Patricia Lee Gauch is an author, as well as the former Vice President and Editorial Director for Philomel Books, where she worked for nearly 25 years before stepping down in 2009. Two months after joining the organization in 1985, a galley for Redwall was given to her. She proceeded to offer Brian Jacques a contract, and edited 16 of the 22 Redwall novels.
We recently spoke to Patti for some thoughts on her career and work with Brian Jacques.
You started off as a reporter for the Louisville Journal. What inspired you to leave journalism and become a children's author?
My uncle, Ray Pearson, was city editor of The Detroit News, so when asked what I was going to do, I said, of course, be a reporter. It seemed simple enough to me. I was the first woman's editor of The Miami Student, my Miami University college newspaper. I loved tracking down a good story, and I loved my job at The Courier Journal in Louisville (My husband Ron was in the army at Fort Knox, nearby).
When Ron got out of the army, and we came back to Detroit, I was a female, and they weren't hiring females. I was heart-broken. I had loved every minute of my reporting in Louisville. Writing to a creative writing professor about my dilemma, he said, "Why don't you try children's books?" His name was Walter Havighurst and he had published several.
How did writing books lead to a career as an editor for Philomel? Was it eye-opening seeing the publishing industry from that perspective?
Interesting question. Maybe it came from the same place as my loving journalism. I loved working with people, nosing around, having adventure when it showed up. When my three children went off to college, I had already published 6 or 8 books of my own, some picture books, some easy read, three or four novels. I mentioned to my editor Margaret Frith that I might be interested in editorial work at Putnam...me trying to envision a world without my children. Margaret was the one who hired me, without experience, to be editor in chief of Philomel Books, the home of [The Very Hungry Caterpillar author] Eric Carle and other major artists and authors. It was spunky of her. And she caught me at just the right time. I said yes.
As publisher of Putnam she was often sent British books, Brit publishers looking to sell their books to the lucrative American market. Margaret got the galleys for Redwall. And this is the truth: Margaret doesn't like mice, and rejected her taking the book on that basis! So, since she had just hired me and wanted to support me, she handed the galleys over to me. “Did I want this book?” she asked. I read Redwall and, of course, I knew instantly that I wanted it. It was adventuresome and fun and extraordinarily well written. I was off and running.
Can you describe how you approached the editorial process?
I had been a teacher of English even as I had begun publishing my own work. I came to publishing with a literary eye ... It was an immense challenge...
[Jacques] had little regard for grammar. It was an awesome responsibility, but I took to it like Matthias did to Martin's sword. Less cutting, of course. Brian's books came in almost finished. My work was supporting logic and description, but I did almost no restructuring. Brian was as strong as his narrator. Plenty of energy, strength. He owned his stories, heart and soul, and beware the editor who trampled far on his story in any size or shape.
In Martin the Warrior, Brian Jacques named a mouse character in your honor, Gauchee. Was that a surprise? How did you feel when you saw her appear in the pages?
Somehow I knew about the mouse. I think he dedicated this book to me as well, as I recollect. Maybe that was the book that I took over the editing of the book. We were dear friends for most of the years we worked together. I am sure he wanted to say thank you, but I loved being in Martin. It was always one of my favorite Redwall books. There is a wonderful energy in it. And it is so rich in texture. Lovely book.
Cover artist Troy Howell has mentioned that you handed him the Redwall manuscript in your office and said, "I think this is for you." He would go on to create the U.S. covers for all 22 novels in the series. How did you know he was the right man for the job at that time?
The British version was less artistically substantial, and, to me, made it less classical. I felt the book was so powerful, I wanted an artist who had the creative power to create a memorable character but with the energy of a truly original artist. Everything about Troy's jackets bespoke individuality and design and even color.
The British illustrator seemed to be out of the fantasy illustrator barrel, less artistic. Maybe to the British publisher it was more commercial.
How did your professional relationship with Brian Jacques expand from being his editor to being his friend? Is there something about Brian Jacques that people might be surprised to learn?
I think Brian was very much like his narrator. Big, bold, blustery. He was strong and witty and "knew how to tell a good yarn" as he said. He did not dwell on interior stories, as much as he thought of the child reader and "telling that yarn."
You may know that he wrote his first book colorfully and in short chapters because he imagined them being read to children at The School for the Blind in Liverpool. In place of scenes they could actually see, he would create scenes graphically, enough to keep the blind children, listening to the stories being read, on the edge of their chairs. He, of course, succeeded to a magnificent degree. He created memorable, wonderfully graphic stories.
Thank you so much for your time, Patti!
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