Megan Abbott on Genres
Megan Abbott speaks about her interest in prodigies, her novel You Will Know Me (Little, Brown, 2016), and her thoughts on the superficiality of genre distinctions for Nashville Public Television’s A Word on Words.
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Megan Abbott speaks about her interest in prodigies, her novel You Will Know Me (Little, Brown, 2016), and her thoughts on the superficiality of genre distinctions for Nashville Public Television’s A Word on Words.
“Usually it’s the worst thing you can admit about yourself that most people can relate to.” David Sedaris, whose latest book, Theft by Finding: Diaries (1922–2002) (Little, Brown, 2017), is an edited compilation of his diary entries, expresses his thoughts on working on drafts and combining laughter with sorrow in this PBS NewsHour video. David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium (Little, Brown, 2017), edited and photographed by artist Jeffrey Jenkins, is featured in “The Written Image” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“I was not at my mother’s side when she took her last breath.” Sherman Alexie reads from his debut memoir, You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me (Little, Brown, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Poet and actress Amber Tamblyn makes her directorial debut with the film adaptation of Janet Fitch’s novel Paint It Black (Little, Brown, 2006), which stars Janet McTeer, Alfred Molina, and Alia Shawkat. The film is set in the 1980s Los Angeles punk scene and follows a young woman dealing with the aftermath of her boyfriend’s death, and her conflicted relationship with his grieving mother.
“Today I will take pride in my appearance. I’ll shower, get dressed in proper clothes, and only change into yoga clothes for yoga, which, today, I will actually attend.” Maria Semple reads from and discusses her novel Today Will Be Different (Little, Brown, 2016).
“Stories are pretty much just confined not really to objective truth, but to points of view.” Joshua Ferris discusses his views on storytelling, narrative, and characterization at a party thrown by Sheepscot Creative. Ferris’s debut story collection, The Dinner Party (Little, Brown, 2017), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“You never really know when you’re going to find that thing that’s extraordinary.” Laird Hunt talks about a surprising source of inspiration that he discovered while researching his new novel, The Evening Road (Little, Brown, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“Something kept nagging at me...I couldn’t give the story to one voice.” Laird Hunt, whose most recent novel, The Evening Road (Little, Brown, 2017), is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, talks about his writing process and the multiple narrators in his historical novel.
Politics and Prose Bookstore owner Lissa Muscatine and head book buyer Mark Laframboise talk about their favorite fiction books of 2016, beginning with Imagine Me Gone (Little, Brown, 2016) by Adam Haslett, who was featured in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“Upon moments like these, time never stops gnawing its little beaver teeth and the dialogue never stops even after we stop listening.” In this 2012 video, Peter Orner reads from his novel Love and Shame and Love (Little, Brown, 2011). His first essay collection, Am I Alone Here? Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live (Catapult, 2016), is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.