Writing and Film: Writers on Writing

by Latifah Taormina and Lianne Card, USA

On the eve of the publication of her fifth biography for young readers, Edmonia Lewis: Wildfire in Marble — which received the prestigious Carter Woodson Award in 1999 — author Rinna Wolfe said softly, "I finally feel like a writer." And almost as an afterthought, she added, "It's taken me a lifetime to be able to say that."

Certainly she didn't start out as a writer, or if she did, she didn't know it. It's true there were writers in her family "so I could say it's in my genes," Rinna laughs. "My uncle Bert, whom I adored, was quite a noted biographer. [Bertram Wolfe: Three Who Made a Revolution: Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky. Plus other titles.— ed.] I have neither his brilliance nor his abilities. But I credit his 'stick-to-it-iveness' for helping me when disillusionment sets in. For this I am glad." One could also argue that growing up in New York City on a rich diet of social issues among passionate intellectuals would have some impact on her ability to develop a "voice." But that's not what sparked her writing.

It was teaching that got her started. Rinna was a brand new teacher at Vandenberg Missile Base in Lompoc, California and wanted to introduce her fifth graders to Impressionist painters. "I wanted them to 'meet' artists I love." She was supposed to be teaching them about nouns, verbs, and adjectives. "But how can you learn something in the abstract? So I sat down and wrote a two-page biography on my favorite artist — using plenty of nouns, verbs, and adjectives to do the job!"

Was it grammar or a little homegrown chutzpah at work here? Certainly the latter was evident in her growing up. When her father urged young Rinna to take the test to become a Civil Servant, Grade One, she took it and passed with flying colors. But she refused a civil servant. Instead she fibbed about her age (nineteen) and landed a job as a top buyer for a huge chain store! What did she do as the buyer? She roughed out the "copy" for the merchandise she purchased that went to the advertising department!

Maybe Someone Up There had other plans?

Other plans certainly loomed with her teaching. One day, quite out of the blue, with no experience behind her, she decided to write a whole book on Joan Miro. It was 1965.

She took a leave of absence, without pay, and tackled her first real manuscript. Joan Miro, Magician of Color. She took copious notes. She went from gallery to gallery to soak up every ounce of his work. She even trekked across Europe to knock on his door to visit the artist in his home. The experience was incredible. "It opened up a whole new way of looking at, thinking about and seeing paintings inside me," Rinna says. Sadly because of the high cost of reproducing art, the book, which is one of her favorites, is still unpublished. "But I do have a hand-written letter from Miro," she adds. "He liked the book!"

As her appetite for writing began to grow, so did her reputation as a teacher. In 1967 she was hired to be the first Black Studies teacher for the Berkeley Middle School. That she was also Caucasian caused somewhat of a stir, but she was the one who knew the material. Soon she was not only developing material for her students, but also writing serious articles for teachers in professional educational journals.

Rinna who seems to have been born with a natural affinity for those who struggle for freedom, equality and social justice, now began to research and write about the lives of those whose very becoming challenged the status quo and put their humanness to the test. Although the lives Rinna has written about are often heroic when examined in retrospect, her subjects usually were too busy overcoming obstacles and thriving in spite of them, to be concerned about being perceived as heroes.

Twenty years after her Miro project Rinna's first real biography for young readers was published. The Singing Pope is about John Paul II. One of Rinna's biggest thrills was actually meeting the Pope and receiving his papal blessing for the gift of her book! [Rinna's remarkable story about meeting the Pope will be published in a later edition of INSPIRE. - ed.]

By this time Rinna had begun to develop an approach to her biographies, and they grew firmer and more confident with each effort. With her book on the Pope she began with "tons of notes" on colored 5 x 7 inch catalog cards — blue for the early years, green for the "salad days", yellow for maturity and orange for important historical events which occurred during his lifetime. Now, four published biographies later, this has evolved into sets of notebooks with colored dividers for the stages of the person's life. But all those careful details are still there. Over several months she fits the pieces of a life together, rewriting as she works. Multiple drafts focus and tighten her vision. Starting with a "hook" — a major or minor event that will entice her young readers to read on — Rinna entices her readers to read on. Her biographies usually close on an upbeat note. She is adamant about never patronizing young adults..

Her process is not easy. "But," she insists, "arduous and at times painful as the work has been, I have loved walking and living with everyone I chose to write about. And what I learned and how I stretched within, I would never have suspected was possible. And sometimes," she adds with a twinkle, "the writing itself brings an indescribable lightness that has me dancing around the room."

Each biography has its own adventure, its own learning. Charles Richard Drew, M.D. was included in the 1991 children's book list of Science and Films. Cobblestone Magazine for children invited Rinna to share her Mary McLeod Bethune biography and be a co-editor for their February 1996 issue, which was devoted entirely to Mrs. Bethune. The Calvin Simmons Story took seven drafts to complete, "but this is the book that taught me to create reality clearly on paper — and keep music in my heart."

Critics call Rinna Wolfe's latest book, Edmonia Lewis: Wildfire in Marble "masterful." It's cited as "an amazing story of courage" and "an admiral account of the first woman of African American-Chippewa heritage to gain international stature as a sculptor." The National Council of Social Studies granted Rinna the prestigious Carter G. Woodson award for her work on Edmonia. Woodson, an African-American historian after whom the award is named, originated the observance of national Black History month in the USA.

"My themes," Rinna observed in a recent article for Subud USA Life, "seem to be similar: people's struggles to accomplish their goals, overcome obstacles, fight for their convictions, and help to bring equality to everyone."

"Some readers miss the message. Some always will. But my wish is for readers to enjoy the written word and open their hearts and minds to the savoring of their own lives. Besides, learning a bit about lost history in the process isn't a bad thing either."

Writing, like reading, Rinna explains, is a tool. Both open you up to bigger worlds, but unlike reading, writing is a way to share it. So the whole process is kind of like an interactive learning in which you tug and pull at what's in front of you, inside you and off lurking in distant corners until you know what you're holding is real.

For Rinna, what's real is inside people. "So I write about people — people of passion and conviction; people who break down the barriers of ignorance, prejudice and isolation. I write about doers, people who see a need and fill it; people who explore the unexplored, people who don't always take no for an answer. Most of all I write about people whose lives can be examples, whose stories can inspire others to move forward to fulfill their personal dreams — people I love.

Throughout her last twenty years as a writer, Rinna remembers the Catalan saying of Joan Miro, whose influence as an artist started her on her path. "Plant your feet firmly on the ground, the better to jump higher into the air." Out of the dense detail of individual lives, she has found a way to soar and fly.

VISIT INPSPIRE'S PUBLISH PUBLISH PAGE TO ORDER THE EDMONIA LEWIS BOOK.

The above article is a synthesis of articles, letters, and conversations with and about award-winning biographer, Rinna Evelyn Wolfe - her life, her books, her writing, her passions. Special thanks to Lianne Card who began this project and whose many contributions merit her being listed as a co-author of the piece. LT.

A BRIEF BIO:

Born in Brooklyn, New York Rinna Evelyn Wolfe received a B.B.A. from City College New York and an MA in Creative Arts from San Francisco State. She was a chain store buyer in New York before beginning a teaching career in California. She taught African American history to teachers and children (grades 2-8). During her tenure Ms. Wolfe received a fellowhip and several grants to enrich children's sense of history and the arts. Rinna Wolfe is the author of more than a dozen articles on education and several biographies for young readers.

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