Q. What came first, the fascination with and love of nature or the desire to write? When did the two intersect?
A. I loved animals and plants long before I could read or write. I am told that before I was two, I toddled inside the hippo pen at the Frankfurt zoo—and the massive hippos were apparently quite welcoming and did not (obviously) bite me in half, as they are prone to do to humans in similar circumstances in the wild.
From an interview with Sy in The Penmen Review, Southern New Hampshire University Online Journal for Creative Writers. Read more of the interview here.