Lois Lowry on The Giver, friendship, and writing at 87

A Q&A with the famous Newbery Award-winning author

This is one in a series of Q&As with [B]old Women. If my writing resonates with you, I’d love to have you as a paid subscriber. Your support helps me continue publishing work that matters, to me and to you. In addition, as a paid subscriber, you will have access to my most personal essays and to Ask Debbie, where I answer readers’ practical and existential questions about [b]old age. I deliberately keep my annual fee low.

“My ambition now is to continue to produce work of some literary merit which will speak in a soft and meaningful whisper to some young people.” —

Lois Lowry

It’s funny how an interaction with a famous author is so exciting, like seeing your favorite teacher in the aisle of the grocery store and realizing that they are a real person. So when famed children’s author

Lois Lowry

subscribed to this newsletter recently, I rushed to tell my two grown daughters, both of whom read and loved what is perhaps her bestselling book, The Giver¹, first published in 1993. The second thing I did, nervously, was to send Lois an email asking if she’d be open to doing a Q&A. Her prompt reply was, “Sure, happy to. I’m stuck at home with a virus and need something to do.” That kind of straightforward talk, which blends fact and feeling, is what makes Lois such an exceptional writer for both children and adults. Of course, I was thrilled by her responses. I know you will be, too.

Lois Lowry

DW: Lois, you’re 87. What’s your favorite part of reaching [b]old age? What’s the biggest surprise?

LL: My favorite part of my life as it is today is the quality and variety and depth of my friendships. I live next door (in my retirement community) to a woman who has been a friend since 1960. (As I was typing that sentence, I got a text from her, with today’s WORDLE score; we compare those each morning). We had babies at the same time and now those babies are retiring from their own careers; she and I have a lot of history together and we savor those memories.

But other friends are newer and younger and also important to me. One thing I like about my (old) self is that I have not closed myself off from contemporary trends. I have young friends (and grandchildren) with tattoos, for example, and though I am not above an occasional eye-roll, I am not judgmental. Times…and tastes…change, and I watch the changes with interest and amusement.

Biggest surprise (though it shouldn’t have been) is the too-frequent-now death of people I love. No way around that, at my age. Still, I hate it.

DW: Where do you live now (summer and winter) and how does that impact your writing? Describe the view from your current writing desk, or several, if you live in more than one place.

LL: I actually live in three places, which seems excessive…and which is, in fact, a nuisance just in logistical terms: the schlepping stuff from one place to another, or the annoying awareness that the blue sweater you planned on wearing is actually in one of the other houses. But here is how it came about: