Writers' stories

Last week, Sara Gran and I had an hour-long conversation on Zoom. We were supposed to be talking about her new publishing company, Dreamland Books, and its first release, Gran's novel The Book of the Most Precious Substance. Instead, our conversation ended up touching on almost every hot button topic in the genre, from gender politics to publishing issues.  Read more

Jami Attenberg and Bernardine Evaristo have had somewhat disparate careers; Attenberg has become known for her particular brand of family novel, and Evaristo shot to immense stardom last year when her eighth book, Girl, Woman, Other, won the Booker prize.  Read more

At a party many years ago, I jokingly told another guest that I'd do my best to remember his name after I published a book to great acclaim. I meant to be funny and disarming, but I bungled the delivery. I came off like a jerk. This other guest was a writer, too, and an equally self-serious one. Predictably, he took offense. He pointed his beer bottle at me.  Read more

The Nguni languages, isiXhosa and isiZulu, are closely related lyrical languages spoken by the majority of people in the eastern regions of South Africa, and are particularly rich in imagery and metaphor. Both languages as well as the traditions, customs, cosmology and history of these two peoples have been the focus of a lifetime of research.

There was a time I prided myself on being able to write in airports. I could write in my quiet office, sure, but I could also write in a high school gymnasium during a volleyball tournament. I could type on the bleachers. I could go to Italy and sit at a shaky little table made out of twisted wire and type. On the airplane going home, I could type on the plastic fold-down meal tray.  Read more