When you hear the name of the queer writer Hillary Carlip, you probably think of her best-selling 2006 Lambda Literary Award finalist memoir “Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan.”

When you hear the name of the songwriter Allee Willis, you likely think of the massive hit songs she co-wrote including “September” and “Boogie Wonderland” (Earth, Wind and Fire), “Neutron Dance” (Pointer Sisters), or “What Have I Done To Deserve This?” (Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield), among others. But what happens when you put the names Hillary Carlip and Allee Willis together? You get the mind-blowing pop-up book “Willis Wonderland: The Legendary House of Pop-Up Kitsch” (Willis Wonderland Foundation, 2025). Co-written by Trudi Roth, with illustrations by Neal McCullough, and pop-up design and paper engineering by Mike Malkovas, the book is a well-deserved tribute to Willis, a music and pop culture legend who passed away in 2019. Carlip generously made time to talk about the book at the time of its release.

Beginning with Alexis Spraic’s 2024 doc “The World According to Allee Willis,” and continuing with your book “Willis Wonderland,” would it be fair to say that we are in the midst of an Allee Willis renaissance?

[Laughs] I think renaissance is an interesting word because she was in a constant renaissance herself. Always reinventing herself and always up to really unusual, amazing creations. We're just paying tribute by carrying that on in all the ways we can.

How did you meet Allee?

I met her so long ago. It was the early ‘80s, I think. We knew people in common. We had mutual friends. The funny thing is, for so long, she's had her hair in an asymmetrical cut, with one side longer. My marker is I've known her as long as when her hair was even [laughs]. That's how far back we go.

How did the “Willis Wonderland” book come to be?

After Allie passed in 2019, her partner, Prudence [Fenton], started the Willis Wonderland Foundation. The whole purpose is to carry on Allee's legacy and also to empower the next generation of artists. That was started in about 2020-2021. We started on the book about a year ago. As I said, I've known Allee [for] a long time. I also helped Prudence, in the beginning, get the foundation on its feet. She came to me and said, “I want to memorialize the house somehow. And the collection in the house. What do you think about doing a pop-up book?” I'm an author. I've written five other books. I’m also an artist and designer, so I was like, “Sure!” I had no idea what it would take to do a pop-up book!

I started researching and found, “Oh, you need a paper engineer!” Who even knew that was a thing? I found a bunch of them, put the project out (to them), and narrowed it down. 

Then I found like an incredible paper engineer in Paris who was wild about the topic and Allee and had also been working with an illustrator in Ireland since the early days of the Foundation. We did the logo and the branding. The three of us collaborated and created what people have been calling “a pop-up book on steroids.”

That’s a fitting description. So, was it always envisioned as a pop-up book, or were there other iterations?

Always that. I think the thought came to Prudence. A pop-up book would be a tactile, interactive way to show the house and the collection, and Allee.

What do you think Allee would think of the book?

I think she'd be very happy. I think she’d be kvelling, as she’d say. Because I think when you see it, everyone has said they feel like they're in the house; been to the house, seen the house, and experienced it. That would make her very happy.

How long did it take from start to finish?

I’m going to say about a year, but the three of us were busy on other projects, too. It wasn't just the book.

Do you have a favorite room in the book?

What a great question! I love her art studio, I think, because it has a lot of interactivity. In the book, everything is illustrated except pictures of Allee in each room. Those are actual photographs of her in different eras. In the art studio, I used one from the ‘80s where her dog is on her lap. I made it so you could pull a tab, and the dog would lick her face. The tongue goes up and down. There are a lot of different pull tabs. Also, she had a skylight, and we put in a spinner to go from day to night. I think there's a lot going on in there. You see her awards that she's won, like from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Grammys. It's a special room to me. 

I love that there is an image in the Rec Room of Allee’s out-of-print 1974 “Childstar” album, of which I am proud to say I own a copy on vinyl. 

I have chills! That is fantastic! I love hearing that.

Do you know if, through the foundation or whatever, there is a new vinyl reissue or long-awaited CD edition of “Childstar” in the works?

They’ve got it on Spotify, which is a big thing. To promote the (doc) film, they put together a vinyl with some selections from it and some demos. I'm going to see if there is still a copy lying around and, if so, I'm going to get you one.

That would be amazing! Thank you! What do you hope readers will get from their “Willis Wonderland” book experience?

Everything Allee did was so high-level creative and so full of joy. Right now, with everything going on in the country and the world, we need joy. We need it. And the art and creativity, and inspiration. I'm hoping it brings that to everyone who sees it.

When I interviewed Lauren Wood in 2020, we talked about Allee, and Lauren revealed that she and Allee had been a couple. 

Yes, that is actually how I met Allee. I said mutual friends [earlier], but it was through Lauren.

In terms of being out publicly, would you agree that maybe Allee wasn’t comfortable with that part of her identity until she was with Prudence?

I don't think she was ever fully comfortable with it. She grew up in a time when people were closeted and had to be for their careers. Her family, and no one was accepting. She always put it somewhere in the closet. To her, it was so much more important to express her creativity and individuality. She didn't want to be labeled by anything.

Have you started working on or thinking about your next creative project?

Thank you for asking! I am so obsessed with these pop-up books now. I just want to do them for anyone who wants one. I feel like it's such a lost art. I would love to keep doing them.