One might believe that being a bestselling author around the world would make a difference in your life. Delia Owens is not one of those people. She’s still the rugged Southern belle she was before “Where the Crawdads Sing”, which made her a literary star.
Lee Cowan was shown her property and she stated, “My property manager wants these cut. I replied, “Don’t you dare!” It’s a beautiful thing. It makes me feel like I’m deep in the forest.”
“Does it still make you feel like something is happening? asked Cowan.
She replied, “Oh, every single day.” “I still don’t believe it’s happening. I don’t know what you are doing. What are you doing here? “No, I don’t believe it.”
Putnam, her publisher, still can’t believe that Owens’ novel “Crawdads”, broke all sorts of records. It is currently at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List for its 166th week.
This is a journey that has attracted many famous fireflies to Owens’ flame, not least Academy Award-winner Reese Witherspoon. She was the one who rescued Owens from relative obscurity in 2018 by enthusiastically adding “Where the Crawdads sing” to her Hello Sunshine Book Club.
Witherspoon stated, “It just blow me away.” It was like reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ or any other type of Southern literature. Delia was the first person I met when I saw her. “This is incredible!”
Witherspoon hails from Tennessee, Owens is a Georgia native – the two Georgian tomboys who almost instantly bonded.
Witherspoon stated, “I grew-up with women like Delia and sat around tables listening to their stories.” I also knew …” women.
Owens said, “And drinking whiskey from a teacup.”
“Sometimes in the teacup. Sometimes, in a Mason-jar!
You can see the future of this Hollywood star and bestselling author. This week’s most anticipated movie, “Where the Crawdads sing,” is out. The film was shot along the coasts of Louisiana and follows Kya Owens, Owens’ main character. Kya is a young girl who leaves to raise her family in North Carolina marshes.
Click the video player to see a trailer of “Where the Crawdads Sing”.
Witherspoon stated, “I would love to have been Kya.” “I am a little too old. I am a little too elderly! That’s what I loved about it. It’s like I want to make the movies that I love. I want to play that role. “I know what I should do.”
Witherspoon was busy producing the movie, so Daisy Edgar-Jones, a young British actress, was chosen to play the role of Kya. Cowan was told by her, “If you can capture either the tone, the essence, or the feeling you get when you read a book then that’s what matters most.”
Owens spent more than a decade writing “Crawdads” in her Idaho mountain retreat. This is where “Sunday Morning,” her first meeting, took place in 2019.
Cowan then asked Cowan, “Does it get lonely out there?”
“I do,” Owens replied. “I feel so alone sometimes, I feel like my heart is going to stop.”
She spent many years as a wildlife scientist in the remotest parts of Africa. She finds that being alone is as good for her health as the nature around her, especially in a marsh. She said, “I feel at home in a place such as this.” You can place me in the middle a desert or the middle a mountain, and I feel at home.
She said that her novel was born from those same feelings. It is a labor of love that she says was reflected in the screen. We went through the woods and came to a bend in the forest. Kya’s bungalow was on the lagoon. It looked exactly as I had written it in the book.
“Then they start talking and my words come out!” It was surreal! It was both real and invented, yet it was a movie. It was the fusion of all these elements. It was stunning.”
She was still eager to return to the things she knew, including bugs and critters under a gentle canopy.
She said that Kya would have loved to be in this wooded area while she was walking. This was what Kya loved about being in the woods, in the forest, and among nature.
She has moved from the cold woods of Idaho to the rolling hills of North Carolina since our last visit. “I have turkeys, deer, groundhogs and a lot of groundhogs. We also have bears. A bear lives along the river with three cubs.
Owens hopes to own a few horses from this historic farm, so she can ride off and find her way around it all.
Cowan asked: “Do you write here?”
She replied, “Well, I didn’t bring any today but I always have a small pad of paper and pen.” “Cause how could you not write here?” “I’m pretty sure that tarmac and pavement harden the heart and soften the brain.”
She’s probably writing her next book if that sounds familiar. She is currently working on her third draft. She admitted that it was difficult because she feels the pressure and high expectations. I don’t want to disappoint anyone, and I don’t know how likely I am to do this again.
Reese Witherspoon thinks Owens has a good chance of winning if you ask that question. Owens said, “I’m glad that I only have this one time; you do it all the time!”
Witherspoon stated, “Now, don’t say that.” “You don’t know. She’s excited to be writing another book. We’ll talk in a moment!”
This is a remarkable feat for a naturalist who has never sought the spotlight. She would rather have the warmth of a campfire than the spotlight, and so would most of us.
“All the numbers, all of the weeks on top, I get excited. You’ve seen me get excited! It’s exciting. However, that is only one part. The most important thing to me is to tell a story that has meaning…that connects us all. There are many ‘Crawdads’.
More information:
Jason Sacca produced the story. Carol Ross is the editor.
