Tess Perko
Author Interview - Tess Perko
Author of LEARNING TO WHISTLE: A NOVEL
When she is supposed to be having the time of her life in college in California, Leonie loses her mother to breast cancer. After taking her last college course in Buenos Aires, she cashes in her return flight ticket and refuses to go home, erroneously believing that her grief will subside if she avoids her family. Narrating in her own grief-stricken voice, Leonie travels across Argentina, makes friends, and falls in love. She discovers her vulnerability and strength while working at a winery in Mendoza, riding over the treacherous Andes Mountains, and hiking the ancient pilgrimage to Machu Picchu—and, in doing so, slowly begins to heal.
Author Interview - Tess Perko
Author I draw inspiration from:
Kirstin Hannah is one author I admire for her ability to develop female characters with flawed and redeeming traits. I've read THE WOMEN, ON MYSTIC LAKE, THE FOUR WINDS, THE NIGHTINGALE, THE GREAT ALONE, AND FIREFLY LANE. THE WOMEN was my favorite.
Author Interview - Tess Perko | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
I like reading on the couch in my living room with the lamps turned on, candles buring, and my European art displayed around me. When it's cold, I cover up with a furry blanket given to me by my daughter, Rachael, who also loves to read. On the marble table in front of the couch, I either have a bottle of sparkling water or steaming green tea with honey.
The other spot I choose for reading is the leather loveseat in my library where I'm surrounded by books and the trappings of my writing life--maps of places I'm researching, notebooks filled with ideas, drafts marked with arrows and revisions, messy outlines, lists, and memorable quotes. The window on the opposite wall looks out to my back garden where flowers bloom year-round.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Jess Capodimonte Baratta from THE VIEW FROM LAKE COMO by Adriana Trigiani is one character I'd like to meet in an elevator. She intrigues me since she works with marble and her family owns a marble business in New Jersey. I'm fascinated by Italian marble and the numerous works of art made from it throughout the centuries such as Michaelangelo's DAVID. Last year, I was fortunate enough to purchase a Carrara marble sculpture carved by G. Tueli in Florence, Italy of a mother and her son looking at a crab in the sand.
I hope the elevator ride occurs in Italy, and that it is long enough for me to strike up a conversation with Jess. Perhaps I could offer to take her out for a cappuchino and pastry. While we discuss her career and Italian heritage, I could hint that I'd like to tour a marble quarry in Carrara with her and meet her relatives. I imagine wearing a helmet and sturdy boots, climbing through one marble cravass after another, noticing how the marble glows under the blazing Italian sun.
Author Interview - Tess Perko | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
When I was nine, I wrote my first poem as a school assignment. I was attending school in Bury St. Edmund's, England. We wrote essays for a Cadbury essay contest. We sang old English and Scottish ballads. We studied poets like Walter de la Mere and playwrights like William Shakespeare. One school field trip took my class to Stratford Upon Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. Another trip took us to Westminister Abbey where we saw Poet's Corner, the burial place of Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, and other writers. I loved learning about English royalty and following the life of Elizabeth II. By the time I reached high school, I had written several poems myself.
When I went to college, I wanted to major in journalism, but didn't think I could get a job. I was a poor college student who needed the security of knowing that I would get a job once I graduated, so I majored in accounting. For years and years, I penned poetry and short stories in my spare time. I wrote for a newspaper and taught art at an elemenatry school. I joined writer's groups and won awards. Finally, when my children were in their teens, I went back to college to major in English Literature and became an English professor. Now, I'm retired from that job and doing what I love. I'm writing novels.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback books project that literature is important and a serious endeavor, and this is what I believe. Literature empowers readers by teaching new ideas, loosening prejudices, and bulding language skills. It conveys the notion that each reader is part of a diverse human community with common needs, inalienable rights, and values. The only negative aspect of a hardback book is that it's heavy.
Paperback books are lighter versions of hardback books. Their covers can be just as beautiful as hardbacks, but they are less expensive to produce. If I want to take a book on a trip, I'd much rather take a paperback than a hardback.
Ebooks are wonderful for many reasons. I like lying in bed on my side reading a e-book. I don't need a lamp since my e-book reader has one built-in, and I can make the font larger for easier reading. The downside of e-book reading is that it is difficult to make notes and even harder to find a page with a memorable quote on it. If I'm serious about a book, I'll read a hardback or paperback instead of an e-book.
Audiobooks are great for certain types of readers. One of my friends is blind, but is an avid reader. She reads via audiobooks. Several other people I know like to listen to audio books while they are doing tasks such as cooking or commuting. Personally, I don't like using audiobooks. I am visually-oriented, and I actually get exited about seeing words on a page.
The last book I read:
I recently finished THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans and was fascinated by the main character, Sybil, a retired attorney with regrets in her past. She resonates with me since she is a mother who cares about how good of a mother she has been. She also has been a career woman, and she knows she was excellent at her job.
I also was impressed with how Evans told the story using only letter-writing, which I believe is a powerful medium. Some of my first writings were letters that I wrote to my aunts and uncles on behalf of my mother. Sybil prefers to write letters to the people in her life instead of speaking to them on the phone. I'm a lot like her.
Author Interview - Tess Perko | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I start my writing projects by thinking about a character and what I want her to learn. Then, I jot down sample titles, ideas, lists, and outlines. The outlines I make, however, always change as I develop a story. When I'm ready to write the actual prose, I sit at my computer and start, giving myself permission to change, cross-out, and rearrange words and sentences. When I’m in the middle of a long project such as a novel, I begin each writing session by rereading a previous chapter of the book to immerse myself into the story before I continue.
Atmosphere is important. I sit at an old oak desk in my library under a window looking out to my back garden. I type on a keyboard that’s attached to a large computer screen. When I take breaks, I gaze at the flowers and garden statues in the yard.
My library has a wall of bookcases filled with books and inspirational art. A Native American storyteller doll telling a story to eight children sitting in her lap sits on a book shelf. A metal sculpture of an African woman reading a book is perched on another shelf. At the White Elephant Sale in Oakland last year, I bought a statue of a young girl writing in a journal. Now that sculpture sits on top of a cabinet in my library.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I'd like to be friends with Jo March from LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott. She is fierce and independent, as I am. She loves reading literature and writing as I do, too. I like how she had a brotherly relationship with Laurie, which shows her maturity and sophisticated character. I also like how she traveled to New York by herself to pursue a literary career, and I'm not surprised that she married Professor Friedrich Bhaer, an intellectual equal.
If she and I were friends, I'd like to read books in tandem with her and then discuss them while walking the streets of New York or country roads. I would ask her to critique my writing and agree to be a reader for hers. We'd never run out of things to share whether it was family, love, characters, settings, symbolism, themes, or any aspect of writing.
Author Interview - Tess Perko | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Other than being a writer, my dream job is to be a research librarian at a university. I'd love to spend eight hours a day in a building full of books, knowledge, and human beings who are looking for information. I'd like to have access to materials on all types of complicated subjects--art, architecture, history, chemistry, biology, pschology and more--and to help professors and students find it. At the end of every day, I'd go home feeling satisfied.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
I'll choose the 1940's when the taylored skirt suit--made with wool and military insignia-- came into fashion. Women took on men's jobs since men were going to war. WWII changed women's lives for the better. Even though they didn't enjoy equality in rights and wages until later, they never again grew up under the assumption that they had to get married and stay home.
Place I’d most like to travel:
My favorite places to travel are Italy and France, and I've been to both places a couple of times. In Italy, I love eating pizza with anchovies, grilled octopus, and anything with tomatoes. I like strolling around the streets of Florence finding ancient treasures such as little wine windows that were installed in the walls of buildings during the Plague. I like gazing at marble statues and religious Renaissance oil paintings. In Sorrento, I like sitting on a balcony overlooking the Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius in the distance. Italian pottery shops can occupy me for hours, and the southern Italian beaches mesmerize me.
In France, I can stare at the Alps one day and climb into a hillside village in the south another day. In Eze. I like shopping for art and walking among the tombstones at the top of the hill. I'm thrilled to walk over a Roman aquaduct and then visit the apartment where Vincent Van Gogh lived in Arles. French cheese, eggs, duck, and fresh vegetables taste as if they were made just for me.
Another place that I haven't been, but would like to visit is Greece. I'm attracted to its ancient monuments and the fact that Greece was the birth of western civilization. I have a trip planned for May 2026.
My signature drink:
I don't have a signature drink, but I drink green tea with honey often, and I like flavored waters. I don't drink alcohol anymore.
Favorite artist:
Claude Monet has been my favorite artist for decades. The way his paintings are illuminated with light makes them ethereal and beautiful. Not only do I enjoy his flower paintings, but I also love his series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral. I've visited Giverny twice and enjoyed both his garden and light-filled home. A few years ago, I also was lucky enough to see his grave which is covered with flowers.
Number one on my bucket list:
I'm looking forward to finishing my second novel which tells the story of a young woman who moves to Alaska to get away from her father's domineering and misogynistic influence.
Anything else you'd like to add:
I'm happy to be part of the literary community. I find joy in making friends with other writers, supporting them, and working with them.
Find more from the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579883794249
Website: http://www.tessperko.com.
About Tess Perko:
Tess Perko
Tess’s debut novel, LEARNING TO WHISTLE: A NOVEL, will be published by She Writes Press in April, 2026.
In 2025, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Creative Arts Contest awarded Tess First Place for her short story “Park Avenue Romance” and First Place for her poem "How to Write a Poem about Grief." In 2024, GFWC awarded Tess First Place for her short story “Rain.” Her short fiction has appeared in Grigg’s Anthology: Joe Bellino’s Thighs, Grigg’s Anthology: Daylight Song, and Alamo Women’s Club The Leaf. Running Deer Press of Santa Cruz and the Danville Area Cultural Alliance Society of Poets have published her poetry.
When Tess is not writing, she raises money for scholarships for college and vocational students, teaches essay and journaling workshops to emancipated foster youth, studies Spanish, and grows beautiful roses.
