Getting Curious About Curiosity

Below is a short excerpt from the faculty lecture I recently delivered at the Vermont College of Fine Art's Summer 2025 residency, titled "Curiouser and Curiouser: The Curiosity-Driven Creative Life."

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When I do a school visit, I usually focus on one of my books. But I always start by showing kids the covers of all my books and sharing a bit about each of them so kids get a sense what all I like to write. I talk about the differences between fiction and nonfiction, between picture books and novels. But I also ask kids what all of these books have in common.

Invariably, I get some funny answers. Kids inform me that they are all books; that they are all written by me; that they all have covers. But the kids offer more specific answers, too: These books are all about nature, they say. Or, more specific still: They’re about people, whether real people from history or fictional characters, who work to protect nature.

Initially, this was the “right” answer to me—the thing I wanted kids to identify when I raised the question. But the more I’ve asked “What might these books have in common?” the more I’ve let it remain an open question for myself. Beyond the obvious, what are the ideas or themes that I revisit in my stories?

It occurred to me that there is an idea that shows up in every story I write, including my current works-in-progress. Curiosity. I realized that, in fiction and in nonfiction, I write about people who are very curiosity-driven. People whose curiosity drives them to investigate the world around them, or their own inner worlds, thus driving the narrative, too. Even the word “curiosity” shows up a lot in my stories!

I wondered WHY this might be the case. The first answer my brain offered was satisfying and kind of self-congratulatory: I must write about curiosity so much because I’m a highly curious person! It was a nice idea… but it didn’t quite fit.

I *do* experience a feeling or a state of mind that I call curiosity. It’s one of my favorite things to feel. But I don’t experience it as often or as deeply as I’d like, and I’ve been increasingly aware of forces—both inside me and in the world around me—that shut my curiosity down or at least dampen it.

So, a revised theory: When I write about highly curious people, it’s aspirational. I aspire to be as consistently and deeply curious as my characters. It makes sense, then, that I’m also drawn to people in real life who seem highly curious. I’ve noticed that these people tend to share several qualities, which I suspect are tied to their abundant curiosity. Qualities like alertness, open-mindedness, humility, and—often—a certain mischievousness. So perhaps writing about curiosity is my way of reaching for it.

But, in the spirit of curiosity, all of this raises questions. What *is* curiosity? How does it work? Is my experience of curiosity hardwired into my brain, or can it be developed like a muscle? And what is the role of curiosity for us as writers?

The more I thought about it, the more I grew curious about curiosity. I decided to follow the thread and share some of what I’ve learned with you today...