Basia Jaworska stood up in front of a packed room in 2022 during the Islanders Write Pitch Panel and spent three minutes describing the book she was writing, a story based on her mother’s experience as a Polish resistance fighter in World War II. Last winter, “Days of the Owl” was published. I recently caught up with Jaworska to ask her about getting the book published and about her experience at Islanders Write. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation. 

Kate Feiffer: What was your takeaway from the Islanders Write Pitch Panel?

Basia Jaworska: Pitching my book to the panel was very instructive and grounded in reality. At the time, it was said that agents and book publishers were hard to come by with the general decline in readership of traditional, printed books.

KF: John Hough, who was a member of the pitch panel, emailed me the day after Islanders Write and asked if he could contact you, because he wanted to talk to you more about your book.

BJ: Yes, he encouraged me to stay with it. I was so appreciative to have his support.

KF: But you decided to put the book aside?

BJ: Instead of beating my head against the wall, and face multiple rejections, I decided to wait it out and trust that when the time was right, I would find a way to publish “Days of the Owl.”

KF: And that time did indeed come?

BJ: Four years later, I was introduced to Cort Sinnes, an author, editor, and artist who is dedicated to helping first-time publishing authors, and who was connected to a publishing house which had expanded its business to “print on demand.” He helped edit, design, and lay out the text, with the intention of making it easy on the eyes for readers. He also collaged a poster-like book cover. He was a dream collaborator. His expertise made it fun and painless. I look forward to working with him on the next book. Self-publishing was the perfect fit for me. And my story had become synchronistically more relevant in this political atmosphere. 

KF: Do you have advice for first-time authors trying to get published?

BJ: In my talks about the book, I get approached by beginning writers expressing their dreams of writing stories. I tell them to manifest their dream and start the writing process. Storytelling is such an important part of our culture and history. I am proud to have stuck it out and relate my mother’s eyewitness war experience to help keep history of those times honest.