Caitlin Hamilton Summie - Loss, Separation, Grief and Reconciliation

Posted on 12th of November, 2018 by Naomi Bolton

Caitlin Hamilton Summie earned an MFA with Distinction from Colorado State University. Her short stories have been published widely. Her collection, TO LAY TO REST OUR GHOSTS, won Silver in the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, was selected for 35 Over 35's Annual List, 2017 and is A Pulpwood Queen Book Club Bonus Book. As our Author of the Day, Hamilton Summie tells us all about this collection.

Please give us a short introduction to what To Lay to Rest our Ghosts is about.

TO LAY TO REST OUR GHOSTS is a book about individuals and families who are facing losses or rifts, grappling with the small and sometimes large forms of separation and grief that can define a life. But in all the stories, my characters are searching for reconciliation or to reconnect, and so the stories are filled with great hope.

Was there anything in particular, an incident or something you read, that made you want to tackle this?

Each story just came to me in a line--I heard a line and began to write.

Why WWII Kansas City? What drew you to this time period?

My story about WW II Kansas City began with a line I heard, like the other stories. As I wrote, I found myself weaving in a detail or two from family stories. TAGS is not my family's story, thank God, but it does include a few details from what my family experienced.

The importance of family is stressed many of the stories - why did you take this approach?

I think everything I write is deeply rooted in themes of family, weather, and place.

Tell us more about the book cover and title. Why "To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts"?

My publisher, Marc Estrin at Fomite, found the cover. I loved it because, to me, it speaks to the themes of so many of my stories. As for my title, my publisher didn't like the original so I paged through stories looking for phrases that spoke to the themes in the book as a whole. I didn't want one story title to be the title of the whole book. I felt that made one story seem more important than the others. Of the phrases I sent to Fomite, we agreed TO LAY TO REST OUR GHOSTS was best. All of my characters are wrestling with something that need to let go of, or find peace about.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I write across genres and have published poetry. Also, I am a book publicist of twenty-two years and have had the privilege of launching writers like Susan Vreeland, William Gay, and Bren McClain.

Your work has been compared to that of Grace Paley and Ann Beattie - who are some of your favorite authors?

I was pretty floored by those comparisons! I love so many authors: William Maxwell, James Salter, Louise Erdrich, Ernest Hemingway, William Manchester...and more.

Where do your ideas come from?

I think the things I care about always bubble up beneath the surface in anything I write--and the things I care about include family, history, the importance of place and home, personal dignity, self-acceptance, honesty, loss, and having hope.

What do you hope your readers will take away from these stories?

Many readers and book reviewers, even those who say they don't like short stories, have been complimentary of mine, and I think it is because they care about my characters and are moved by their predicaments. I hope readers walk away from book still loving my characters and also feeling a sense of hope, feeling that reconciliation is possible.

What are you working on right now?

Three of the stories in TO LAY TO REST OUR GHOSTS connect, and I am a draft in on a novel that finishes these characters' stories. I am also rewriting a picture book and a middle grade novel!