It was one of my favorite childhood books and I came up with the idea of trying to be more average than anyone else when I was eleven. To be sure it was The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. That’s my goal to write for kids but aim something at grownups. I loved the cartoon as a kid, but as I got older I realized it was adult political satire. I’ve always enjoyed entertaining children, but I try to write for adults at the same time.
What’s the target age group for your book? During my career in Los Angeles as an actor, I tried my hand at screenplays and scripts but it wasn’t until my fifties that I attempted to write a book. I’ve written skits and sketches to perform in and kept a journal from the age of thirteen into my forties. Schwartz will be attending the book festival in South Dakota this September.Ĭongratulations on your achievement! When did you first start writing?
The King of Average, written by Gary Schwartz, won two Golds in the 2017 Literary Classics Book Awards contest, placing in Tween (General) and Middle School (Fiction).
