Francesca Lia Block '86, never meant to become a young-adult writer. Her first novel, which she began writing as a Cal undergrad, was about a young woman named Weetzie Bat and her oddball friends who experimented with sexuality, alcohol, and drugs, and dealt with suicide and AIDS. The first installment of what would become known as the The Weetzie Bat Books attracted an audience of teens hungry for an edgier, more complicated version of life. In 2005, despite efforts by angry parents to have her books pulled from library shelves, she was honored by the School Library Journal with the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement. She has appeared twice on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list, and her brand of punk-inspired magical realism has sold more than a million books. Her latest offering is Psyche in a Dress (HarperCollins, 2006), a modern retelling of Greek myths set largely in Los Angeles and written in free verse.

You've said that reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez at Berkeley and being introduced to magical realism fundamentally influenced you. Did you have any other formative literary experiences at Cal?

I spent a lot of time alone at Doe Library reading modernist poetry, art history, and Shakespeare. One day I went into the women's bathroom and noticed some tiny writing on the grout in between the tiles. It said "My secret agent lover man you will never read this." It seemed to encapsulate so much of what I was feeling—melancholy, lost, lonely, full of longing and unlived passions. I never forgot it. Soon after, I named a character in the book I was writing "My Secret Agent Lover Man." I'd like to express thanks to the student who wrote those words in the grout.

You are considered to be a pre-eminent young-adult writer. What changes have you noticed in America's youth since your first book, Weetzie Bat, was published in 1989?

I don't consider myself a young-adult writer, just a writer. I notice more about American youth as a mother than as a writer, because as a writer I am usually recording my own experiences or those of my close friends, who may be young, but whom I see as individuals, not reflections of their generation. As a mother, I notice that kids are exposed to much more, grow up faster, have many more challenges, feel more pressure, have a harder time differentiating themselves from the mainstream.

You approached your latest book, Psyche in a Dress, unconventionally, writing it in free verse. Why?

It started out as straight prose but was very short. My wonderful editor, Joanna Cotler, suggested I play around with breaking it up into poetry. I tried it and it worked so well that I rewrote the entire book that way. I think it worked especially well because of the Greek myth theme. I've read the Greek myths since I was a child. My father told me the Odyssey as a bedtime story. I believe everyone can find their own story in at least one of those myths.

Do people need more magic and myth in their lives?

I think our culture desperately needs magic and myth. In the years since I published my first book, I've seen more interest in these things from the mainstream. I believe that is because we have to have an escape from the chaos of our lives, and also the tools to understand ourselves better in order to remain peaceful in the face of this chaos. But there isn't enough magic! Even the word "fantasy" still has less literary implications. I think magic is threatening for some people, even subversive, and I am still trying to figure out exactly why. That is hard for me to understand because it is so much a part of how I see the world.