Don't ever give up, 'Help' author says

Kathryn Stockett simply cannot condone the yellow-and-purple color scheme that adorns the cover of her bestselling novel "The Help."

You see, yellow and purple are the colors of Louisiana State University — and Stockett is an alumnus of the University of Alabama. The two schools are fierce football rivals that play in the same conference.

"Just for the record, I'm not an LSU fan," Stockett explains. "You can't imagine how disappointed I was when my publisher showed me the colors of the cover of 'The Help.'"

The LSU-Alabama rivalry is even more intense than usual this year because they're the two best college football teams in America. The Tigers already defeated the Crimson Tide on Nov. 5, but the squads will meet again on Jan. 9 for a winner-take-all national championship game.

"I am an Alabama football fan," Stockett affirmed to the Deseret News. "I just got tickets to go to the Alabama-LSU game in New Orleans (next month) — I missed the first one because I was on tour, but I'm going to the rematch."

Stockett made the media rounds this week to promote the Dec. 6 release to DVD of "The Help" movie that Disney adapted from her book. Her anecdote about missing the first LSU-Alabama contest but landing tickets to the biggest college football game of the season is illustrative of how Stockett is fully engulfed by both the benefits and entrapments of a newfound celebrity spawned by "The Help," her debut novel that launched in 2009 and recently topped 5 million copies sold.

"It's hard because you get pulled away from your family and it's hard on relationships — I had to file for divorce in June," she said. "But at the same time you're so grateful, and it pumps you up to write the next one."

Stockett isn't sure whether she'll ever revisit Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny — the trio of protagonists in "The Help" — but is resolute that any future work including any of the three characters will have to be a prequel that chronologically takes place prior to the plot of "The Help." In the interim, she speaks glowingly about what it means to live her "dream of earning a living as a writer" — an understandable level of graciousness from an author who initially watched no fewer than 60 literary agents reject her manuscript for "The Help."

"I think a message that this book can give to other writers and young people is this idea of not giving up, of fighting for what you believe in," Stockett said. "I got 60 rejections for 'The Help,' and number 61 was the one that finally was willing to take a chance. Just keep pushing and don't give up — because you won't get anywhere if you do!

"It sounds kind of cliché, but when I was growing up there were a couple of very strong women in my life that made sure I understood that if I gave up, that was it — that I had to be tenacious and keep trying and that, most importantly, I deserved to reach my dream."

Email: jaskar@desnews.com