In the following audio interview, five women — Haley Steinberger, Andrea Welsh, Andrea Lucia, Rachelle Wofford and Betsy Yates — share what it was like to have a writer observe their lives for a school year and write a book about them.

These women are members of Divisi, a student-run group of University of Oregon singers, who have captured the world of collegiate a cappella. The Divisi women, wowed audiences around the country by performing a song not typical in the a cappella scene: the 2004 R&B hit “Yeah!” by Usher. 

By the spring of 2006, Divisi was on track to win collegiate a cappella’s international title, only to be snubbed by one of the deciding judges in the final minutes of competition. 

Sound like the makings for a blockbuster? Author Mickey Rapkin thought so too. He followed Divisi (and two other male collegiate a capella groups, the Tufts University's Beelzebubs and the Hullabahoos from the University of Virginia) during the 2006-07 school year to gather information for his recently published narrative nonfiction book Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory.

To learn more about the experience of being the subject of a nonfiction book, we at Etude visited one of Divisi’s recent practice sessions.  They told us what it was like to have a writer observe what ended up a tumultuous year for the group. They explained what the reporting process looked like from their perspective. They shared their memories of reading their story in print for the first time and discussed about how well the author captured the essence of their group.

Interview by Katie Campbell
Audio recording by Michelle Theriault
Edited by Katie Campbell

Editor’s note: A book review of Pitch Perfect was published in Etude’s Summer 2008 edition.