MV: Lot of facts about rivers are super interesting, in my opinion – but in my book, facts are there not for their own sake or for readers to learn as much as possible. How did you arrive at creating this unique voice for the book? So that idea set the framework for me, and I began working on a book exploring how a meaning could be expanded in different contexts and how the definition of a river could be layered.ĪN: The book quite beautifully combines more fact-based, scientific writing often found in nonfiction, and poetic language. At one point I pondered: but what is that flying lake? Is it the water that is above in the air? Or – that water, but already in a special lake-y form? Are there any fish in it? How about plants? Maybe, similarly, I could just ask: what is a river? Water that flows, a current between riverbanks? An ecosystem? Maybe also a metaphor? A symbol, an archetype? Perhaps that is why I thought at one point about flying lakes – a common character in Lithuanian folklore: a lake that would hang in the sky until someone guessed its true name.
I imagined it was going to be much fun to draw all of the riverscapes, to mix colors for the undulating water – and be a chance to include some maps!īut… how to put together all of the river stories in one entity, how should they flow in my book, how should readers get along? At that time, I was quite interested in traditional folk tales and legends, and their classifications. I decided what kind of book that was going to be: encouraging to explore and ask questions dealing with beautiful as well as troubled aspects of our relations with rivers, ecological problems, historical sores – a piece of narrative nonfiction. These are still vivid and precious memories. I would go to the riverside with my sister and my grandmothers to play, to read, to have a picnic, to draw, to meet friends, to be alone. I lived close to a river throughout my entire childhood. This is, of course, quite an abstract and summarized explanation of my relation to them. For me, they represent being connected to the world, a sense of neighborhood being close and far away at the same time interdependence. An interest in the concept of a place as a space where stories from different times and contexts may meet and intersect has followed me ever since.Īnd as to rivers – I love them. In school, I used to participate in student geography Olympiads during breaks between lessons, I drew maps of imaginary places with my friends. I have been interested in geography for a long time. I haven’t thought up my book at once like a river, it had to meander through various turning points and gather quite some sediment and sentiments until it reached me. What inspired you to create the book within this framework? AN: What Is A River begins with a child asking her grandmother the book’s central question, which sets the journey of the book into motion.