Tayari's Blog: Report From the Road: Hotlanta

I have been in L.A. (Lovely Atlanta) for three terrific days and I am trying to make myself remember why I moved away in the first place. I am having one of those moments when it seems that I am the last person to figure out what is obvious to just about everyone in the world. When I was on the job market, every single solitary interviewer said, "Are you SURE you can leave Atlanta?" I thought they were just punning on the title of my novel.

I don't know how much you know about book tours, but a writer is given a literary escort in each city. This time, I was assigned to Laura Gilmore, escort extraordinaire. If I had known I was going to get someone so wise and generally knowledgeable about everything, I would have brought a paper and pad to take notes!

On Wednesday, we headed out to UPN to do "Focus Atlanta," a television show hosted by Keisha Williams, a fellow Atlanta Native. Ms. Keisha has a lovely smile and lovelier spirit. I have a feeling that we will soon see her in the national media. Next, I was supposed to do a phone interview on WGUN 1010 AM. I happen to love AM radio. My faithful escort, Laura, burned up the highway to get me to a landline for the interview. We ended up in her lovely lovely home, into which she is just moving. "Excuse the boxes," she said.

The radio interview with Karen Mason felt like talking to an old friend. We talked mainly about the reopening of the Atlanta Child Murders Case, but also about The Untelling. She announced my events for the night and several extra folks showed up as a result.

Next, we scooted downtown for a colloquim with reporters from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, my hometown paper. What a wonderful crowd! Of course, Teresa Weaver was there, but lots of other writers were in attendance. We talked about Atlanta, we talked about writing, we talked about the current state of journalism. Major thanks to Sheila Garland for arranging the whole thing.

By this time it was about 2pm. I hadn't eaten anything. Coffee doesn't count. But there was another stop before lunch.

"Writers In Focus" is a television show filmed at the Margaret Mitchell Branch of the Atlanta Public Library. When I was a kid, it was a place that young nerds could go without supervision and do something vaguely resembling dating. (Ah! Those were the days.)

Anyway, my host, James Taylor was such a terrific interviewer. Imagine this: we were sitting in the middle of the main floor of the library, chatting in front of the cameras as though we were not in the center of a really busy public place. Mr. Taylor has the sort of personality that makes you feel like whatever you are doing is perfectly normal. He made me so comfortable that you would have thought that I spend every day under hot lights, nearly hallucinating from hunger. (Soon, there will be a link video streaming the interview. I hope the microphones didn't pick up my growling stomach.)

Next.. LUNCH AT LAST. My escort, Laura, is a reserved woman, but by the time we ate, we were so starved that we put all pretenses aside. That grilled trout didn't stand a chance.

It's after midnight. I'll pick this up in the morning.