D E PA R T M E N T S » FAC E S
Important Stories to Tell Author discusses writing, age and where she learned to see and feel innocence, joy and heartache. BY RENÉE STEWART-HESTER
THE LESSON HERE COULD BE—you never know where or when inspiration will reveal itself. Virginia Sievers was attending a creative writing group, which she joined after retirement, when, “A 90-yearold woman encouraged me to enter a literary contest,” Sievers says. “To my surprise, my entry won first prize. I started ‘playing around’ with stories then, which led to books and now to Callie Sue’s story.”
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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021
PHOTO BY CHRIS EMEOTT
Sievers has written and published short story collections, including Waiting: A Collective (award winner) and No Dancing in the Kitchen. Her first novel, Sunshine on Water: The Unsettling Story of Callie Sue Hannamann was published in November 2020. The novel follows the aftermath when farm girl Callie Sue, 14, vanishes without a trace. “Human bondage is in the news, and it’s heartbreak-
