Betsy Franco

BIO

Betsy Franco inspires trust in the many people she meets in the course of her work as a writer. As she explains, "My philosophy when researching and writing books has always been to let adults, young adults, and children speak for themselves as much as possible."

With YOU HEAR ME? and THINGS I HAVE TO TELL YOU, Betsy's purpose is to let teenagers speak for themselves. Both anthologies, compelling in their honesty and sometimes raw expressions of the many-layered concerns of the writers, are uncensored. The sheer honesty of the teens' submissions surprised Betsy as she started her projects, and inspired her as she continued in her mission. "The writers' openness made me determined to try not to hit a false note in any aspect of the books."

Betsy's three sons have been the inspiration of many of her ideas. Today, she has published more than forty books, including poetry, picture books, and nonfiction for children and adults, and has also invented educational toys. She finds that compiling anthologies of other writers' work provides a nice balance with her own writing, and allows her to collaborate with very interesting people. The recipient of a B.A. in studio art from Stanford University, and an M. Ed. from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Betsy and of husband of more than thirty years live in Palo Alto, California. Betsy's next project (with Annette Ochoa, Indian Education Program Specialist, and Traci Gourdine) is collecting the poems, essays, and true stories of Native American teens and young adults, ages 12-22.

PAST INTERVIEW

September 22, 2000

Betsy Franco, the author of over forty books, has recently stormed the scene with her new poetry anthology filled with original work by teenage boys entitled, YOU HEAR ME?. That's right, boys write poetry, and good stuff too. They cover the gamut of issues from love to school, gangs to families, drugs to religion --- and everything else. Teenreads writer Tammy Currier interviewed Franco about her collection, her future books --- there's one in the works for girls --- and more. Find out about the woman behind the boys in this inspiring interview.

TRC: The emotions and feelings expressed in YOU HEAR ME? : Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys run the gamut and are very moving, yet teenage boys are rarely given their say. Why is that?

BF: Perhaps my experience at the beginning stages of this book will answer this question indirectly. When I told people about my idea, both men and women laughed in a "knowing" way and said I wouldn't receive any submissions, or if I did, they would only be from a particular type of boy. They were sure I wouldn't get a wide range of writers. Some people questioned why I would want to "put myself through this." I guess people have preconceived ideas about teenage boys.

[Note: Just in case some people don't get through this whole interview, I wanted to add that Annette Ochoa and I are collecting poems, essays, and true stories by Native American teenagers and young adults, ages 12-22 (boys and girls). Annette Ochoa, who is Yaqui, is a Specialist in Indian Education. For guidelines, e-mail me at francobe@aol.com or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to P.O. Box 60487, Palo Alto, CA 94306.]

TRC: What inspired you to give them a voice?

BF: Before this book, I collected writing by teenage girls, in response to experiences a teenage friend of mine was going through and the book REVIVING OPHELIA. Naturally, I was going to follow up with a collection written by teenage boys --- I have three sons, after all. Also, I felt like no one had done this before, and there were so many stereotypes floating around about boys. I have a thing about hearing from people firsthand. I enjoy hearing the truth.

[Note: The girls' anthology, THE THINGS I HAVE TO TELL YOU, will be out in the spring of 2001.]

TRC: Did having three teenage sons of your own influence you in any way?

BF: Yes. I have three very creative sons who were extremely interesting to live with. They didn't fit the stereotypes about teenage boys, so I didn't see why other boys would either. I wanted to understand teenage boys better because I felt assumptions were being made about them, and they needed to speak for themselves. Also, having lived with three teenage boys, I guess I was more comfortable with them than some people are. I consulted my sons throughout the process of compiling the collection, and I had ten consultants ranging in age from 14 to 20. I recognized that I had tremendous limitations being a female editor.

TRC: What can we learn from teenage boys?

BF: I think teenage boys have a great deal of wisdom. They know things that adults have forgotten, they see things adults don't (or won't) see, and they aren't afraid to write about those things in a very frank way.

TRC: To gather material for this book, you advertised in creative writing journals, linked up to over forty-eight hundred classrooms via the Internet, collected poetry from several writing projects in Detroit, Houston, and Chicago, and invited individual boys to submit. Did the volume of poems, stories, and essays you received surprise you?

BF: I received plenty of manuscripts, but I wasn't overwhelmed by the number of submissions. By the end, I seemed to have exactly what I needed for a well-balanced collection. Many wonderful selections and writers were left out mainly because of an overlap of subject matter, more than anything else.

TRC: What about the material surprised you most?

BF: I didn't have any idea what I would receive, and I was most surprised by how honest the writing was. The writers' honesty and openness made me determined to try not to hit a false note in any aspect of the book.

TRC: What is the key to communicating with teenage boys?

BF: I have no idea. I'm not an expert on teenage boys, by any means. I was an editor, and I treated the writers like any other writers I've worked with ---professionally. Any human being likes to be heard and wants to be treated with respect. People can sense when someone values what they have to say. Being an editor was a very privileged position to be in.

TRC: Why are projects like this one so important?

BF: I think people need to respect each other across, and within, generations, genders, races. They need to be able to face up to the hard truths, not to censor, smooth them over, or overanalyze them.

TRC: You have over forty books to your credit, including several poetry and nonfiction titles for children. How did you get into writing?

BF: I was a painting major, and kept it up after graduation (along with other jobs), until my second son was born. I had less and less time to set up my paints, but I absolutely needed to do something creative. Writing only required a pencil (and later a computer). So I switched to freelance writing. I found that poetry and other writing kept me sane. Although I have written for adults, I prefer writing and working with children and young adults.

TRC: Do you have any favorite YA authors?

BF: I guess not. I've been reading books like HOLES by Louis Sachar and the Harry Potter books lately, but those are for a younger audience.

TRC: And finally, what advice do you have for the budding writers out there?

BF: You have things to say that no one else can say. Just don't give up. Half of being a writer is being stubborn and believing in yourself (not so much in a self-esteem way, but knowing you have something to say). For some writers, writing is a matter of survival. You have to be able to accept rejection. I have a very thick folder of rejections; but eventually, after many years, my pile of published books was higher than my rejection pile. I just had to find editors who understood me. If you run into a roadblock (mentally, creatively, financially, emotionally), remember, you're creative --- find a way around it. Find people who can mentor you and support your work. Be flexible but don't give up on your goal. In my case, I found I had to write all kinds of different types of books to make a living, from poetry to nonfiction, from adults to young children. Work very hard.


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