“Braiding the Verse Novel” is a series of interviews I did with writers of novels – and one biography – in verse. We had our conversations over the summer of 2012. I’ve written articles about verse novels for School Library Journal and NH Writer which draw on these conversations in different ways. Here, I’m posting the full responses from each of the writers who allowed me to ask them questions. Nearly everyone who has read my novel, The Good Braider, asked me why I wrote in the spare lines of verse. My readers’ questions have caused me to explore my own craft and then to explore the question with these articulate, generous writers. Each week I will feature a new novelist.

Edide’s War by Carol Fisher Saller is a novel in poems. Each of Carol’s poems could stand alone as a character portrait or vignette. “A poignant look at boyhood before and during the long years of World War II,” writes Kirkus in a starred review.