Homewood-based author Charles Ghigna’s latest book, “The Father Goose Treasury of Poetry: 101 Favorite Poems for Children” is set for release April 28.By Ana Good
Homewood-based author Charles Ghigna credits his wife, Debra, for redirecting his career path toward writing for children.
Ghigna said that while he was studying creative writing at Florida State University, he considered himself a “serious, brooding poet.”
When he received a grant to help start a poet-in-schools program for the State of Alabama, Ghigna remembers driving through the Dothan area of South Alabama and being inspired to write his poem “The Alabama Wiregrassers,” which eventually would be published in Harper’s Magazine.
“Then I met my wife and fell in love,” Ghigna said, recalling the moment his path began to change.
The pair met in the cafeteria at Birmingham-Southern College, where Ghigna had been provided with room and board as part of his grant.
“It wasn’t long before she said, ‘You know, you need to lighten up,’” Ghigna said with a laugh.
At the time, he had been attending conferences, speaking about poetry and being published in university presses. Ghigna said the material was coming to him “fast and furiously,” inspired by the new-to-him state of Alabama and its change of seasons.
“Also, I was in love,” he said, of his inspirations at the time.
The person he was in love with, however, his eventual wife, encouraged him to “write something lighter.”
“I asked her, ‘like what?’ and she said, ‘Something everybody can relate to, like dogs or cats,”’ Ghigna said as he recalled their conversation.
He soon got to work on what he thought at the time was a “crazy story.” What resulted was four titled works, including “Good Cats, Bad Cats” and “Good Dogs, Bad Dogs,” and a four-book contract with Disney.
“Well,” he said, “my wife was right.”
Ghigna said that success prompted him to quit his teaching job and devote his time to writing full time.
“I started writing for kids,” he said, “and it was literally like the proverbial cliché – the floodgates opened.”
After their son, Chip, was born, Ghigna said he became even more invested in children’s literature.
New Book Signing April 27
To date, the beloved local author, known to many as Father Goose, has written more than 100 books and thousands of poems. His latest, “The Father Goose Treasury of Poetry: 101 Favorite Poems for Children” is set for release April 28. Ghigna will begin his book tour in Homewood with a scheduled appearance at The Alabama Booksmith on April 27.
Ghigna said that when he’s writing children’s books and stories, it feels like he is once again the 8-year-old kid making up stories with his mom, Patricia, whom he described as the most creative person he’d ever met.
His first taste of writing success came in third grade, Ghigna said, when he wrote a short story about a freckle on a little boy’s face who tries to climb away when there’s a flood. Ghigna said his parents would make him stand in front of their couch when they had friends over to tell the story.
“All of a sudden it was like, ‘Wow, this is magic,’” he said.
Ghigna said his mother was not formally educated, having dropped out of school in the eighth grade during the Great Depression.
“She should have had the chance at being educated,” he said, “because she was smart as a whip and very creative. We played all the time, and she would make up these crazy stories and I’d become a character in those stories. It was so natural to me that I thought everybody just made-up stuff every day.”
In high school, when he wasn’t playing baseball, Ghigna said a teacher, Mr. Summers, helped further cement his love for writing and reading. Mr. Summers helped him realize he could be both athletic – as he himself ran a mile before class every day – and be interested in literature.
On Fridays, he fondly remembers free-writing time in Mr. Summers’ classroom, where he’d dim the lights and play light music.
Before heading to college, Ghigna said he tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I’m still waiting for them to call me back,” he joked.
Despite the unsuccessful Majors’ tryout, Ghigna did go on to find success at school. He fondly remembers his freshman English teacher, Miss Brooks, reading poetry to the class by Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg.
After class, Ghigna said he often found himself in her office borrowing books of poetry from her own collection.
“I thought that was such an honor,” he said. “I really started seeing what poetry is like at different levels.”
When she retired, Miss Brooks gave Ghigna a box of books that he used for many years in his own classrooms and eventually gifted to one of his son’s teachers.
‘It’s Like Breathing’
Asked to describe his typical writing process, Ghigna said that question often catches him by surprise.
“It’s like breathing,” he said. “There is no process, really, I have no formula. I just do.”
Ghigna said he will begin playing with an idea that might come to him at any point in the day.
“I’m like the little boy who says his prayers before he goes to bed, except I’ll pull out my journals and write about all the days’ events and some highlight might pop up and I’ll think about it a little longer,” he said. “I just see where it takes me and if it generates a little heat, I just keep going.”
Ghigna said he still keeps paper on his nightstand as well as in various places around his house just in case an idea comes to him. Those papers scattered around the house are part of what Ghigna said inspired his son to become an artist himself.
“I think he thought they were for him to draw on,” he said, “and today that’s how he makes his living.”
Ghigna often writes in his “treehouse” – looking out the window from the attic of his 100-year-old home, where he’s lived for almost 50 years.
“I come up here every day,” he said, “and by the time I’m at the top of the stairs I’ll think, ‘What can I get into today?’ I look at the world like that still. I look at things and turn them inside out and upside down. I’ll think, ‘What if?’”
Life’s Work
Ghigna views the “Father Goose Treasury” as a culmination of his life’s work.
“I’ve waited all my life for this book,” he said.
The book spans 128 pages and comprises new poems as well as favorites among children, teachers and librarians. The book also has a complete index of titles and an index of subjects, Ghigna said, to make it easier for all readers to find poems on topics they are interested in.
Ghigna said selecting which poems to include from the thousands he has written was a tedious process, but he is more than satisfied with the result.
“It’s beautiful,” he said. “It’s got silver gilding all the way around and a blue, ribbon bookmark.”
The book is illustrated by Italian artist Sara Brezzi.
“Every page of this is really a work of art suitable for framing,” Ghigna said, “and makes my poems look good.”
Ghigna invites readers to The Alabama Booksmith at 4 p.m. on April 27 for the first signing of his latest book. He will be at the Little Professor Bookshop in Pepper Place at 9:30 a.m. May 13 and at the Homewood Library on May 17 at 4 p.m.
For more information about Ghigna, visit charlesghigna.com.
English (US)