Hi, all--sorry to be silent for so long. It's been a busy six months, and I just haven't made the time to check in with the long posts I'd been planning. But I have heard the complaints, so here I am.
Why've I been busy? Well, work, as always. And in early summer I got to do some traveling in support of the GRANTA list--had a great time reading in Minneapolis, Iowa City, Chicago, and Toronto. The listmates with whom I read were, without exception, fabulous people to get to know: Akhil Sharma, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Kevin Brockmeier, Yiyun Li, John Wray, and Karen Russell. All great people; all wrote great books.
I was also fortunate enough to spend some days driving cross-country with GRANTA's then-editor Matt Weiland and his wife Gina (Matt's since moved on to THE PARIS REVIEW). That was a blast. Luckily we all liked the same music, since I'm insufferable on that front. Minneapolis is Matt's town; I'll always be thankful he and Gina took me to the Electric Fetus, which as you might imagine is a record store full of goodies.
But that trip aside--I spent the summer working on a new novel. Not the one I've been complaining about to some of you for a couple of years now--THAT book and I needed some time apart. I turned instead to another idea that's been kicking around in my head, and have written well over 100,000 words since June 1. Not all of those are permanent words, mind you, but I really love this project. I won't predict an ETA, but it'll be done sooner rather than later.
Also: I finally got my butt to a gym. As of this week I'm down 33 lbs. from May, with many more to go. My GRANTA pic was what did it, in the end. Another 15-20 lbs. and I'll post a Before and After shot in this space.
And finally: My new story, "Pitch Black," is available in the poker-mystery anthology DEAD MAN'S HAND, an anthology edited by the inimitable Otto Penzler, and published by Harcourt. Look for it in bookstores everywhere. The story's a new direction for me--dark comedy, I'd call it. It also features not one, but two bad death metal bands.
That's all for now. I'll try to be more attentive--thanks for your posts!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
In Defense of Long Acknowledgements
I mentioned in my BBC post below that I had a chance to debate (briefly) Ian Jack on the length of my acknowledgements in WE'RE IN TROUBLE. And it's true: I have four pages of acknowledgements. This is unusual in the world of literary fiction, which I knew when I wrote the list. But apart from a couple of snarky comments in otherwise positive reviews of the book, the list itself didn't get much comment, upon the book's release.
Then, prior to the announcement of the GRANTA Best Young American Novelists list, Ian Jack wrote an introduction to an issue of GRANTA in which he spent two and a half of his own pages questioning the wisdom of my four pages. He kept me anonymous, since the context of the introduction was that Ian was reading contenders for the final BOYAN2 list. But I'd seen the intro already, and was torn between excitement (I'm under consideration!) and annoyance (someone else is making fun of MFA programs, yee-ha). Then, last month, part of Ian's introduction was reprinted in HARPER's. That Ian Jack, he gets around.
I want to stress that Ian and I have spoken about this, and Ian insists his questioning has all been done in the spirit of fun and banter--as was our radio appearance. And I do believe it's true. But all the same, I find myself in the position, now, of having to defend my acknowledgements.
Let me see if I can sum up Ian's objections:
1) Long acknowledgements devalue a literary work, calling into question the originality of the writing (especially if many of the people thanked are one's valued classmates in an MFA program).
2) Maybe long acknowledgements are in fact a sign of the author's ego--only a writer convinced of the magnificence of his prose would thank so very many people for making such a glorious thing possible.
3) He doesn't understand MFA programs and what they do.
I can't argue point number two--I have an ego, but I don't believe I have THAT much of an ego; then again, can one really judge one's own ego? I'll leave that for anonymous posters from Georgia to decide. But as for the rest--
I really don't want to discount Ian's points. He has a right to his opinions, certainly, and also he has a critic's right to make whatever he wishes of the material released between the covers of any book. Once I write something and release it into the world, I cease to have control over it. So be it; if I can accept that fact about my fiction, then I also have to accept it about ancillary material.
But I can say I had none of this in mind when I wrote my acknowledgements. I composed my book during a particularly dark time in my life; in 1999 I lost my first wife, Joellen Thomas (to whom the book is dedicated) to cancer, and I wrote all of WE'RE IN TROUBLE in the years thereafter. In order to do that I went back to school--I attended Ohio State's very fine MFA program from 2001-2004. Prior to Joellen's death it's fair to say my life was difficult, in particular my childhood. I don't say all this to beg for sympathy--I truly don't. Rather I want to offer it as context; I can look back over my past and see any number of times when I needed the help of others in order to keep moving forward, to maintain my ambitions, to put words on the page. I think it's fair to say I could not have gotten where I am now without the support and kindness of lots and lots of people.
I'm also bothered, as so many others are, by the general disdain in American society for people who pursue intellectual or artistic goals. Writers aren't valued here they way they are in, for instance, France. Much of my time as an adult, writing, has been spent justifying myself to people, or hearing dire stories about how so few "make it," and how it's, say, financially irresponsible to pursue the path I was pursuing.
So when I learned that my book was going to be published, I felt I owed a debt to those who encouraged me along the way. I also thought that, publishing being what it is, I might never have another opportunity to thank the people who helped me along--one book is no guarantee of another. I also thought I might poke at the notion that writers do what they do alone--I don't feel as though I'm the lonely, tortured, friendless novelist working under a single harsh light in his garret. And yes, I wanted to acknowledge the help I got at both graduate writing programs I've attended--Ohio State's, and also the M.A. program at Miami of Ohio, where I both learned a lot and met Joellen.
So, yeah, the acknowledgements got excessive. I really didn't have to thank the coffee shops where I did a lot of my writing. But after a while making that list of names got to be fun. Why NOT thank Anton at Cafe Apropos? He thought it was great I was working on my book in his shop, and chatted with me about it all the time. Why NOT thank the teachers in high school who could have dissuaded me from writing my dumb fantasy novels? Denise Beck, I salute you! Why not? A dream of mine, an unlikely one, had come true. Why not say thanks to the people who didn't shake their heads and call me crazy, while I was having it? At the end I called it what it was--the first line of the acknowledgements asks readers to forgive me an "indulgence." I figured (and not, I think, unreasonably) that someone not in the mood could simply not read the names.
So that's all I thought I was doing. In a later post I'll write about MFA programs, and the bad (and infuriating) rap they get.
In the meantime I'll let you know that I plan to acknowledge Ian Jack in my next book...
Then, prior to the announcement of the GRANTA Best Young American Novelists list, Ian Jack wrote an introduction to an issue of GRANTA in which he spent two and a half of his own pages questioning the wisdom of my four pages. He kept me anonymous, since the context of the introduction was that Ian was reading contenders for the final BOYAN2 list. But I'd seen the intro already, and was torn between excitement (I'm under consideration!) and annoyance (someone else is making fun of MFA programs, yee-ha). Then, last month, part of Ian's introduction was reprinted in HARPER's. That Ian Jack, he gets around.
I want to stress that Ian and I have spoken about this, and Ian insists his questioning has all been done in the spirit of fun and banter--as was our radio appearance. And I do believe it's true. But all the same, I find myself in the position, now, of having to defend my acknowledgements.
Let me see if I can sum up Ian's objections:
1) Long acknowledgements devalue a literary work, calling into question the originality of the writing (especially if many of the people thanked are one's valued classmates in an MFA program).
2) Maybe long acknowledgements are in fact a sign of the author's ego--only a writer convinced of the magnificence of his prose would thank so very many people for making such a glorious thing possible.
3) He doesn't understand MFA programs and what they do.
I can't argue point number two--I have an ego, but I don't believe I have THAT much of an ego; then again, can one really judge one's own ego? I'll leave that for anonymous posters from Georgia to decide. But as for the rest--
I really don't want to discount Ian's points. He has a right to his opinions, certainly, and also he has a critic's right to make whatever he wishes of the material released between the covers of any book. Once I write something and release it into the world, I cease to have control over it. So be it; if I can accept that fact about my fiction, then I also have to accept it about ancillary material.
But I can say I had none of this in mind when I wrote my acknowledgements. I composed my book during a particularly dark time in my life; in 1999 I lost my first wife, Joellen Thomas (to whom the book is dedicated) to cancer, and I wrote all of WE'RE IN TROUBLE in the years thereafter. In order to do that I went back to school--I attended Ohio State's very fine MFA program from 2001-2004. Prior to Joellen's death it's fair to say my life was difficult, in particular my childhood. I don't say all this to beg for sympathy--I truly don't. Rather I want to offer it as context; I can look back over my past and see any number of times when I needed the help of others in order to keep moving forward, to maintain my ambitions, to put words on the page. I think it's fair to say I could not have gotten where I am now without the support and kindness of lots and lots of people.
I'm also bothered, as so many others are, by the general disdain in American society for people who pursue intellectual or artistic goals. Writers aren't valued here they way they are in, for instance, France. Much of my time as an adult, writing, has been spent justifying myself to people, or hearing dire stories about how so few "make it," and how it's, say, financially irresponsible to pursue the path I was pursuing.
So when I learned that my book was going to be published, I felt I owed a debt to those who encouraged me along the way. I also thought that, publishing being what it is, I might never have another opportunity to thank the people who helped me along--one book is no guarantee of another. I also thought I might poke at the notion that writers do what they do alone--I don't feel as though I'm the lonely, tortured, friendless novelist working under a single harsh light in his garret. And yes, I wanted to acknowledge the help I got at both graduate writing programs I've attended--Ohio State's, and also the M.A. program at Miami of Ohio, where I both learned a lot and met Joellen.
So, yeah, the acknowledgements got excessive. I really didn't have to thank the coffee shops where I did a lot of my writing. But after a while making that list of names got to be fun. Why NOT thank Anton at Cafe Apropos? He thought it was great I was working on my book in his shop, and chatted with me about it all the time. Why NOT thank the teachers in high school who could have dissuaded me from writing my dumb fantasy novels? Denise Beck, I salute you! Why not? A dream of mine, an unlikely one, had come true. Why not say thanks to the people who didn't shake their heads and call me crazy, while I was having it? At the end I called it what it was--the first line of the acknowledgements asks readers to forgive me an "indulgence." I figured (and not, I think, unreasonably) that someone not in the mood could simply not read the names.
So that's all I thought I was doing. In a later post I'll write about MFA programs, and the bad (and infuriating) rap they get.
In the meantime I'll let you know that I plan to acknowledge Ian Jack in my next book...
GRANTA Appearances
I now have my appearance schedule in support of the GRANTA Best Young American Novelists 2 issue--due out in the U.S. on April 24. I'll be making three stops, as follows:
Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m.
Minneapolis
The Loft
with Yiyun Li and Matt Weiland
Monday, April 30 at 7 p.m.
Iowa City
Prairie Lights Bookstore
with Kevin Brockmeier, Yiyun Li and Matt Weiland
Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Chicago
Barbara's Bookstore/Oak Park
with Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Karen Russell and Matt Weiland
I'm looking forward to these events, to say the least. At each stop we'll be reading, and Matt Weiland (who is GRANTA's U.S. editor, and a nice guy) will presumably be speaking about the issue and its goals.
Hope to see you at one of these appearances! For more info in general about the GRANTA list, click here.
Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m.
Minneapolis
The Loft
with Yiyun Li and Matt Weiland
Monday, April 30 at 7 p.m.
Iowa City
Prairie Lights Bookstore
with Kevin Brockmeier, Yiyun Li and Matt Weiland
Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Chicago
Barbara's Bookstore/Oak Park
with Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Karen Russell and Matt Weiland
I'm looking forward to these events, to say the least. At each stop we'll be reading, and Matt Weiland (who is GRANTA's U.S. editor, and a nice guy) will presumably be speaking about the issue and its goals.
Hope to see you at one of these appearances! For more info in general about the GRANTA list, click here.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
BBC Interview
Earlier this month I took part in a brief interview on the BBC radio show the Today Programme, along with GRANTA editor Ian Jack; we debated the length of my acknowledgements. (For those who don't know--I have four pages of them in my book. Maybe in an upcoming post I'll talk about this in more depth.) Had a great time, even though it meant staying up late here on Pacific time. Thanks to Ian for setting it up--very gracious of him, actually, to give me a small shot at a rebuttal.
The irony of it was, I got contacted after the interview by an old friend, Susan, who I'd lost touch with--turns out she'd moved to England. She found this page, said hello . . . and then I got to tell her she was in the acknowledgements I'd been discussing.
The irony of it was, I got contacted after the interview by an old friend, Susan, who I'd lost touch with--turns out she'd moved to England. She found this page, said hello . . . and then I got to tell her she was in the acknowledgements I'd been discussing.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
It Burns Us, Precious
[Even newer] colors for the blog! Lori in Chicago says the old format hurt her eyes, but I think really it was her feelings.
This is, incidentally, why I do not work in design.
Complaints about the new colors? Leave a post...
This is, incidentally, why I do not work in design.
Complaints about the new colors? Leave a post...
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Best Young American Novelists
I finally get to reveal news I've been sitting on for a few months: I've been chosen for GRANTA's 2007 Best Young American Novelists list. I first heard in November, when Ian Jack called to let me know the news; I then spent a month and a half working on a piece for the forthcoming issue in support of the list, due out at the end of April. The story is called "That First Time," and is, I'd say, similar in tone to the ones in WE'RE IN TROUBLE.
I still don't know what to say about this. I'm honored, I'm humbled (especially given my fellow listmates; see below), and still more or less in disbelief. Ten years ago I used the last list to guide my reading tastes, and now to find myself on the other side of the page is . . .
Here, I'll tell you what it's like to be on GRANTA's Best Young American Novelists list: you spend a long time fussing around with your blog posts, knowing you're supposed to be terrific at self-expression, before finally shrugging and copping out with an ellipsis.
Normally at this point I'd start spewing thanks, but since Ian Jack took me to task for just that behavior in a recent GRANTA introduction, I'll have to sit tight and communicate it telepathically.
(Fingers pressed to temples, staring furiously at the horizon and beyond, toward London; Ian Jack stirs in his sleep and mutters, 'That grateful bastard,' before resuming his fitful slumber.)
To the rest of the presumably less-thanks-averse judges--A.M. Homes, Meghan O'Rourke, Edmund White, Paul Yamazaki, and Sigrid Rausing: I am deeply, deeply grateful.
So what's next? Some tour dates, possibly, depending on many factors. I'll post any appearances the moment I know them.
I do want to congratulate my listmates before I sign off. Here, as promised, is the lineup:
Daniel Alarcon
Judy Budnitz
Kevin Brockmeier
Anthony Doerr
Jonathan Safran Foer
Nell Freudenberger
Olga Grushin
Dara Horn
Gabe Hudson
Uzodinma Iweala
Nicole Krauss
Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Yiyun Li
Maile Meloy
ZZ Packer
Jess Row
Karen Russell
Akhil Sharma
Gary Shteyngart
John Wray
I wish I could say I've already voraciously consumed every book by every author on that list, but I haven't. Seems this one's going to guide me just as the last one did.
Lastly: A quick shout-out to Anthony Doerr--I found out the full list when everyone else did, but I'm proud to say I guessed Tony's place here pretty easily. He is a fine writer and a gentleman. He is the Artist Formerly Known as Snowflake. Go read him; go read them (us!) all.
Now I'd better go write something.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Good News from France
I just got word that the French literary journal LIRE has named UN SENTIMENT D'ABANDON as one of the twenty best books of 2006!
Thanks, LIRE, and once again to all the great people at Albin Michel who made this possible in the first place. Merci beaucoup!
Thanks, LIRE, and once again to all the great people at Albin Michel who made this possible in the first place. Merci beaucoup!
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Two Dogs
We've adopted a puppy, Kona! Kona's somewhere between one and two years old, and the prevailing opinion is that she's a combination of black lab and English pointer. She made eyes at us in the Reno S.P.C.A., and we were powerless. She joins our existing dog, Nada (who, I must point out, we did not name), a ten-year-old golden/chow. We were worried about relations between a puppy and a grumpy old dominant dog, but so far the two have become fast friends. Kona likes to swim, so be prepared for shots of the irresistable combination of puppy and Tahoe...
Welcome, German readers!
The German translation of WE'RE IN TROUBLE has hit the shelves, with the title BIS AN DAS ENDE DER NACHT, out from Goldmann...
Rather Ripped
Sorry for the long radio silence--I spent the last part of my summer buried in my novel (which is getting there--sloooowly). But I do want to give a separate post to one of the cooler things that's happened to nerdy ol' me--which was getting to see Sonic Youth on July 4th, and meeting Thurston Moore in the process.
Long story short--I'm writing a story for a Sonic Youth tribute anthology, THE EMPTY PAGE, being put together by editor Peter Wild, and when I mentioned to him that the Youth were coming to Reno, he got me (and my friend and birthday boy Mike Kardos, who flew out from Missouri) backstage.
Great show (in support of the terrific new album, Rather Ripped), and afterward Thurston was gracious and literate, for a guy being bothered simultaneously by a dorky English professor and a group of Reno high school students who'd gotten permission to shoot documentary footage of the band. We talked about Mary Gaitskill; the students asked him what kind of beer he liked. The rest of the band wisely kept out of sight.
So thanks to Peter, for making it happen, and thanks to the Youth, for all the great music--and specifically one wave of feedback so loud it made me sweat.
Long story short--I'm writing a story for a Sonic Youth tribute anthology, THE EMPTY PAGE, being put together by editor Peter Wild, and when I mentioned to him that the Youth were coming to Reno, he got me (and my friend and birthday boy Mike Kardos, who flew out from Missouri) backstage.
Great show (in support of the terrific new album, Rather Ripped), and afterward Thurston was gracious and literate, for a guy being bothered simultaneously by a dorky English professor and a group of Reno high school students who'd gotten permission to shoot documentary footage of the band. We talked about Mary Gaitskill; the students asked him what kind of beer he liked. The rest of the band wisely kept out of sight.
So thanks to Peter, for making it happen, and thanks to the Youth, for all the great music--and specifically one wave of feedback so loud it made me sweat.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Nevada Skies
Reason number 564 why I love this place...a thunderstorm at sunset in the desert. The picture still doesn't do it justice.
Friday, June 23, 2006
A Brief Word about Book Purchasing
To amplify a point from my last post below...even though I link to Amazon on this page (because I need sales for my book any way I can get 'em) I should note that, in a perfect world, anyone wanting my book (or any other) would go to the nearest independent bookseller and either purchase or order the book there.
Many of you know my wife, Stephanie Lauer, works for Reno's last independent bookstore, Sundance Books. It's everything a bookstore should be--diverse, staffed with book lovers, friendly--and which so many chain stores are not. And I say this with regret--when I was in high school, Indianapolis's best bookshop was Borders, hands down. But Borders and Barnes and Noble and other big chains have, unsurprisingly, eroded in quality the bigger they've gotten. They've also adopted predatory business practice, using their size in order to receive new titles before independents, and earning discounts the little shops can't.
It's axiomatic in my world that true book people are truly good people. If you think you're the former, please don't reward the huge box stores for their size. Don't use Amazon just because it's a web-click away. Go to an independent and chat with people like Stephanie, who read voraciously, who want to put a good book in your hands themselves, for the love of it. Or if you're in New York City, go see Otto Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop (where I bet he'd be happy to sell you MURDER IN THE ROUGH)...
Don't know a good independent? Check Booksense for one in your neck of the woods.
Many of you know my wife, Stephanie Lauer, works for Reno's last independent bookstore, Sundance Books. It's everything a bookstore should be--diverse, staffed with book lovers, friendly--and which so many chain stores are not. And I say this with regret--when I was in high school, Indianapolis's best bookshop was Borders, hands down. But Borders and Barnes and Noble and other big chains have, unsurprisingly, eroded in quality the bigger they've gotten. They've also adopted predatory business practice, using their size in order to receive new titles before independents, and earning discounts the little shops can't.
It's axiomatic in my world that true book people are truly good people. If you think you're the former, please don't reward the huge box stores for their size. Don't use Amazon just because it's a web-click away. Go to an independent and chat with people like Stephanie, who read voraciously, who want to put a good book in your hands themselves, for the love of it. Or if you're in New York City, go see Otto Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop (where I bet he'd be happy to sell you MURDER IN THE ROUGH)...
Don't know a good independent? Check Booksense for one in your neck of the woods.
New Novella, Available Now!
Hello, all. At long last--I can announce new fiction on the shelves!
My novella "His Mission" is included in the Otto Penzler-edited anthology MURDER IN THE ROUGH, available now from Mysterious Press. That's right--a book of golf-themed mysteries!
Those of you who know me will rightly say--But you don't play golf! To which I will answer: No. No I don't.
But I wrote a pretty dark novella for Otto anyway, about golf, religion, unrequited love, and--this was a requirement--murder most foul. And I'm pretty proud of it. Just as I'm proud to be included alongside authors like Lawrence Block, who I've been a fan of for ages...
MURDER IN THE ROUGH! Available at fine independent bookstores now...
Saturday, June 10, 2006
France recap
Home again--where I've been in a jet-lagged coma for a couple of days. But I think my eyes are open enough this morning to write at least a little bit about my trip.
So here goes another gushy post. France. Was. Awesome.
For those who don't know me: I'm a bit of a homebody. It wasn't until a few years ago that I began to travel within the U.S., and prior to last week, the farthest I'd ever gotten from American soil was about ten yards out in the Atlantic. I've waved across a Great Lake at Canada, but that's about it for my worldliness.
So it was with more than a little irrational fear that I boarded the plane for Paris (fresh off watching my friends Mike and Katie married, which certainly helped--and congrats again to those two, who are inspiring). I speak absolutely no French, and prior to this trip I had great difficulty even pronouncing anything in that language.
My fears, of course, were unfounded. Thanks in no small part to all the good people at Albin Michel, and to my fellow writers on tour, but mostly thanks to the very kind and patient folks I met all over France, I had no difficulty at all. In nine days I was transformed from a homebody to a devoted Francophile. I want to learn the language, I want to visit again. And in fact Steph and I might do so next summer.
A bare bones summary: I met up with the other writers and my editor, Francis Geffard, in Toulouse, and from there we circled the country: we hit Montpellier, Lyon and Vienne, Lille, Paris, and then Saint-Malo. (I loved them all, but have a particular fondness for Vienne, the smallest city on the tour--it felt very home-y, and has a wonderful bookstore and readers who gave us our warmest reception of the week.) Louise Erdrich couldn't make the trip, unfortunately, but that meant a lot of very funny, testosterone-heavy bonding with Mssrs. Udall, Chaon, Reid, Treuer, and Doerr. I couldn't have asked for a better gang of fellow travellers, some of whom are old hands at the tour de France.
I didn't have as much time in Paris as the others, but Francis made sure I got to see the sights. I stood under the Eiffel Tower at midnight, and saw Notre Dame, etc. A magnificent city, Paris--but no one needs this blog to confirm that. Still, I was awed by the sheer weight of history over there. I live in a city where "old" means 1870. The bookshop in Vienne looks out onto the pillars of Roman ruins.
But the best part of the trip, hands-down, was meeting French readers, writers, and book people. David Treuer said it simply and best: The French are the best readers in the world. It's true. They read a lot, and they care a lot. I met a man named Christian, for instance, who drove two hours to Vienne to meet me, because he loved my book, and was moved by it. I was, and still am, deeply humbled by the chance to shake his hand.
A country that loves to eat and drink coffee and read--why wouldn't I fall in love?
That's all for now. A big thank-you to Francis and the good people at Albin Michel (and a shout-out to my translator, Michel Lederer, who's obviously doing something right), and of course to Dan, Tony, Elwood, Brady, and David--you guys rock.
So here goes another gushy post. France. Was. Awesome.
For those who don't know me: I'm a bit of a homebody. It wasn't until a few years ago that I began to travel within the U.S., and prior to last week, the farthest I'd ever gotten from American soil was about ten yards out in the Atlantic. I've waved across a Great Lake at Canada, but that's about it for my worldliness.
So it was with more than a little irrational fear that I boarded the plane for Paris (fresh off watching my friends Mike and Katie married, which certainly helped--and congrats again to those two, who are inspiring). I speak absolutely no French, and prior to this trip I had great difficulty even pronouncing anything in that language.
My fears, of course, were unfounded. Thanks in no small part to all the good people at Albin Michel, and to my fellow writers on tour, but mostly thanks to the very kind and patient folks I met all over France, I had no difficulty at all. In nine days I was transformed from a homebody to a devoted Francophile. I want to learn the language, I want to visit again. And in fact Steph and I might do so next summer.
A bare bones summary: I met up with the other writers and my editor, Francis Geffard, in Toulouse, and from there we circled the country: we hit Montpellier, Lyon and Vienne, Lille, Paris, and then Saint-Malo. (I loved them all, but have a particular fondness for Vienne, the smallest city on the tour--it felt very home-y, and has a wonderful bookstore and readers who gave us our warmest reception of the week.) Louise Erdrich couldn't make the trip, unfortunately, but that meant a lot of very funny, testosterone-heavy bonding with Mssrs. Udall, Chaon, Reid, Treuer, and Doerr. I couldn't have asked for a better gang of fellow travellers, some of whom are old hands at the tour de France.
I didn't have as much time in Paris as the others, but Francis made sure I got to see the sights. I stood under the Eiffel Tower at midnight, and saw Notre Dame, etc. A magnificent city, Paris--but no one needs this blog to confirm that. Still, I was awed by the sheer weight of history over there. I live in a city where "old" means 1870. The bookshop in Vienne looks out onto the pillars of Roman ruins.
But the best part of the trip, hands-down, was meeting French readers, writers, and book people. David Treuer said it simply and best: The French are the best readers in the world. It's true. They read a lot, and they care a lot. I met a man named Christian, for instance, who drove two hours to Vienne to meet me, because he loved my book, and was moved by it. I was, and still am, deeply humbled by the chance to shake his hand.
A country that loves to eat and drink coffee and read--why wouldn't I fall in love?
That's all for now. A big thank-you to Francis and the good people at Albin Michel (and a shout-out to my translator, Michel Lederer, who's obviously doing something right), and of course to Dan, Tony, Elwood, Brady, and David--you guys rock.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Back from New York
It's going to take a long time to process our trip to New York for the PEN awards, and I'll have more to report as said processing occurs. As I said at the awards ceremony--and meant--I still feel like a grad student sequestered in his room, writing for workshop. So how'd I turn into this joker in the suit? How'd I get to a place where I could shake Philip Roth's hand? I'm still not sure. Maybe it's better not to be.
The PEN site--linked to the right--has pictures and audio up from the awards.
Now, though, is the time to say thanks to all the great folks in NYC who made our visit so memorable, especially Thomas Beller (who is not only a really nice guy, but who is also taller than me--seriously, like 6'7"), Heidi Julavits, and Victoria Redel, the judges for the Bingham Award; Joan Bingham and family, who funded the award, and who held a magnificent dinner after the ceremony in the sort of apartment I thought only existed in the pages of Salinger novels; PEN director Ron Chernow and the wonderful staff of PEN, especially Nick Burd; my editor, Ann Patty, and agent, Marian Young, who both shepherded Steph and me around with considerable patience; the incomparable Otto Penzler, for lunch and praise; the terrific memoirist Amy Benson and her husband Douglas Repetto, who spent the day before the awards ably showing off their beautiful city; and my old friend and classmate Shari Goldhagen, for coffee. (Check out the fine books by both Amy and Shari: THE SPARKLING-EYED BOY and FAMILY AND OTHER ACCIDENTS; both their web sites are linked to the right.)
And a shout-out to my old friend Jennifer, who I ran into by accident in the Strand. In a metro area of seventeen million, I saw a pal from Ohio. What a city.
That's all for now. In twenty-four hours I'll be winging off again, this time to Columbia, Missouri, for the wedding of Mike Kardos and Katie Pierce, two of our best friends. And from Missouri I'm headed to France. If I have time I'll post from the road...
Friday, May 19, 2006
Upcoming trip to France
On May 29th I'll be making my first-ever trip overseas, to take part in an author tour arranged by my French publisher, Albin Michel. I'll be joining several other American authors: Dan Chaon, Anthony Doerr, Brady Udall, David Treuer, Elwood Reid, and Louise Erdrich. Some folks have written me, curious about the schedule... and I'm sketchy on the fine details (for instance, I wasn't aware Louise Erdrich would be along until just recently, and I still don't know many stops she'll be present for). But here's what I know of my part of the itinerary:
On Tuesday May 30th, we'll be in Toulouse (Southwestern France).
On May 31st: Montpellier (Southeastern France).
On June 1st: Lyon (Central France).
On June 2nd: Lille (Northern France).
On June 3rd: Rennes and Saint-Malo (Western France), where we will stay three days, and join the Etonnants Voyageurs International Book Festival.
We will be back in Paris on the evening of June 5th, and I'll fly home on the 6th. At each stop there will be readings, as well as meetings with press and booksellers.
If I can come up with more definitive details, I'll post them--soon!
On Tuesday May 30th, we'll be in Toulouse (Southwestern France).
On May 31st: Montpellier (Southeastern France).
On June 1st: Lyon (Central France).
On June 2nd: Lille (Northern France).
On June 3rd: Rennes and Saint-Malo (Western France), where we will stay three days, and join the Etonnants Voyageurs International Book Festival.
We will be back in Paris on the evening of June 5th, and I'll fly home on the 6th. At each stop there will be readings, as well as meetings with press and booksellers.
If I can come up with more definitive details, I'll post them--soon!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship
I just recently found out that I've been awarded the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship. This is shocking, overwhelming news. (Details and citation are linked over to the right.) I'll be flying to New York this weekend and accepting the award at the Lincoln Center on Monday, May 22. Since I'm likely going to meet any number of people I idolize--not least of whom is Philip Roth, winner of the PEN/Nabokov--I will write all kinds of commentary next week, upon return.
But, any PEN folks reading this--I'm as honored and flabbergasted as any former Hoosier farmkid can be. My deepest thanks.
But, any PEN folks reading this--I'm as honored and flabbergasted as any former Hoosier farmkid can be. My deepest thanks.
Greetings (again) and news
Greetings, friends and randomly curious readerfolk!
I'm going to try and make this blog my homepage for a while, since the last one, I think we can all agree, would have been awful even by 1995 standards. (Even this guy's is better.) I tried a blog at this site last year, and failed--but around here we take failure and use it to grow strong, like bull. So: welcome to my blog and homepage, version 2.0. I'll try to keep it lively.
I'm going to try and make this blog my homepage for a while, since the last one, I think we can all agree, would have been awful even by 1995 standards. (Even this guy's is better.) I tried a blog at this site last year, and failed--but around here we take failure and use it to grow strong, like bull. So: welcome to my blog and homepage, version 2.0. I'll try to keep it lively.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)