Fearless: date rape. Anorexia. Slavery. Is there a topic that Laurie Halse Anderson won't tackle?(Interview)

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IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT ONLY 10 YEARS HAVE PASSED since Speak (Farrar) was published. Laurie Halse Anderson's edgy first novel for teens was immediately recognized as groundbreaking, and its little-known author was praised for her ability to write artfully about tough topics such as date rape. Since then, the Printz Honor Book has become required reading in many classrooms, and Anderson has written six more works for young adults, including two historical novels, Fever 1793 (2000) and Chains (2008, both S & S), a National Book Award finalist, and most recently Wintergirls (Viking, 2009), a tough-minded account of an 18-year-old's struggle with anorexia. There's also a new, 10th-anniversary edition of Speak, which includes a haunting poem that Anderson created from snippets of messages she received from sexually assaulted teens who had found the courage to speak out. Given the impact of Anderson's works on kids' lives, it's not surprising that she's already received two awards for her contributions to young people's literature: the 2008 ALAN Award from the Assembly of Literature for Adolescents (a branch of the National Council of Teachers of English) and this year's Margaret A. Edwards Award, supervised by the Young Adult Library Services Association and sponsored by School Library Journal.

These days Anderson lives in Mexico, NY, a small town minutes away from Lake Ontario, with her husband, Scot Larrabee, her stepson, Christian, and a German shepherd named Kezzie, who, the author says, "excels at barking at chipmunks and laying on my feet." I talked to the 47-year-old Anderson just before she hit the road to promote her latest best seller.

How has Speak changed your life?

Wow! I think it's easier to ask what hasn't changed in the past 10 years. That list would be shorter. Particularly with the ALAN Award last year and then being graced with the Margaret A. Edwards Award in January, I'm really taking this as a sign from the universe that it's time to stop and catch my breath and reflect. None of this is what I ever thought was going to happen. I never thought anybody would publish Speak. I had published a …