Meow, meow [clears throat] today we're doing it the cat way with The Cat Way by Swedish author-illustrator Sara Lundberg and translated by B.J. Woodstein. My entire life has pretty much been done the cat way, so this interview felt quite natural to me! I hope you enjoy a peek at how this book and our main character came together.
About the book:
When a cat and her human go for walks, the human always decides where they go and what they do. "But what if it were the other way around?" the cat asks one day. So the next time, the human follows the cat. When the cat is in control, she wants to stop more often, and she wants to chase squirrels and climb up trees. Her human finds all these detours ridiculous. But when you walk at a cat's pace, you can see the most amazing things.
Let's talk Sara Lundberg!
LTPB: Where did the idea for The Cat Way come from? How long did you work on the book before you submitted it?
SL: The idea came from my cat Sassa. She was a lovely cat that taught us a lot about life. She loved to go for walks, without a leash. We would play hide and seek with her. Of course, there was always a fear of her disappearing, and sometimes she would be gone for a while. But she would always come back to us.
Unfortunately, Sassa is not with us anymore, so this book is an homage to her. But it is also a story about how important it is to be open to the wild, intuitive side, have the courage to step outside your safe box, and get a little lost. You might discover something wonderfully surprising. That has happened to me many times in life.
SL: The idea came from my cat Sassa. She was a lovely cat that taught us a lot about life. She loved to go for walks, without a leash. We would play hide and seek with her. Of course, there was always a fear of her disappearing, and sometimes she would be gone for a while. But she would always come back to us.
Unfortunately, Sassa is not with us anymore, so this book is an homage to her. But it is also a story about how important it is to be open to the wild, intuitive side, have the courage to step outside your safe box, and get a little lost. You might discover something wonderfully surprising. That has happened to me many times in life.
I wrote the first part in 2019 and submitted it to my publisher. But I was working on another book at the time that I had to finish before diving back into The Cat Way. When I started working on it again a year or so later, I wrote the second part. It first came out the spring of 2023 in Sweden.
LTPB: Can you talk a little bit about the visual evolution of the characters we meet in The Cat Way? As you got to know the characters and formulated the story, how did your illustrations evolve?
SL: Cats are difficult animals to capture; they have such depth. I wanted the cat in this story to look like Sassa, with her black and white fur, and I decided to make her quite realistic. The cat also represents the mysterious and the unknown. She is the wiser of the two characters.
The human is more cartoony. I had a clear image in my head of what kind of character the human would be, what hair color and clothes he/she would wear. So that was easy. I wanted it to be unclear how old the human is and what gender. For me, gender was not important for this story. I just wanted it to be a human. One could say that the human is a mix of me and my kids. What was important was the relationship between animal and human.
LTPB: What did you find most difficult in creating this book? What did you find most rewarding?
SL: Well, again, drawing cats is difficult. But perhaps the most challenging was putting together parts one and two, making them distinctly different, figuring out the tone.
I rewrote the story many times before I found the right path. I had an idea of writing the second part from the cat’s perspective so there would be two different I’s. But it didn’t work out. I realized it would take away the mysteriousness of the cat. Writing from the human’s perspective was much easier, and also funnier.
I always like to experiment with my stories. Since the book consists of these two parts, it has an unconventional dramaturgy. In the second part, the climax of the story is when they are lost in the woods, the human has fallen off a cliff and just wants to go home. And it is very dark. In that dark night of the soul, there is a moment of awe, when the starry sky is exposed. I am very happy that I got a fold-out spread to illustrate this very special epiphany.
It is always rewarding when the book is published and both critics and readers like it. In fact, the Royal Theatre in Stockholm has decided to adapt the story to the stage, and it will premiere in December of this year. I am very excited about that.
LTPB: What did you use to create the illustrations in this book? Is this your preferred medium?
SL: I used watercolor and gouache. In a few of the spreads I use collage. In most of my books, I do the illustrations in this medium. Sometimes to break my habit, I use crayons or some other dry medium. But I really do like watercolor. The unpredictability of it. I like that I am not completely in control of the outcome. I like to be surprised. With watercolor, one can make mistakes that can be transformed into something good. And I make mistakes all the time. I also like how the water-based mediums flow. It’s easy and fast to apply on paper, and it dries so beautifully.
LTPB: What are you working on now? Anything you can show us?
SL: I’ve just finished a book written by Sara Stridsberg. This our second book together. She wrote Summer of Diving a couple of years ago, and I illustrated it. This time, it is a story about two wolves playing hide and seek outside. It’s a story about being separated from the one you love and the deep longing for the other. I made the illustrations with oily crayons this time and had a lot of fun with it. It was like drawing with lipstick.
LTPB: If you got the chance to write your own picture book autobiography, who (dead or alive!) would you want to illustrate it, and why?
SL: Funny question. I had to think about it for a while. There are so many talented illustrators out there. If Tove Jansson was alive. I would have loved to collaborate with her on my autobiography!
LTPB: Can you talk a little bit about the visual evolution of the characters we meet in The Cat Way? As you got to know the characters and formulated the story, how did your illustrations evolve?
SL: Cats are difficult animals to capture; they have such depth. I wanted the cat in this story to look like Sassa, with her black and white fur, and I decided to make her quite realistic. The cat also represents the mysterious and the unknown. She is the wiser of the two characters.
LTPB: What did you find most difficult in creating this book? What did you find most rewarding?
SL: Well, again, drawing cats is difficult. But perhaps the most challenging was putting together parts one and two, making them distinctly different, figuring out the tone.
I rewrote the story many times before I found the right path. I had an idea of writing the second part from the cat’s perspective so there would be two different I’s. But it didn’t work out. I realized it would take away the mysteriousness of the cat. Writing from the human’s perspective was much easier, and also funnier.
It is always rewarding when the book is published and both critics and readers like it. In fact, the Royal Theatre in Stockholm has decided to adapt the story to the stage, and it will premiere in December of this year. I am very excited about that.
LTPB: What did you use to create the illustrations in this book? Is this your preferred medium?
SL: I used watercolor and gouache. In a few of the spreads I use collage. In most of my books, I do the illustrations in this medium. Sometimes to break my habit, I use crayons or some other dry medium. But I really do like watercolor. The unpredictability of it. I like that I am not completely in control of the outcome. I like to be surprised. With watercolor, one can make mistakes that can be transformed into something good. And I make mistakes all the time. I also like how the water-based mediums flow. It’s easy and fast to apply on paper, and it dries so beautifully.
SL: I’ve just finished a book written by Sara Stridsberg. This our second book together. She wrote Summer of Diving a couple of years ago, and I illustrated it. This time, it is a story about two wolves playing hide and seek outside. It’s a story about being separated from the one you love and the deep longing for the other. I made the illustrations with oily crayons this time and had a lot of fun with it. It was like drawing with lipstick.
SL: Funny question. I had to think about it for a while. There are so many talented illustrators out there. If Tove Jansson was alive. I would have loved to collaborate with her on my autobiography!
A big thank you to Sara for taking time to answer some questions! The Cat Way publishes TODAY from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers!
Special thanks to Sara and Eerdmans for use of these images!
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