For many, fruit is an easy snack to take on the go. Often, it resides in a Ziploc bag or a Tupperware container that's passed around the car on a road trip or at a picnic.
For local author Kate Lebo, fruit is more complex than that.
Lebo's 2021 nonfiction collection, The Book of Difficult Fruit, doesn't discuss strawberries or grapes. Instead, she uses lesser-known fruit like aronia and medlar as literary devices in her memoir-esque musings. After each chapter, Lebo shares a recipe that uses the fitful fruit in a creative way. She's not just making pies and tarts, she's also making body scrubs and medicinal syrups.
Recently, Lebo won the Washington State Book Award in creative nonfiction for Difficult Fruit, which was also chosen for this year's Spokane Is Reading communitywide read. I sat down with Lebo to discuss her inspiration, the vulnerability that oozes from every page, and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
INLANDER: Where did the idea for Difficult Fruit come from?
LEBO: It's kind of a few stories in one. When I was writing my first book, Pie School, there were just elements of being a baker and the sweet treat I was making that I wanted to include, but couldn't because it was simply a cookbook. When I was in high school, I became known as "pie girl" because I would always bring pies to get-togethers. So I eventually wondered what it was about cooking, particularly for women, that provides so much sustenance — spiritual, emotional, physical, all of that — and is also this thing that obscures them and their labor.
Then, while I was at the University of Washington for graduate school, my officemate Katherine brought in a bag of quince. They looked like pears and they were beautiful, but you can't eat them [raw]. It blew my mind to know that there were these enticing fruits out there, but they defy us.
How long did it take you to compile all of this information for the book?
From beginning to end, the book took seven years to complete. I can no longer remember when I stopped failing at writing. I finally found the form about two years in and then everything took off from then.
Was it nerve-wracking incorporating elements of memoir into your writing? Did you feel vulnerable?
Yeah, definitely. I went through many months of being like, "Wow, I can't believe this." I felt like I had no skin. Now, it feels a bit more normal. As I went through the process of writing all of that really personal stuff, my family was extremely supportive. That's all that really matters, it's the most important thing to me.
What was it like learning that Difficult Fruit was chosen for Spokane Is Reading?
It's been the most amazing thing. Just knowing that my community is reading my book is absolutely incredible. This book feels very rooted in this place. That was important to me as I was writing it.
Wed, Oct. 26 at 1 pm (North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Rd.) and 7 pm (Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave.)
Free • All Ages • spokaneisreading.org
And was winning the Washington State Book Award rooted in the same feeling?
Similar, yes. In that same vein it just feels incredible to be recognized by my peers and my community like that. When I got the email I kind of just sat with it for a few days. I didn't even tell my husband. I was like, "Did this really happen? Is this real?" It's so fun to win. You don't want to get wrapped up in the axle of winning awards, but how can you not? It was an incredible field of other books in my category so it felt great to be recognized like that.
If you had to choose a fruit from the book to represent Spokane, which would you pick?
Durian, definitely. I think it's very representative of Spokane because people have a lot of preconceived notions about it until they "try" it, then they absolutely love it. ♦
