Teenagers in Love (Interview)

It's spring and love/lust is in the air - and on bookshelves, thanks to anthologist Andrea N. Richesin.

To create her latest title, Crush, Richesin asked 26 authors to remember when love was exciting and new. Not surprisingly, most of those times coincided with the writer's ride on the roller-coaster of adolescence.

And while I enjoyed Crush quite a bit, I hesitate to recommend the (whole) book to my daughter, or anyone at that first crush/serious relationship stage, because many of these crushes went all the way. If you know what I mean, wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

To clarify: this is a PG-rated book; there are no graphic scenes, sexually or otherwise. Still... I'm one of those moms who doesn't want to condone teenage sex. Excuse me.  [[[Deep breath. BIG SIGH.]]]

OK, I'm back. There for a minute I thought I might have to face reality. Whew.

Anyway, whether your teenage years were PG-rated or not, you know what first love is, how crazy a crush can make you, and that no two experiences are the same. To review the book in a nutshell, it's good - because no two of these essays are the same, and you'll want to read them all.

Now... let's talk to the woman who put all those stories to bed.

("To bed" is publishing industry lingo for "to the printer." Get your mind out of the gutter!)

Dishing about Crush with Anthologist Andrea Richesin

How many essays did you solicit and/or review before selecting the ones that appear in this anthology?

I contacted roughly 75 authors to contribute to the collection and I read about 35 essays all together.

So 26 writers told you all about their first loves, or crushes. Did any of them tell you TOO much? And did any of the writers you approached refuse to divulge their early experiences, citing heartbreak or total embarrassment?
  I suppose you could reveal too much, but that all depends on how you tell the story. Yes, many of the contributors expressed some anxiety about delving into their tender teen diaries and remembering the boys they pined after. I believe most memoir writers have to be willing to confront feelings of discomfort and embarrassment to convey their true emotions. I’m in awe of the Crush contributors for being able to adequately convey what they felt, who they were and what their loved ones meant to them. I’ve never felt that way again and I doubt I ever will. So it makes the telling all the more dramatic and shattering.

Notably absent is your essay on a first love. C'mon! What would it say...in 50 words or less?

I fell in love with a charming boy who was crazy and scared, but lovely and ready to grow up. We loved each other at a time in our lives when we desperately needed to feel affection and as if we were understood. I envy them their love for each other.

I enjoyed Crush immensely - as I told you, I read it in one sitting! - but of your four anthologies, Because I Love Her is still my favorite. Which is yours, and why?

I love all of my anthologies for different reasons. I love The May Queen because she was my first book and it was unbelievably exciting to be published and to share that experience with my best friend and contributor Kimberley Askew. Because I Love Her also meant a lot to me because I’ve struggled in my relationship with my mother. I wanted to present a collection of essays that wasn’t sentimental, but took a hard look at the mother-daughter relationship and how complex it can truly be. What I Would Tell Her came as a complete surprise to me. I was floored by the emotional outpouring in the father’s essays, many of which brought me to tears. Crush was the hardest anthology I’ve edited as it didn’t go according to plan and thus required more work. I’m satisfied with it as an examination of first love, but I would have liked to have included a few more men in the collection.

Where will you take us with your next book?

I’m in the beginning stages of working on a follow-up to The May Queen about being a woman in one’s forties. I hope to work with the same contributors and a few new ones. I’m excited to see how these writers’ lives have changed and what has transpired differently from what they imagined six years ago. I would also like this collection to take the form of a backlash to the media’s attempt to portray older women as crones or cougars. I’ve been offended by the negative caricatures of older women in film and on TV. I’d like to see how the contributors investigate many issues facing women in their forties: struggling with infertility, caring for their children and elderly parents and aging gracefully with dignity rather than trying to be forever 21.

I know you've been busy, but I'm pretty sure you make time to read, too. Of the books you've read in the past couple of years, what are some of your favorites? And what's on top of your reading pile?

I loved Julie Orringer’s The Invisible Bridge, Jo Ann Beard’s The Boys of My Youth, Rumer Godden’s memoirs, and The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer. Right now, I’m reading In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard. I’m also anxious to read Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder and Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos. 

There you have it, a woman in love with books... who brings 'em to market and still makes time to read. Now what about you? What are you reading? Crush is available tomorrow...why not grab a copy and remember what grabbed you about your first love?

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Beyond the Crush

Faithful readers of this blog will remember that I had a major crush on Richesin's first anthology, Because I Love Her, about mothers and daughters. I still recommend it highly. It's a lovely gift for any mom, of course, but especially - perhaps - for YOUR mom? In case it's just kind of hard to talk to mom about being a mom? Um, you know who you are. (And yes, I am.)