“Gray Heroes: Elder Tales from Around the World"

April 08, 1999

Jane Yolen chats about “Gray Heroes: Elder Tales from Around the World,” a collection that celebrates the riches of wisdom that only experience can furnish. Ranging from short, pithy parables to longer folktales and origin myths, these stories prove you are never too old.

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NetCafeLive: Welcome to NetCafeLive, where we host authors and celebrities throughout the month. Thanks for joining us! Borders NetCafeLive is a joint production of Borders.com(tm) & Talk City(tm), a Talk City, Inc. Production. Tonight's guest is Jane Yolen, here to talk about "Gray Heroes- Elder Tales from Around the World." Jane Yolen, described by Newsweek as the "Hans Christian Anderson of America,” has edited this collection of 75 stories from the world's storehouse of folklore. It will inspire and amuse elders and youngsters of all ages. A welcome antidote to our youth-obsessed culture, "Gray Heroes" celebrates the riches of wisdom that only experience can furnish. Ranging from short, pithy parables to longer folktales and originmyths, these stories prove you are never too old. Borders.com and Talkcity.com is pleased to welcome, tonight's guest Jane Yolen. Welcome to Talk City, Jane!

Jane Yolen: I'm delighted to be here, interviewing the easy way!

NetCafeLive: What prompted you to create this collection?

Jane Yolen: Partially, the fact that I was heading quickly towards 60. And also, surprisingly, the Internet! Someone in a chat group I am in said they liked a couple of elder stories, and asked if anyone knew of any others. Me, being the friendly folkloress, went to recommend some -- and found there weren't any! So, I decided to fill an empty slot!

NetCafeLive: I am looking forward to this collection. Can you give us a little preview about what to expect?

Jane Yolen: There's a long introduction, that is both personal and anecdotal and academic. There are the stories, divided into four sections. First is Wisdom, Second is Trickery, the stepbrother of Wisdom. Third is Adventure, folktales from around the world where older characters kick dragon butt, and the Fourth is A Little Bit of Love. There are complete notes at the end of the stories, as to where they fit in in the world scheme of stories. The book is only a trade paperback; there is no hardcover edition.

Defiant: This is on a more personal note, but how does it feel to be a grandmother?

Jane Yolen: (laughing) If I had known, I would have started with the grandchildren first! It's wonderful! I love it!

TheWIZ: Do you have a writing routine, or do you just write when in the mood?

Jane Yolen: I want to cite first a very smart man, William Faulkner, who said, "I write only when inspired. Luckily, I am inspired every morning at nine o'clock." If you wait for inspiration and want to make a living, you will wait a LONG time between paychecks. You learn to sit at the keyboard while inspiration strikes. When I am home, and not on a book tour, I get up between 6 and six-thirty, and go upstairs, check the e-mail, then have some tea and breakfast, watch a little news on TV, and make sure I am upstairs again at 7am, ready to go. I'm up there straight until 4 or 5pm, if I have no meetings or business stuff remains, answering mail, rewrites. The bad thing about being successful is that the business end overwhelms the art.

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