Author Kathleen Vellenga’s novel, Strangers in Our Midst, tells a Thanksgiving story that, according to the story’s overview, “reimagines a critical moment in our continent’s history, remaining faithful to the historical record while avoiding both stereotypes and finger-pointing.” The book depicts the relationship between a European woman and a young Wampanoag woman. Be sure to read the full story on this year’s Book Fest authors in the November print edition of The Rubicon.

Vellenga will be signing books in the Summit Center on Nov. 19.

Why did you start writing fiction, mainly historical fiction?

Vellenga: I started very late in my life, I was doing some research for my family, [and] I hadn’t realized that so many pilgrims died. I first wanted to make it interesting for the younger people in family. I wanted the story come alive.

What is your favorite part about writing fiction?

Vellenga: That you can get the emotion and feeling. Too often in history we know what happens, but in fiction you can make the reader feel it and care about it.

Did your work in the Minnesota Legislature help you write this novel?

Vellenga: It did. Many experiences that you have help you write. You help so many people and meet so many people. I got to meet Native American people, [and] I had quite a bit of surface knowledge of the people.

I was given a column in the Villager during the legislative session and writing that column helped me learn to write about history. I wanted my story to be something that they wouldn’t find out through the TV or newspaper and make [it] so everybody would like to read it.

At the time that I got elected there were [few] women, so I had more experiences where I was treated as someone who was ignored and not seen and heard others make sexist comments about me. I was treated as a minority.

Where did you get the inspiration for writing historical  fiction?

Vellenga: By reading a lot. I read constantly when I was young; I read fictionalized biographies. I read a lot more historical fiction while I was writing my novel. [An example would be] Louise Erdrich, an Ojibway woman from Minnesota and South Dakota, [who] writes fiction about her people and past.

Did you have an experience similar to your main character Elisabeth or Attitash?

Vellenga: Yes. When you write historical it has to be in the context. There was a African American young mother I knew who at first was very wary of me,however when gradually I won her trust. When she was recovering from a gunshot wound, she asked me to take care of her child, and we became close friends.