction to new technologies. For example, TV didn't replace radio, but it changed what radio did (more music, fewer dramatic serials).
Actually, it doesn't matter to me what format people read my work in: Dead trees or dots on a screen, it's still the same story. What matters far more is how the publishing business changes when books are available electronically. Publishers will panic about piracy issues at first, but ultimately electronic distribution will enable good books to find vastly more readers at vastly lower prices, and that's got to be a good thing.
Video Interviews:
Interview with the Author:
Q: Have any personal experiences in your life led you to create a future world where appearances are all that matters? Are there trends or currents in contemporary society that suggest this could be our future?
A: Cosmetic surgery gets cheaper every day. So eventually, having the right face may be like carrying the right handbag -- people will do it as a way of showing off their wealth and excluding those who can't afford it, and simply as a way of feeling good about themselves. But it may not wind up mattering any more than wearing the right label does now, because our responses to human beauty are wired deeper into our DNA than our responses to Prada. And that, in turn, may give wealthy people an advantage unimaginable today.
In "Uglies," I'm writing about a society that deals with that issue by making cosmetic surgery compulsory. Of course, that only creates another set of problems, as technological solutions often do.
Q: How long have you been writing and what drew you to becoming a published author?
A: I come from a big family in Texas, in which storytelling was very valued. And I've always written, as far back as I can remember. My big realization was that I'm not a very good short story writer and that the novel was my natural length.
Q: Where did you grow up? How well did you handle high school?
A: I grew up all over the country: Connecticut, California and Texas, where I was born. Everywhere I went, I got a chance to reinvent myself and my past, which was good practice for becoming a writer.
I really enjoyed high school (in Dallas). It was an arts school, so some of the classic high school stuff wasn't going on there. People were judged more by their work--whether it was music, theater or visual art--than on their appearance.
Q: Why do you spend so much time in Australia?
A: In 2001 I married an Australian writer named Justine Larbalestier. The third volume of her fantasy YA series, "Magic or Madness," comes out next March. Moving back and forth between the two hemispheres keeps both of them strange to me, which is useful inspiration for a writer.
Q: Do you believe blogs and Web sites will eventually replace books?
A: Long-standing technologies like books are never completely replaced, but they do change in reaction to new technologies. For example, TV didn't replace radio, but it changed what radio did (more music, fewer dramatic serials).
Actually, it doesn't matter to me what format people read my work in: Dead trees or dots on a screen, it's still the same story. What matters far more is how the publishing business changes when books are available electronically. Publishers will panic about piracy issues at first, but ultimately electronic distribution will enable good books to find vastly more readers at vastly lower prices, and that's got to be a good thing.
Video Interviews:
