Art Chowder September | October Issue No. 29 | Page 29

You have written about strong women in both fiction and nonfiction.
What brought you to women as subjects?
Men are boring. There, I’ve said it! Don’t @ me, guys, LOL.
Seriously, I find women’s lives much more interesting than men’s.
We’ve always been the underdog, for one thing. In patriarchy,
women have to be smarter, better looking, better at everything to
succeed. Our struggles and challenges have made us stronger, wiser,
and more cunning and wily. While men — especially white men —
skate along on their immense privilege; women have to be constantly
devising workarounds, and continually proving ourselves worthy of
whatever prize.
So, I write about women in history who’ve overcome the obstacles
and the odds to reach their fullest potential — or as close to “fullest”
as the world would allow.
A’isha, the protagonist of my novels The Jewel of Medina and The
Sword of Medina, was given to the Prophet Muhammad in marriage
when she was only nine years old, but she became a respected
stateswoman, heroic warrior, and revered religious authority.
Billy Tipton (from Wikipedia)
The four sisters from Provence who became Four Sisters, All Queens
were also given in marriage, to kings or brothers of kings, when they
were just 12 and 13, but they all ruled kingdoms and changed the
course of history.
Heloise, the 12th-century scholar in The Sharp Hook of Love, had
to give up her infant and join a convent when her secret husband
Abelard was banished to a monastery. She founded her own abbey
that became, with five daughter houses, one of the largest in Europe.
They say every writer has one story to tell. I guess that’s mine:
woman’s struggle to achieve great things. I’m still living that
narrative. Someday, maybe I’ll write my own story, and be my own
heroine.
You have been writing and publishing for some time? Has your
focus changed and what are you working on now?
I started writing professionally at 18, when I talked my way into a
reporting job with my hometown North Carolina newspaper. But
I’ve wanted to write novels since I was a child. I took the plunge into
fiction by beginning The Jewel of Medina in February 2002. I was
lucky to get a two-book deal with Random House right out of the
chute.
The trajectory of my work has changed. My early books took place
during the Middle Ages. Now I’ve moved into the 20th century. I’m
getting more and more contemporary — closer to writing my own
story.
Dorothy/Billy Tipton
Now I’m writing a novel about Billy Tipton, a
Spokane icon. A lot of your readers no doubt
know of him: He was a jazz musician who lived in
Spokane during his later years. He had five wives
in all and adopted three sons, but not until he died
did anyone know that he was biologically female.
Even his wives said they never knew! What a story!
Billy’s story is, again, the tale of a woman who
did what she had to do in a man’s world to claim
her power. His biographer says he first dressed
as a man in 1933 after getting turned down for
jazz gigs. “Dorothy” was a talented musician and
classically trained, but no one would hire a girl.
She put on a man’s suit and slicked back her hair,
tried out, and got the job. She lived and performed
as a man for 56 years.
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