Sasha Kahn: Writing Toward a Better Future

What did you use to do during recess?

I remember a lot of running, all of us running with wild abandon. Once in first grade, a boy took me by the hand and led me near a garbage bin. He got down on one knee and proposed. I don’t know why he chose the bin as the place, perhaps because it afforded some privacy. But that didn’t happen every day, you know.

Did you think of yourself as a creative kid? What does creativity look like for you these days?

I was a creative child, I would paint, sculpt, write, put on plays. But I think more than that – I lived inside my imagination. I was certain there was a fairy kingdom at the foot of a giant oak in our backyard. I conjured it and would leave little offerings.

Now creativity comes with the awareness of craft. Craft is earned, but I don’t think I’ve lost the wonder of it all. I’m still a storyteller, still an artist. In the arts one’s always wondering – can I make a living, will that living last, and also the larger questions of what is valuable in the work, especially for children? The stories we tell matter.

How did motherhood change your creative practice?

Becoming a mother did change the way I looked at art and caused a shift in the kind of work that I was creating. There’s research into the changes that happen in a mother’s brain when she becomes pregnant. The sense of self expands to include another person. I think that’s colored the kind of work I’m doing – I am now writing and illustrating books for children, whereas before I was writing mostly dramas for theatre, film, or television. But I also think that writers and artists have a shared sense of humanity. So perhaps it was there all along. However, I do think I needed the permission of motherhood to allow myself to be included in a community of artists, one that I have so much respect for, who write for children.

I’m interested in stories that in some way reflect the emerging self of a child, the ways that children relate to themselves and others and the world around them. We’ve made a promise to our children that they’ll be born into a good world, but there are so many threats to that promise every day. Climate change is one of them. I’m now working on a picture book series that explores stories about the natural world, builds empathy, and hopefully offers up some ideas for active participation. All that sounds quite preachy in terms of themes, but it always starts with story.

How does art enrich your life? How does being a mother enrich your art?

A world without art is not a world I’d want to live in. Art is a wonderful way to explore the frailty of life. This is an unsettling time to be on this planet but writing and art have always helped us make sense of the world. I wonder what world our children will inherit. I had a rather magical childhood in that my parents were creatives and gave me an extraordinary education in art, theatre, and literature from the beginning.

But the arts are suffering, art education is threatened by budget cuts, literacy rates are dropping, AI threatens writing, reading, and critical thinking, and it’s harder for children to access the art world. I truly believe that through art, children can dream of a better future. Art has that promise.

Conversely, being a mother enriches my art because getting to be a part of a child’s world is to experience joy, delight, and a new way to look at the world, and also because I don’t make books for just my child – there is an expansiveness, the invitation is there for all children. Every child should feel the wonder, love, and joy that comes from being read to. Readings or school visits are one of the perks of the job. They are usually hilarious, and I always learn something from the children.

What helps you make time and space for being creative? How do you avoid burnout?

I make the time to create because there’s nothing else I want to do, other than spend time with my family. There are lunches to pack, bills to pay, and cuddles to give, but a lot of the thinking and daydreaming that’s crucial to the creative process can happen in the in-between times. The only time I don’t give to my work is when I’m with my child. That’s his time, though I do make him aware that what I do is part of my life. I want him to know that passion and hard work are important and that we have a responsibility to contribute to the world with our work.

I don’t think I’ve experienced a true deep creative burnout, though I’ve certainly experienced exhaustion from other things. I’m pretty good at knowing when I need to replenish the creative well by shifting to a new book, visiting a gallery, taking a walk, or playing with the child — there’s so much to see and learn and do. And it all becomes fodder for the work in the end. Sometimes it’s hard to turn it off. Like a toddler, knowing when to break for a snack is always a good thing.

Who would you love to collaborate with? What’s a dream project for you?

I would love to collaborate with an expert in meditation on a book for children. Offering some guided principles to a young person early on in their life could be such a gift.

What do you hope your kids will learn about creativity from you?

I hope that my child always trusts his voice. Creativity comes in many ways; humans are creative, and we make millions of decisions that we don’t realize employ that seeking part of the brain. Noticing the details, being in the world, somehow reorganizing authentically. You don’t necessarily need to write, draw, or make music to do that, though I do hope his life is filled with art. As Barbara Cooney brilliantly wrote, we must all “do something to make the world more beautiful.”

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Sasha Kahn is an author, illustrator, and mother to an extraordinary child. Her upcoming picture book, A Cub Called Crash, is due out in September 2024, and the rest of the book series will be released soon after. She has written numerous screenplays, developed a series for the Oxygen Network, and her adaptation of The Beast in the Jungle was produced Off-Broadway. She is the author of Child + Line, a (mostly) humorous newsletter for parents. You can learn more about her work at sashakahn.net.

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