I’ll bet F. Scott Fitzgerald never had his book shipped to him with a garden hose. That’s what Amazon did with my book THE MARTIN LUTHER KING MITZVAH the other day. I was surprised to see it pushed into the hose package.
Back to my first love, writing short stories. This one was a joy to write. Doing proofreading in my favorite cafe is a great way to start off the day.
FITZROY BOOKS EDITOR JAYNIE ROYAL INTERVIEW WITH MATHEW TEKULSKY, AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL THE MARTIN LUTHER KING MITZVAH, FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY 2019:
JR: The role of Martin Luther King, Jr. in your novel is so central that the title is named after him. What made Martin Luther King, Jr. such a predominant theme in your work?
MT: The Martin Luther King theme came about by accident. It was during the scene where Adam and Sally visit the blacklisted author Gladys McKinley, and her housekeeper Honey hears Gladys talking about her “friend” Martin Luther King. I knew the kids needed a reading list for their English class at school, so I used The Adventures ofHuckleberry Finnas a subtheme to what I knew would later be a statement about the Vietnam War. Racial prejudice in Mark Twain’s time had not disappeared, and it hadn’t disappeared in 1967 when my book takes place. In fact, it hasn’t disappeared to this day. Once Gladys tells Honey that she will take her to meet Martin Luther King, I knew then that the remainder of the book would involve Dr. King himself and his interaction with the kids and how they would be inspired by him. I did not know that Gladys knew Dr. King personally when I started the book. It just happened.
JR: What do you think kids should know about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work today and how does your novel illustrate this?
MT: By the time my novel takes place, in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. had developed his message beyond civil rights and racial equality. He had become committed to fighting for a world in which there was peace, as well as economic equality among all people, white or black. He even advocated for a guaranteed annual income for all Americans in his book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, which I cite in the novel. It is ironic that Senator Berrnie Sanders’ economic message in the 2016 primaries was basically the same message that Martin Luther King, Jr. was preaching in his own time. If Senator Sanders had mentioned that he was basically channeling Dr. King, he might have attracted more African-American votes. I would like kids to know that Dr. King was a pacifist who spoke out against the Vietnam War and put his career and on the line for doing so; and that he wanted America’s working people to have a decent, living wage. He was in Memphis supporting the sanitation workers’ strike when he was assassinated.
JR: Political activism is on the rise today. In The Martin Luther King Mitzvah, kids protest against the Vietnam War and engage in marches outside their middle school. What message does this convey to kids growing up today?
MT: In today’s world, America has become too accepting of violence as an answer to our problems. The United States’ military involvement in countries throughout the Middle East is accepted by the general population in the U.S., indeed, it is glorified. There are no protests specifically against these military entanglements. But war should only be the last resort, when diplomacy has failed. There is not enough diplomacy in today’s political world. I would like kids to know that in a democracy, every citizen has the right, indeed, the duty to speak out when he or she sees injustice. In this way, kids can contribute to making the world a better place, and maybe they can even teach their parents how to be better people at the same time. During the 1960s, kids were trying to teach their parents about stopping war, so maybe today’s kids can do the same thing.
Just in case you thought writing was easy…it is extremely complex…pacing, choice of words, etc. Manuscript page Copyright © 2019 Mathew Tekulsky. Leonard Cohen in a documentary said he went to music to avoid the blank page of writing novels. I can understand that but I’m not a songwriter.
I think Martin Luther King, Jr. would appreciate that symbolism in this portrait taken by my friend James Lee Stern, especially on Christmas.
