On Writing and Resistance:
An Interview with Maria van Lieshout
In the first installment of A Bookish Home’s newsletter, I’m sharing a Q&A with Maria van Lieshout, author of Song of a Blackbird, a story which came to Maria after she stumbled upon documents written by her own grandparents about their experiences during the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands.
This timely exploration of women’s resistance and the power of art during times of political upheaval is essential reading.
"This work will claim its place beside graphic novel classics such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. Powerful, moving, and utterly unforgettable."
—Kirkus, starred review
I read that Song of a Blackbird was inspired by your own family history — which you learned about when you stumbled upon documents of your grandparents'. What did you find and how did it lead to this project?
After my grandmother passed away in 2011, we found several documents written by my grandparents in the 1980’s that described the years under Nazi occupation. One document described the day their Amsterdam neighborhood was bombed. The bombing destroyed the entire neighborhood (including my mother’s home) and killed 50 neighbors. If my mom had been napping that day, as she usually did at that time, she would have been killed.
The second document described the things my grandfather experienced in the Resistance with his friend Frits. It described how my grandfather tried to keep his friend out of the claws of the SS. This resulted in my grandfather being brought in to the SS for interrogation. It also describes how Frits was captured despite all his efforts and executed shortly before liberation.
This book feels like essential reading for this moment. I was particularly drawn to your depiction of small acts of bravery and courage adding up in the resistance movement. What do you hope modern readers, particularly young people, take away from Song of a Blackbird?
It is my hope that young readers will be as inspired by my characters as I was when I first discovered how the brave men and women in the Resistance used their art and creativity to fight hate and save lives. Ultimately, Resistance is about putting the needs of another person ahead of your own, especially when that is inconvenient, difficult or dangerous. I hope that teens will be remember this when the inevitable choice to help someone or to look the other way will show up in their lives.
What was the creative process like for bringing this graphic novel to life and did you land on that format right away for telling this story?
It was a twelve year process. I started with research and outreach to the descendants of those I wrote about. It was only when I had been researching the events for several years that a theme began to emerge: the role that artists and women had played in the Resistance; and the role that art and creativity had played. Once I decided that I wanted the book to be about the power of art to fight hate and Nazis, I decided that art would have to play an important role in telling the story. That was when I settled on the graphic novel format.
Song of a Blackbird highlights the role women played in the resistance. What did you uncover in your research about these women and why do you think their contributions aren't as well known today?
I discovered women played a large role, exactly because they were often underestimated by the Nazis. They were able to smuggle young children out of the deportation center without the Nazi guards becoming suspicious, they could traverse the Netherlands by bike with a pregnancy corset stuffed with money or papers, and they were the ones forging ID papers and ration coupons because many of them were artists.
The Dutch WW2 history was documented after the war by a historian named Loe de Jong. Every household in the Netherlands had his 19-volume set of WW2 historical books on their bookshelf. There is one line in the book that reads, "Women played a large part too." For roughly eighty years, this record has been the dominant narrative.
What is the last book you read that you loved so much, you couldn't wait to give a copy to someone?
I am a big fan of both Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. Ruta is one of the best YA historical fiction writers today, and Steve is a master at writing WW2 non-fiction in a most suspenseful manner. They teamed up on a book about WW2 code breakers called The Bletchley Riddle, which is superb. It is a masterclass in historical fiction writing.
About the Author: Maria van Lieshout was born and raised near Amsterdam, where she spent many weekends in the Museum Quarter row house where her grandparents lived with her artist aunt and metalsmith uncle. Drawing while her aunt painted, and pecking stories on a typewriter while her uncle soldered metals inspired her love for drawing, creating and writing. After high school in Leiden, Maria studied Visual Communications at GWU in DC, and worked in design and innovation at Coca-Cola. In 2000, Maria became an illustrator full-time. She has illustrated/written several picture books. Song of a Blackbird is Maria’s first graphic novel. Learn more: https://www.vanlieshoutstudio.com/
Thank you so much for this wonderful piece, Laura!