Ten Questions for Robyn Schiff

“Read more than you write.” —Robyn Schiff, author of Information Desk: An Epic
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“Read more than you write.” —Robyn Schiff, author of Information Desk: An Epic
The author of The Museum of Human History discusses how the human mind and archetypal narratives informed her novel.
“Writing this book forced me to deal with, and face, some parts of my personality that haven’t served me.” —Kwame Alexander, author of Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters, and Remembrances
As a child the author idolized the sharp prose and arresting images of survival in Gary Paulsen’s young adult novels. Now, as an adult novelist, that love is complicated by questions of who gets to tell what stories—even as her admiration endures.
Luis Alberto Urrea always knew his mother had a story; he just didn’t know how to tell it. But in researching his new novel, Good Night, Irene, he gained a deeper understanding of the person she was and the happy ending she deserved.
The author of Selected Books of the Beloved investigates the uses of specificity in narrative poetry.
In The Furrows, Namwali Serpell draws readers into the roiling nature of grief in a powerful narrative that explores memory, loss, and Black identity without resting on what she calls the “meaningless platitude” that art promotes empathy.
The author of Country of Origin listens to old-school Arabic music to help her render the mood of Egypt at the dawn of the postcolonial period.
The author of Country of Origin muses on the transporting power of photographs.
“I wrote this book with the constraint of honesty.” —Truong Tran, author of book of the other