4.SR: How has your educational background been beneficial to you as a writer?
Susanna: My education combined traditional academics with intensive training in the arts, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a dancer, an anthropologist, or perhaps an art historian. So while I pursued a challenging academic program in high school, I also studied at the school of American Ballet Theater and at the Royal Academy of Dance in London. At Bennington College and later at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University I studied linguistics, English, psychology, anthropology, and history, as well as dance, art, acting, directing, video, lighting design, and voice. Then I did graduate work in dance ethnology and movement analysis. By the time I was finished I had acquired research skills, discipline, and an understanding of composition and the creative process. At that time I had no idea I would someday write books for children. I also took French and Latin in high school and later studied a little bit of Greek, Italian, and German on my own. Familiarily with foreign languages is always useful to a writer.
5.SR: To what do you attribute your interest in biography?
Susanna: I like to figure out what makes people tick, what motivates them, what shapes them. I love to do research and then put all the pieces together to create a coherent and interesting story.
6.SR: What made you decide to write about Clara Schumann?
Susanna: It was actually my mother's idea. She's a musicologist and had written a biography of Clara Schumann for adults.
7.SR: Please describe your research process. How did you begin and go about your research for Clara Schuman?
Susanna: I already knew a lot about Clara Schumann from my mother, who'd been doing research on the subject since the 1970's. She guided me to all the sources I needed, such as Clara's letters and diaries, books on Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and other 19th century composers, and a book written by one of Clara's daughters. I wanted to use quotes from
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