“The fact that the Junior Judges — actual children! — felt such a connection to my book has been the greatest encouragement.”
Congratulations again, has your win sunk in?
The win started to sink in when I received a congratulatory phone call from the founder of the Bath Novel Awards. She has the loveliest English accent, and I’d never heard such beautifully delivered words on the other end of the line before.
Tell us about the build-up to the announcement and moment you heard that your picture book text The Train with No End had won?
It was a little after 3:00 am, and I was very ill with COVID. I had not slept properly for four days, especially since our furnace had broken down (the fevers were fine as a result, but the chills less so). When I read the opening lines of the other shortlisted books, I didn’t think that my book would be chosen.
When I discovered I had, I felt such a surge of feverish joy!
Waiting for the longlist was so exciting. The build-up to the shortlist was stressful. By the time the final announcement was made, my nerves were completely frayed. The Bath Awards are always a brilliant rollercoaster of emotion, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The fact that the Junior Judges—actual children!—felt such a connection to my book has been the greatest encouragement.
You’re our first Canadian winner. Tell us about where you live …
It’s cold and rugged here—very beautiful. At the moment we’re completely buried in snow.
Incidentally, I was puzzled when several of the English writers who made the longlist described feeling “chuffed.” If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought they were having indigestion or an adverse allergic reaction. Perhaps the main difference between English and Canadians, aside from our clearly inferior accents, is that many Canadians don’t even know what “chuffed” means!
You’re also the first author to win with a picture book text …
I’m delighted! This manuscript has been sitting quietly for years, and I hope that it will finally be given the opportunity to grow into a fully illustrated book.
What’s the dream for you, as an author?
A few rare books reach their full true potential. The Little Prince is one of them. Watership Down is another. (Even as a child, I knew that the words I was reading were transcendent.) I felt the same elation recently when I read Laurel Snyder’s Orphan Island and thought, Now that is the perfect metaphor!
I’m deeply flawed as a writer and human being. Still, my dream is to create a book with that same sort of intangible quality. A book that achieves its full potential.
Jessica Hare said in her judge’s comments that The Train with No End is “a gorgeous picture book text about the journey of life which brings a tear to my eye every time I read it – and this is one you can’t help but re-read – and which speaks to something eternal in a genuinely moving and refreshing way.” How did it feel to read those comments?
I am so pleased that something I created could evoke those feelings in another person.
Tell us why you wrote The Train with No End and what it’s about.
I have experienced significant pain in this life; I have also watched helplessly as others have suffered. When my daughters were born, I was acutely aware that they too must experience pain. I wanted to find a way to convey the message that even though grief and loss are inevitable, there is beauty in the world. We’re all part of something so much bigger.
The Train with No End taps into the great mystery of our lives: why we are here and where we will go when we die. Henry, the main character, is warmly received when he first boards the train as an infant. As he grows, progressing through the stages that comprise a full life, he is filled with a longing to find the Engineer. Although he never does uncover the train’s beginning or its end, he is not afraid to disembark when the train reaches his final stop. Henry is lovingly received once again, this time by those who have gone before him.
“I wanted to find a way to convey the message that even though grief and loss are inevitable, there is beauty in the world.”
Do you always picture your daughters as your reader when writing?
Other children inspire me as well. Some years ago, I mentored a brilliant little girl whose head was brimming with outlandish notions. She was convinced, for example, that the Devil was a paid position and that her stepmother should apply.
This little girl imagined the tooth fairy as human-sized, still covered in gore, and as disgruntled as an employee of a collections agency. Her unconventional image became part of my inspiration for Catching Lady Tooth, a book about the tooth fairy that ended up being longlisted this year.
Who first inspired you to write?
When I was small, a cartoon version of The Happy Prince came on television every year. Each time, I cried so hard and carried on for so long that my parents had to finally ban me from watching it. Oscar Wilde’s words cut me to the quick—and yet filled me with such indescribable joy!
What are your favourite picture books and why?
My favourite board book has to be That’s Dangerous! by Bernadette Gervais and Francesco Pittau. It’s wickedly hilarious. I love The Shrinking of Treehorn because it’s like reading Kafka to children. And I can never get through Sendak’s Dear Mili without tears streaming down my face.
When my daughters were small, we read the same three books dozens of times: May I Stay? by Harry Allard, The Judge: An Untrue Tale by Margo and Harve Zemach, and A Small Miracle by Peter Collington. All of these books are magic!
Everyone was blown away to discover one author had four manuscripts – two picture book texts and two YA – on the longlist. Do you have multiple books on the go at the same time?
When it comes to reading, seven or eight books on the go at any time (mostly because I’m constantly losing them throughout the house). When writing, I prefer to work on three or four books at any given time—preferably of different styles and genres. That way, I never get bored.
I am working on approximately 15 picture books, 10 chapter books, 7 middle grade and young adult books, 12 short stories, 7 adult non-fiction books and projects, and 1 poem. Some of these manuscripts are complete or close to completion; others are only in the beginning stages. A few books (not counted here) have been tossed onto the scrap pile; a couple are lost somewhere in the house, having been written on whatever scrap of paper I had available at the time.
Can you say a little about your creative process?
My first book arrived in the form of a vivid dream. The words, “This is the book you will write” came to me, and the rest of the dream was narrated (as if in a movie). I was shown how two of the critical scenes should fit together and given a definite sense of the tone. A couple of follow-up dreams arrived later. I had no idea how to write a book, back then, so the result was appalling. But I learned so much.
Many of my books still arrive in this way. They begin with a dream that is more vivid than reality, one that overwhelms me with emotion (which helps set the tone). Of course, there are glitches in this creative process: one book arrived in German, and I received two pieces of music. I had never heard anything so beautiful before and I woke up crying, but they were lost in translation because I am not a musician.
Occasionally the main character will accompany the dream and remain near to me as I write. The Blue Canoe (which made the shortlist) proved highly problematic because the dream arrived around September (uncomfortably close to the deadline), and the protagonist kept hovering around the edges of my conscious mind, insisting that I tell the story his way. Ben is a teenage boy who prefers a straightforward, plot-driven narrative—his style is neither literary nor classic—so we were constantly at odds.
Fortunately, other characters have proven to be lovely companions during the writing process. They generally disappear when the book is close to completion.
“I find the prospect of having strangers read my work very intimidating. I’m shy, and awkward, and I don’t like to put myself out there into the world.”
What’s the reaction been like from friends and family?
Amazing! My older brother was up at 3:00am on the day of the announcement cheering for me. My mom was a complete wreck in the night and woke up my dad as she fumbled (unsuccessfully) to find the Bath website. My younger brother enjoyed the symbolism of me having to defeat myself in order to win (I had two books on the shortlist). My daughters were thrilled, and friends have been so supportive.
Any plans for the prize money?
I have always dreamed of owning a Flemish Giant (an enormous rabbit). Perhaps this is the year!
Lastly, any advice for authors thinking of entering this year’s prize?
Even now, I don’t feel that I measure up as a writer, and I find the prospect of having strangers read my work very intimidating. I’m shy, and awkward, and I don’t like to put myself out there into the world.
If you struggle with similar self-doubt, just remember how it feels when the words on the page start to come alive. Never forget how magical the writing process can be, or that your words have the capacity to bring light in an often too-dark world. You’re part of something so much bigger.
CARMEN WITTMEIER grew up in Calgary, Alberta. She discovered, as a child, that her local library only allowed patrons to borrow 99 books at one time. Despite this deprivation, Carmen went on to earn her Master’s degree in English and to teach literature at Langara College in Vancouver. She currently works as an editor.
She won CANSCAIP’s Writing for Children Competition in 2023 and the Brenda Strathern Writing Prize in 2021. Her picture book Beautiful Whisper was shortlisted in the 2022 Bath Children’s Novel Award. Her novel for younger teens The Blue Canoe also shortlisted for this year’s prize.
In The Train with No End Henry is a baby when he boards the train. As he grows he begins to ask questions. Why does the train have no beginning or end? And what happens to the people who get off when it stops? The Train with No End was inspired by Carmen’s two daughters, Danica and Lauren. Carmen wrote this picture book to reassure them that although life brings suffering, it is also rich with beauty, mystery, and deep human connection.