Culture and Lifestyle Paper Napkin Interview: Dishing with Kathryn Stockett We sat down with the author of the best-selling novel The Help, to the get the scoop on her life, the movie, and why she wrote the book. By Southern Living Test Kitchen Southern Living Test Kitchen The Southern Living Test Kitchen has been publishing recipes since 1970, four years after the first issue of Southern Living Magazine appeared on newsstands. The Southern Living Test Kitchen team includes a team of professionals with deep expertise in recipe development, from pastry chefs and grilling experts to nutritionists and dietitians. Together, the team tests and retests, produces, styles, and photographs thousands of recipes each year in the state-of-the-art test kitchen facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on April 5, 2017 Share Tweet Pin Email Kathryn Stockett, author of the best-selling novel The Help, feels at home at the after-school shake stop, Brent's Drugs in Jackson, MS. Photo: Robbie Caponetto What was your life like growing up in Jackson?I was kind of a hell-raiser. Tate Taylor (lifelong friend and director of The Help) and I were always stirring it up. When we were 14, we "borrowed" a car and drove to New Orleans for the night. The worst thing for someone like me is too much free time. Idle hands... How did you come to write The Help?My grandmother had a maid, Demetrie, who worked for her for 32 years—she died when I was 16. I got so homesick to hear Demetrie's voice, so I started writing, and the story just emerged. Did you realize the book might be controversial?The fact that I'm a white, privileged young woman writing in the voice of a black woman broke every rule my grandmother taught me. But I believe it's our job as human beings to imagine what it feels like to be in someone else's shoes, whether it's the President or a woman cleaning up the kitchen. That's how we learn to be better people. The Help was rejected by 60 literary agents before it was published. What kept you going?I'm just stubborn as hell. If you tell me I can't do something, I will march right out there and kill myself trying to do it! What stereotypes do you think people hold about the South?They think we all know each other. But the truth is, we do! It takes about 8 to 10 seconds to play that game "Oh, you're from Memphis. Do you know...? No, but I know so-and-so, and that's her sister. I know exactly who you're talking about!" Where would you tell people to visit?Oh, my heavens! You have to see the Mississippi Delta. You've got to go to New Orleans and stay at the Soniat House. You've got to see the battleship in Mobile Bay. And you need to just take off your shoes and sit by a lake with a cane pole. How do you take your barbecue?I like mine wet. What are some of your favorite books?I love The Secret History by Donna Tartt–Bunny is one of my very favorite villains. I recently read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. If I could ever write a book like that, I would give up writing afterward. What's the last thing you wrote on a paper napkin?The title of whatever the person next to me was reading! Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit