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"I don't Worry About Fiction or Non-Fiction..."

Richard McCann visited George Washington University last week and read from his excellent prose debut, Mother Of Sorrows. My students were in attendance, as we have used his work in our Advanced Fiction Class. The reading was wonderful-- with material like that, how could Richard go wrong?

(Journalistic note: on the photo to the right, I begged him to strike that Mark Twain pose.)

One of the many interesting things that Richard said was, "I don't worry about fiction or Non-fiction. I just think of it all as prose." He said this in response to a question about the autobiographical aspects of Mother Of Sorrows.

The chapter of he read dealt with the brothers-- both gay, one closeted-- on a visit with thier disapproving mother. There is a passage in which Richard describes the characters physical features and it is as though he is staring into a mirror describing what he sees.

This is not to say that Mother of Sorrows is memoir. Richard mentioned the most significant diversion from the "truth" is thatthere is a third McCann brother, but in the novel, there are only two. He said what he feared most was that this brother wouldn't approve of the book-- not just because the third brother is very religious and might not like the gay themes, but also because the third brother was sort of erased from the history created by the novel.

I tend get really irritated when readers spend way too much time trying to decode the autobiography in my work. It makes me feel like they are looking under my clothes. When the first student asked the question, I cringed for Richard, but he seemed to be energized by the discussion.

If you haven't read Mother of Sorrows, you should. It will break your heart, in a very good way.

Posted at 04:31 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Bookshelf

Cesar Chavez High School

On Tuesday, I visited with Ms. Ventura's English Class at Chavez High School in North East DC. The morning got off to a breathtaking start because my Spelman Sister, Jamilla, and I were so busy talking on the way to the school that we found ourselves driving west in an eastbound lane. (Mr. Truck Driver, whoever you are, thank you for letting us live.)

I was already a little nervous about the visit. Usually, I get invited to school to talk about Leaving Atlanta, but this group wanted to read The Untelling. As you know, there are some heavy things going on in that book! I wasn't sure where to start, but the young people took the wheel. We talked about hard issues-- whether babies serve as "glue" for relationships and other thoroughly adult topics. It was a wonderful visit. I hope the kids took me seriously when I told them to stay in touch.

Posted at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
Category: News

Blurbation

Jeffrey Ford has got a post up about giving blurbs-- you know, those author-endorsements printed on the backs of books. Ford has an interesting policy-- he gives no more than four a year. That's it. The four first books that deserve his stamp, get it. If your book comes out in November, you probably will have missed the Jeffrey Ford window. He makes a good argument for this policy. He doesn't want to give so many blurbs that his blurbs become meaningless. (I think my mother gave me similar advice about kissing too many boys.)

So that got me to thinking about blurbs. For the most part, I don't do them. I think I am a little too young, too green, to be going around giving other writers my thumbs up. There is one noteable exception: I get such a kick out of giving Pearl blurb-love. There is something Karmic about endorsing the first writer who ever endorsed me.

For my first novel, my editor and I made the list of authors whom we would solicit. It became clear that we had different ideas about the type of endorsements we would see. I managed to get a blurb from LESLIE MARMON SILKO. Since I had written my undergraduate thesis on her work, I was thrilled to pieces. My editor said, "Who?"

As a writer/reader, I look at blurbs to try and figure out the degrees of separation between the writers. Sometimes I look at the collection of gushing quotes and see a pattern. "I see," I might say. "There is a Bay Area thing going on here." A few blurbs leave me seething with jealously: How, how, how, HOW did Bernice McFadden score a blurb from the Almighty Toni Morrison? Ms. Morrison is famously unavailable for such things. I have only seen one other Morrisonian blurb in my whole life. That was A. J. Verdelle's The Good Negress. (No mystery there. It's a Princeton thing.)

So, tell me, good readers. How do you process blurbs? Do they sway you. Have you ever parted with $25 to buy a hardback book because of the praise on the back cover?

(thx, ed)

Posted at 07:26 PM | Comments (7)
Category: The Writing Life

Linky-Dinky!

Remembering C. Delores Tucker

C. Delores Tucker died in 2005, and I didn't know anything about it.

Ms. Tucker was a civil rights activist and a crusader for black women, too. She is best known for her bold stand against Sony Music and the misogyny in some rap music. (She raised money and bought up enough stock to have a real vote. Remember that?)

I met Ms. Tucker around 1995, when I was teaching developmental reading at Prairie View A&M University. I was just a little pup-- 23-years old, trying to change the world and wondering why people kept hassling me about wearing short skirts to work. My task was to take Ms. Tucker around campus.

Continue reading this entry

Posted at 07:35 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Jonesing For A Good Book

Friends and neighbors, I need something to read. I've got novels on my shelf, but I can't quite remember why I bought them. Chances are, I heard some buzz out there in the industry. Right now, I need something to read that is recommended by just a regular person. I don't want to read something because it's been published as the lead title from XYZ press, or its author won a major humungous prize. I don't want to read something just because I met the author in an elevator and she was really cool. Right now, I need a strong personal endorsement of something. What have you read lately that knocked your socks off?

I don't know if it's the books I have been reading lately, or maybe it's just a problem with my socks. Whatever the case, I am not getting the zing I used to get from reading. This is so not cool.

I've been feeling a little bit on the blue side. A friend said, "Is it because you're not writing enough?" And the real answer it that is isn't because I'm not READING enough.

Help!

Posted at 08:40 PM | Comments (7)
Category: Bookshelf

In TN, "Race" Means NASCAR

Last week, I went to Johnson City, TN to give a reading. I spent a year at East Tennesee State University in 2003, while finishing up The Untelling. I may have told you all this story before, but ETSU saved my book.

Imagine this, I had just finished what I thought was a good-looking draft of the novel and was eagerly awaiting the payment that comes upon acceptance of the manuscript. I wasn't planning on buying a porche with the money. It was more like there were some very tasty items on the shelves of the local grocery store that I was hoping to stock my freezer with.

Well, my editor looked at the manuscript, sort of hated it, and gave me a really really disturbing talking to. She gave me some suggestions that went against everything I believed about the story. Well, what to do? I had no job and was counting on that book check.

Continue reading this entry

Posted at 08:46 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Book Tour

Greetings from Johnson City, TN

I used to live here, actually. (That's a story for tomorrow.) I've returned to East Tennessee State University to give a reading, and to do some shopping. About three years ago, I saw a framed portrait in an antique shop. If I could have afforded it, I would have gladly bought it.

The portrait is of an African American couple, dressed to the nines. The date on the frame was 1923 and it bears all the hallmarks of the period. I've always been fascinaated in well-to-do black folks from that time. These people were not Vanderzee's Harlemites. The man and the woman were a southern couple, dressed fine but not sharp. One word comes to mind, dignified.

Photography was a luxury at the turn of the century. I don't come from one of those black families that have been rich for generations. I have never even been to Martha's Vineyard, let alone own property there.

For the last three years, I have been unable to get the portrait out of my head and I decided to visit the antique shop when I was here in East Tennessee. I figured the photo would still be available-- afterall, when I lived here, I pretty much WAS the entire black population of Johnson City, TN. Who would buy it if not me?

Well, I finally made it to the shop, but there was no sign of the picture with the tag, "Negro Couple". I was too shy to inquire about it, also I was hoping maybe my memory failed me, that the picture of the couple was in another shop.

My friend, Crystal, went back to the shop after I'd gone and asked after the portrait and came to me with bad news.

"Somebody else bought it," she said.

"Oh," I said sadly. "At least its got a home."

"Well," Crystal said. "Not exactly. The lady said the people who bought it told her they only wanted the frame."

Posted at 07:34 PM | Comments (5)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Here Rests, by Lucille Clifton

I often bring poetry into my fiction classes. I often use this one by Lucille Clifton. (How an she tell a full story in so few--very beautiful--words?)

here rests

my sister Josephine
born in '29
and dead these 15 years
who carried a book on every stroll.

when daddy was dying
she left the streets
and moved him back home
to tend him.

her pimp came too
her Diamond Dick
and they would take turns
reading

a bible aloud through the house.
when you poem this
and you will, she would say
remember the Book of Job.

happy birthday and hope
to you Jospehine
one of the easts
most wanted.

may heaven be filled
with literate men
may they bed you
with respect.

Posted at 10:45 AM | Comments (3)
Category: Bookshelf

Novelists In the News

Good News Are Happening...

To members of our blog community!

Back Home From Home

Atlanta is my hometown, there's no doubt about that, but I feel like I have a collection on hometowns, and Mesa, Arizona is one of them. Let me explain.

In 1997, I decided to move to Arizona to take a scholarship to study Creative Writing at Arizona State University. It was a big leap. I knew what I was getting into. (Arizona?!?! Isn't that the no-King-holiday-holdout-state?? Yes, it was.) When I went there, it was as though the Universe was asking me what was I willing to give up to follow my dream. Leaving Atlanta for AZ, I gave up almost everything familiar to me. It was a large sacrifice, but I was hoping that the Universe would provide a matching donation.

While I was in Arizona, I did receive the writing instruction and publishing opportunities I hoped for, but I also met a lot of really good people. I am not talking about people in the writing business, I just mean regular folks.

Take the people I met at a local bar/restaurant, Brunello. You wouldn't expect to find fine Italian Cuisine in a strip mall, but it's there. The bartender, Linda Eldridde is one of the kindest people I have ever met. When I was unpublished and doubtful, she cheered me up and when I was too broke to order dinner, she shared from her own place. (And, she's in inspiration. I took a few of her favorite sayings and put them into the mouths of characters in The Untelling. Check out page 103. Linda gave me the idea for "Iron Pants.")

Continue reading this entry

Posted at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Cumulus Clouds, 84 Degrees

Well, it's actually 94 degrees where I am going: Tempe, Arizona, but you get the idea. No, I am not going in order to pressure the legislature to designate my old apartment into a National Historic Landmark (Tayari Jones wrote LEAVING ATLANTA in this tiny tiny apartment.)

I'm returning to my old stomping grounds to feel some sun and to be interviewed by my dear friend and mentor, Ron Carlson, who hosts a PBS show called "Books and Company." I never told him, but I was hoping he would one day invite me on.

I'll be gone through the weekend, and I am not taking my computer--so no posting until Monday. I *am* taking my camera, so there will be photos when I return.

Okay. Gotta dash for my plane. Have a good weekend!

Posted at 04:52 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops

This August, I will be leading a fiction workshop at the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops in College Station, Texas. Callaloo is a premiere literary journal, showcasing African Diaspora writers throughout the diaspora. A few years ago, editor Charles Rowell set up summer workshops to allow writing students a chance to work with working writers. This summer has a dynamite line up. In poetry, there is Tracy K. Smith and Terrance Hayes. The fiction faculty will be me and Mat Johnson.

The details are below, but act quickly, the post mark deadline is April 2!

Continue reading this entry

Posted at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)
Category: News , The Writing Life

Rutgers-Camden Summer Writers' Conference

I've just signed on to teach a workshop at the Rutgers-Camden Summer Writers' Conference. The confernce offers ten days of workshops, readings, and professional panels. This conference is open to writers in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

The cost varies, depending on whether or not you want to get college credit for attending. If you are just attending for the experience of it, the cost is only $450.

One of my goals here at the blog is to help get the word out about writing opportunities, so feel free to cute and paste the message and send to your folks.

Posted at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
Category: News , Travels & Rambles

A Healing, A Welcome Home

Last month, while hanging out with Remica Bingham, I noticed that she shared the same last name as the artist who designed the cover of her book.
"Are you related?" I asked.
She smiled and said, "It's my father."
"Really," I said. "How did that happen?"
She answered me in writing.

A Healing
by Remica Bingham

It’s a strange thing to find your father where you never thought he would be. So when I found my father pouring through the rows of poetry on my bookshelves I was a bit taken aback. He wasn’t reading any poems, just looking at spines and covers, examining each book, its texture, style. This was July 2006, after I found out I’d won the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award and that my book, Conversion, would be published, in a matter of months, by Lotus Press.

When Lotus Press asked me if I had any input as to what I’d like to see on the cover of the book, I knew this was the right press at the right time. I told them my father was an artist and that I’d like him to do the cover art. Not only were they agreeable, but they seemed fond of the idea as well, without even knowing our story. I suppose they had read the book, though, since they’d chosen it for their book prize, and did get to glimpse into our past. My father takes a bit of a thrashing (as do many others—myself included) in the book. I tell so much about the dark times in his life, in our lives. My father and mother divorced when I was twelve and remarried when I was twenty. After many years of turmoil and distance, they found their way back to each other, older, wiser and more open to the possibility of happiness, of trust.

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Posted at 09:13 AM | Comments (4)
Category: Bookshelf , Guest Bloggers

Key West Literary Seminars

Spring has sprung and the memory of cold weather is behind you already. I hate to be the voice of reason, but remember that winter will be here again before you know it. Make plans now to visit Key West in January. I will be taking part in the Key West Literary Seminar for next year and I wanted to let you all know about it.

The program is two-fold. There are the seminars and the workshop. The workshop lasts four days and members of the 8-12 member class will learn from established writers. The seminars are panel discussions and such about writing, and the writing life. There are two seminar sessions, and, sadly the first is already sold out. Act now to take part in sesson two. Or, if you prefer, just register for the workshop.

I've never been to Key West, but by all accounts it's a pretty swanky destination. You'll see that the tuition is not too pricey ($450 for the seminar), and there is some financial aid available and even a special grant earmarked for teachers and librarians.

Check it out. I'd love to see you there.

Posted at 06:05 PM | Comments (0)
Category: News , The Writing Life

Linkage!

The Ethics of the Hook Up

Last week, there was an interesting letter written in to The Ethicist. In summary, an MFA prof asked whether it was unethical for another prof to send a student's work in to be published without that student knowing. The letter-writer's real concern was that the other students would think this was favoritism. Well, at the end of the letter, was the writer's REAL NAME. I thought, "Wow. That's brave." Well, this week, The Ethicist apologized for missing the little request that name be withheld! Imagine the drama in the faculty lounge when she went to work on Monday. What a nightmare. Lets just hope she's already tenured.

But anyway, that brings us back to the real question. Do you think this sort of thing is okay? For a student to have her work sent to a journal by a big-time writer, really helps her chances to get in, and that makes it unfair, or at least unequal. But, if a writer sees something extraordinary in her student's work, isn't she right to help out?

As a person who has been a student in a writing program, I can really see both sides of the issue. I will freely admit that professorial connections did help me get an agent for my first novel-- so who am I to say such favors should not be offered. But at the same time, I have been the over-looked student that did not have the benefit of a guardian angel with major name-recognition. It can be really demoralizing to know that the goodies are being handed out, but not to you.

It's not much of an issue for me as a professor, because I am still pretty junior in the field. I don't have any hook-ups really to share. All I have to offer my students at this stage is my time and my attention.

(BTW, you have to go to the original to see what The Ethicist had to say about the matter.)

Posted at 12:18 PM | Comments (4)
Category: The Writing Life

Tina Ansa Starts a Publishing Company

I just got this press release and thought I would share it.

Continue reading this entry

Posted at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

The Terror of Showing New Work

I've just posted the opening to my novel-in-progress, The Outside Child, which I read at the AWP conference last week. A few people emailed and asked me to post it. To tell you the truth, I probably would have been more comfortable posting a photo of myself in my foot pajamas and satin bonnet! Why, because showing new work always makes me feel like a rookie.

Ladylee has an amusing post up about me reading from Leaving Atlanta-- five years after the book's publication. My knee-jerk response is to say that unlike a carton of milk, a novel has no expiration date. But also, there is a certain comfort zone in reading something that has already been tried and accepted. Every time you show your work or read from it, you're putting yourself out there. Sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's a little ouchie.

So, with no further ado. Here's The Outside Child.

Posted at 09:16 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Writing

The Outside Child

Below is the excerpt of my novel-in-progress, presented as a headline reading at the 2007 AWP Conference, held in Atlanta, Georigia. (February 28-March 3)

My father, James Witherspoon, is a married man. He’s been that way since before I was born, when he met my mother, Gwendolyn, at Davidson’s downtown. She was working in gift-wrap at the time, and he came to her counter with the electric carving knife that he had bought his wife for their ninth anniversary. My mother says she knew that something wasn’t right between a man and a woman when the gift is a blade. I say that maybe that means that there was a kind of trust between them, that he thought he could give her such a weapon and still sleep peacefully at night. But I don’t have to tell you that my mother and I tend to see things a little bit differently.

The point is that James’s marriage was never hidden from us. “James” is what I call him. His other daughter, Chaurisse, the one who grew up in the house with him, she calls him Poppy, even now.

When most people think of bigamy, if they think of it at all, they imagine some bizarre practice taking place on the pages of National Geographic. Some of us in Atlanta remember one sect of the Back-to-Africa movement, headquartered in the West End. The women were dealt out four to each man. From time to time, you can still see them, resplendent in white trailing six paces behind their mutual husband. If you spend anytime in beauty parlors, you will hear tales of new widows surprised at the funeral by the other grieving widow and her five kids.

It’s a shame that there isn’t a true name for a woman like my mother, Gwendolyn. My father James is a bigamist. That is what he is. Laverne is his wife. She found him first and my mother has always respected the other woman’s squatter’s rights. But was my mother his wife, too? She stood with him in front of a judge just over the state line in Alabama, but to call her only his “wife” doesn’t really explain the full complexity of her position.

Continue reading this entry

Posted at 09:02 AM | Comments (17)
Category: News , Writing

Farewell, Nokuthula!

Nokuthula Mazibuko will be leaving Washington, DC tomorrow to return to her home in South Africa. As World Literature Fellow she met with classes here at GW, read at the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, and met with youth groups here in the city.

The Deputy Ambassador from South Africa hosted Nokuthula and all of members of the organizations sponsoring her trip. Before taking part of the elaborate buffet, we took turns exchanging stories of how her visit has touched each of us. I didn't pipe up, as I didn't have an official title, or a group to represent. But if I had been braver, I would have raised my hand and just said how much I enjoyed meeting her. We have become good friends during these last few weeks-- talking about everything from books to boys, seeing the city and painting the town, swapping clothes and doing each other's hair.

Nokuthula is a fine writer, and a very good person. I think I miss her already.

Travel safely, Girl, and please stay in touch.

Posted at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Falling off the Wagon

I'll admit it. In all the hubub of AWP, I have fallen off The Artist's Way wagon. I promise to pick up on Monday with Week 7, "Recovering A Sense of Connection." I have been doing the morning pages-- the three pages of free writing required by the program.

I'm not the only one. Cheryl Minor, has been doing hers too. Here is her account of her experiences with her early morning ritual.

Of all the exercises in The Artist’s Way, the morning writings are the hardest for me. I expected pre-dawn musings of literary greatness to show up on the pages. What I got was continuous rants of the most petty, irrational garbage you can imagine. Last week I accused my artist of cheating on me (well, she is going out more and dressing better). The week before, I revisited parental advice on my career choices. My parents wanted a doctor in the family, and I was the only one of five siblings in college. We compromised. I majored in chemistry. I spent the first two semesters skipping my organic chemistry class and hiding out in the library reading Tennessee Williams’ plays. You do not want to know how this period of my life played out on the pages. Let me just say that it was ugly.

Finally, this week, I am having a break through. I still hate (despise… resent… loath…where is that thesaurus button when you need it!) getting up and scribbling at the crack of dawn. However, a magical thing is beginning to happen. By dumping all of my irrational, insecurities out first thing in the morning, I am free to feel other things for the rest of my day. I liken the morning pages to Trash Thursdays. My trash is collected on Thursdays. It is never ready. So invariably, when I hear the trash truck coming down the alley on Thursday mornings, I hit the floor running, grab the trash bag, dump the trash, and go back to bed. Same with the morning pages: hear the alarm, grab the notebook, dump the trash on the pages, go back to bed. Clean house. Clean mind. It works for me.

It is not a perfect process. Part of me still has high hopes that by chapters ten or eleven in The Artist’s Way the exercises for the morning pages become mid-day pages or at least after-I’ve-had-my-coffee pages. What can I say… I’m a work in progress.

-- By Cheryl Minor

Posted at 09:45 AM | Comments (2)
Category: The Artist's Way

Links! Links! Links!

It's A Shoe Thing

I must say that I am a little shy about posting this photo. Afterall, I am suppossed to be the intellectual artiste... but due to popular demand, here are the boots I wore at AWP. These were purchased in NYC under the supervision of one Natasha Trethewey.




(thx SKK for sending the photo.)

Posted at 10:55 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Now Back To Work

On Saturday night, I gave my big reading at AWP and I am happy to report that it went very well. The reading was held in the Grand Ballroom at the Hilton downtown-- the very site of my junior prom. I had to work hard not to take it as a dark omen.

There was a really robust crowd and my mama surprised me by attending. Members of our blog community were there too, but some were too shy to say hello. (You know you who are. Don't do that. Come say hi, always.)

The introduction was given by Jen from Poets and Writers Magazine. Before the reading, at dinner, I asked her what she was going to say. Introductions can be so weird; I like the get a sense of what's coming down the pike. She said: "Your website bio, plus salt and pepper." With that kind of wit, I knew it was going to be okay.

You know me, I was all dressed up. The higlight was in the shoe-realm-- brown croco-embossed boots with a clear lucite wedge heel. (Cyrus Cassells, such a joker, quipped: "What happened to the goldfish?" ) I rose from my seat and headed for the stage. My concentration was on staying upright in my shoes, keeping good posture like my mama taught me--afterall she was right in the audience, second row.) I soon became aware of noise. Lots of noise. Clapping, hoots, and maybe even a whistle. At the mike, I spoke from my heart: "Y'all crack me up."

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Posted at 07:00 AM | Comments (5)
Category:

Party on the 4th Floor

I couldn't resist throwing a party at AWP. Since I am giving a night-time reading, I have a great suite, the kind of space that begs you to sponsor a little gathering.

I must admit that party-throwing is great fun, but it's a little anxious-making. I can't help thinking, what if no one comes. Silly me. It's a writing conference-- folks will come.

There was much to celebrate. Honoree and Terrence gave knock-out readings this afternoon. Greg Pardlo won a big prize. (I don't know the name of the prize, but what ever organization chose him has very good taste.) Suji Kwok Kim has been honored yet again. Camille, Sally, and Jaci all are toasting their new jobs. There was only one bottle of champagne, but everyone had a sip.

There are lots of pictures, probably the last ones of the conference. My picture-taking finger is exhausted.

My event is tonight. 8:30. I'm reading from my new book!

Posted at 11:11 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Travels & Rambles

AWP Friday Report

Here is a recap of yesterday's AWP conference. I know that I have spent a lot of time talking about the folks I've met and the friends I've connected with, but there is also a lot of serious interaction happening at this conference.

Yesterday, I attended a panel called "Trashy Women" which featured four writers discussing their experience as working class women working in the university environment. A stand-out on that panel was Joy Castro, author of The Truth Book, who has written a few posts for us here at the blog.

Terrence Hayes gave a firecraker of a reading, as did Honoree Fanonne Jeffers.

There are panels this morning about chapbook publishing, using historical research in fiction and many others.

And... here are Fridays pics.

Posted at 08:46 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Travels & Rambles

Stop Me Before I Flash Again!

Get your mind out of the gutter! When I say flash, I am talking about my photo-habit. I am in grave danger of becomming "that girl with the camera." I can't help it. I am having such fun here at AWP, that I can't resist taking snapshots. So far, people have been pretty cooperative, but I imagine it will start to get old.

Today has been a really good day. Highlights include: meeting Sonia Sanchez, running into some of my favorite former students,and dinner at Watershed.

And here is an on-going highlight-- I keep meeting members of our blog community. Although I know from my sitemeter that we are a pretty good sized community, it touches me everytime I meet one of us in real life.

There are a lot of writers here to say they are too busy to blog. I keep trying to tell them that they don't know what they're missing.

Here is the photo album from today!

Posted at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Travels & Rambles

New Letters on The Air

I had the most delightful experience this afternoon. Angela Elam interviewed me for New Letters on the Air, a terrific nationally syndicated radio program. (When the interview is up, I will link here, of course.) I have done quite a few radio interviews and I am sorry to say that your average radio interview consists of the host reading the press release and figuring out questions he can ask based on that. On a few occaisions, I've been forced to write the questions out so the interviewer can have something to say!

So, imaging how pleased I was to meet Angela who can for the interview with copies of both my books looking well-read. She asked such wonderful, though-provoking questions that I would have been content to talk to her all afternoon-- and maybe I would have if we didn't run out of tape. We talked about everything from the craft of writing to the politics of publishing. Angela is a sharp woman, I feel lucky to have been interviewed by her.

Posted at 12:37 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events , News

Crossing the Line

Yesterday, Lee Smith and I were on the program at The Margaret Mitchell House. The title of our program was "Crossing The Line." We each gave a short reading and then talked to each other about what it means to be a southern woman writer today.

If you have ever been around Lee Smith, you know what a dynamic presence she is. We talked aout the hard stuff and even managed to make it funny. I think we established that there is such a thing as southern writing-- there is so much common ground between us despite the obvious differences of generation, race, urban/rural. I am usually fairly apprehensive about the question of "what is universal", but talking with Lee Smith made me think that real connections that cross the line are indeed possible.

The crowd at the Margaret Mitchell House was sparkling and just plain fun. The Atlanta Writers Club was in attendance, the Margaret Mitchell subcribers, and just regular folk. Several members of this blog community showed up-- which always pleases me. I took lots of photos, but I lost my page with everyone's name and correct spelling. So, if you see yourself and the name is wrong or mangled, email me and I will fix it right away.

Well, I am tired tired tired. It's only day 2 of AWP. I don't know if I have what it takes to make it through Saturday.

Photo album.

Posted at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Book Tour , News