Faith and Will

Author Lynne Kositsky is building a reputation as the creator of thought-provoking books for young people. Born in Montreal and currently living in Willowdale, Ontario, Kositsky wrote the remarkable Candles for Roussan Publishing's "Beloved Books," the first in this series of novels dealing with questions of faith. Faith is a dominating subject in Rebecca's Flame (Roussan), a novel that raised a controversy in Jewish literary circles with its portrayal of a Jewish girl who falls in love with a Catholic boy, later converting to Catholiscism to marry him.

A Question of Will (Roussan) is Kositsky's current novel, and again deals with a controversial issue, that of the true authorship of the plays attributed to Shakespeare.

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Paula: How long have you been a writer and how did you decide upon a writing career?

Lynne: I've been a writer for as long as I can remember, although up until about four years ago I wrote only adult poetry. Suddenly I made the breakthrough to prose, writing short stories and then novels. I've written six novels in two and a half years (three have already come out) and have three new ones swirling round my brain as we speak. I don't think I ever decided on a writing career. It decided on me. But it was only two years ago that I had the courage to give up my day job--I was a teacher--and trust in fate enough to write full time.

Paula: Why do you choose to write children's literature?

Lynne: Again, it's not something I consciously choose. I just write, and my publisher decides who my readers will be. My books are extremely hard to categorize. Adults seem to enjoy them as much as children do. But if pushed I would say I'm probably fixated at a sixteen-year-old level, so I write about young people. And I love plot that's full of twists and turns and suspense, which meshes well with children's writing. I was so thrilled when the Montreal Review of Books wrote of Rebecca's Flame that it was filled with suspense from start to finish. That was better than winning an award!

Paula: What are your goals as a writer?

Lynne: To entertain, to learn, and I suppose, to a certain degree, to instruct. I can't help that part. It's the teacher in me. Most of my books are about delineating or righting some kind of injustice, and that's very important to me.

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