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Lalita Tademy

Goodreads Author

Born

in Berkeley, California, The United States

Website

http://www.lalitatademy.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction

Member Since

October 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/readtad

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LALITA TADEMY left the corporate world to immerse herself in tracing her family's history and writing her first historical novel, CANE RIVER. Her debut was selected by Oprah Winfrey as her summer book group pick in 2001.

Lalita Tademy's second historical novel, RED RIVER is set during Reconstruction-era Louisiana a time period and subject matter often summarily skimmed in our history books. The story of Red River begins in 1873, and follows the ramifications of an incident on Easter Sunday of that year on successive generations of two families involved.

In her latest work, Citizens Creek, Tademy brings us the evocative story of a once-enslaved man who buys his freedom after serving as a translator during the American Indian Wars, and his gran ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What is your research process like, and how do you check your work for historical accuracy? Can you describe an instance when you decided, for dramatic or plot purposes, it was better to overlook historical precedent?

Lalita Tademy Thanks Sam.
Every author's research process is different, but mine has been similar for all 3 of my historical novels. First, I zero in on a time perio…moreThanks Sam.
Every author's research process is different, but mine has been similar for all 3 of my historical novels. First, I zero in on a time period and geography that interests me, and then I read everything I can get my hands on that describes the events that unfolded there. I read non-fiction, fiction, biographies, cultural analyses, political essays, old newspapers, family genealogies, interviews, period cookbooks, old letters, absolutely anything that will give me an increased sense of time and place. I look for the what, and then began to try to understand the why. What was the mood of the times, the conventions and customs, the tensions at play? How can I, as an author of fiction, capture the big picture, keeping in mind that my individual character may not be aware of much of what I know through research and hindsight.
Only after steeping myself in the times do I begin to weave the narrative, and develop the voices of the characters, at which point the need to create a compelling story arc might (and often is) in conflict with absolute faithfulness to a forest of fact. This is the intricate dance - balancing accuracy with storytelling.
The very first time I played (quite guiltily) with what you're calling historical precedent, is when I moved a yellow fever epidemic in Louisiana to 2 years earlier than it really broke out, but it was a convenience to the plot. I justified this to myself by reasoning that the flavor and possibilities of the times trumped an actual date.
After my story is very developed (at least 5 drafts in), I get very serious about inadvertent historical goofs by having "experts" read the manuscript to uncover those obvious and not-so-obvious breaches that I haven't yet caught. And no matter how bullet-proof I think the historical elements are, the publisher's copyeditor usually catches at least a handful of errors - a rifle that can't shoot as far as I've depicted, a river flowing in the wrong direction, a maritime captain who wouldn't be the one to actually steer a vessel, girls playing a game of stickball despite the fact that only boys were allowed to participate at that time in that culture.
And hopefully, most inaccuracy is caught before publication, because if there is even one wrong fact, the unwritten law is that at least one reader will find it:-)(less)

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What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Lalita Tademy Creating a narrative is like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Even though you know the size and shape and colors you're working with, pro…moreCreating a narrative is like putting together a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Even though you know the size and shape and colors you're working with, progress is, at times, painfully slow and seemingly endless, and at other times wonderfully satisfying, a series of pieces falling exactly into their place.
The best thing about all of the process, whether tortured or inspired, is that as the author, you are the only one who can follow these particular characters and ideas and bring them to life. That is a great burden and a great joy.
For me, the research always takes me someplace that I didn't know about before, and I get to live in that world as I create it for my characters and my stories.(less)

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Lalita Tademy’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 54,502 ratings · 3,041 reviews · 9 distinct works • Similar authors

	Cane River 4.08 avg rating — 49,535 ratings — published 2001 — 54 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Red River 3.89 avg rating — 3,380 ratings — published 2006 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Citizens Creek 3.90 avg rating — 1,333 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World: Essays on Equality, Justice, and Freedom by Deborah Santana (Editor), Belva Davis (Contributor), Lalita Tademy (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.31 avg rating — 273 ratings — published 2018	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Citizens Creek really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The 8 Immortals - Rewarding the Honest / Asiapac comic series / Chinese beliefs & legends liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cane River - Abridged (4 Cassettes) by Lalita Tademy (Goodreads Author), Shari Belafonte (Narrator), Edwina Moore (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	γυναικες που δεν λυγισαν 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	gynaikes pou den lygisan sto cane river 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Everywhere You Don't Belong

by Gabriel Bump

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Lost Children Archive

by Valeria Luiselli

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The Memory Police

by Yōko Ogawa

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Nov 30, 2019 02:16PM

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Quotes by Lalita Tademy (?)

“You can't tell how heavy somebody else's load is just from looking. The Lord doesn't give us more than we can carry”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River

tags: cane-river, hardness, heavy, lalita-tademy, life, load, slavery

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“Reaching too deep into something not meant for you is full of pain. Figure out what you can have and work on that”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River

tags: cane-river, hardness, lalita-tademy, life, slavery

21 likes

“Sometimes while you wait for what you think is better," Philomene said, "what is good enough slips away.”
― Lalita Tademy, Cane River

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Polls

What book shall we choose as our 2024 Doorstop of the Year selection?
(To be read in August/September)

Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry

14 votes 31.8%

The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt

9 votes 20.5%

Cane River, by Lalita Tademy

5 votes 11.4%

Look Homeward, Angel, by Thomas Wolfe

5 votes 11.4%

Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell

5 votes 11.4%

Peachtree Road, by Anne Rivers Siddons

3 votes 6.8%

Texas, by James A. Michener

2 votes 4.5%

Complete Stories 1938–1959: A Spinster’s Tale / What You Hear from ’Em? / Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time / Miss Leonora When Last Seen / Other Stories, by Peter Taylor

1 vote 2.3%

44 total votes

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The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	2785	1191	Nov 30, 2010 09:03PM

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