Category: personal

This is the view from my hotel room the morning after I arrived. It’s been pretty gloomy since. Cloudy, rainy, windy:

I went downstairs to the lobby and here’s the first face that greeted me. I mean, is there no place one can go to anymore to get away from George W. Bush?

All the papers were covering the U.S. financial crisis and the federal bailout. It seemed to be one of only two things people were most eager to talk about upon finding out I had just arrived from the States. The other was Barack Obama.

I went to dinner with a few of the authors and organizers here at the festival and had a very interesting conversation with the Icelandic author Sjon. His latest novel, The Blue Fox, has been translated into English and is out with Telegram Books. He also happens to be an Oscar-nominated songwriter (for Dancer in the Dark.) We talked about Fes and its medina.

The next day I slept in late, to try to get over my cold, then went out briefly to stretch my legs. I ducked into the first bookstore I saw. Lots and lots of literature in translation, as you might expect in a country like Germany, which has such a strong tradition of translation.

And this is just before my reading, with Bernhard Robben, who translated my excerpt into German, and Floriane Danniel, the actress who read it for the audience. Bernhard is the German translator of many contemporary authors, including Ian McEwan and Martin Amis, and he also sometimes introduces authors at festivals.

I don’t even know what time it is now, so I probably should go off to bed. I’ll try to post more pictures soon.

I am in Berlin this week, to attend the International Literature festival that takes place here every October. The city looks absolutely beautiful. I am still struggling with a very bad cold, which was made even worse by the long flight, so I will have to postpone any sightseeing till tomorrow.

If any of you readers happen to be in the area, my reading is on Thursday:

October 2, 2008 – 6:00 PM
Reading from Secret Son
International Literature Festival Berlin
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Foyer
Berlin, Germany

Do come.

As you can see, my website has a new design (courtesy of Being Wicked); I was getting tired of the old one, so it was time for a new look.  I also used the occasion to re-organize all the information that was available here (about, books, writings, blog, events, and media) so that it will be easier for me to manage and for you to read. The blog has been moved from Movable Type to WordPress, so it may take me a few days to adjust to everything.  Oh, and note that I use only one feed now.  You can subscribe using the button on the right.

After four and a half years of writing, several months of research, a brief stay at a writer’s colony, and countless hours of travel, I am done with my novel. I’m elated and exhausted; I’m happy to be finished, and sad to have to let go; but, mostly, I’m just relieved. I was taking so long with this book that I was embarrassed whenever someone asked me about it. Often, I’d mention whatever new short story or essay or book review I was writing, just to avoid having to talk about “The Novel.”

But now it’s done, done, done. It’s called Secret Son. And it will be published in April 2009, so please look for it then. Next week I will be launching a brand-new website, with some information about the book, the tour, and more.

feel suddenly relieved that UCR is on the quarter system. While my friends in other schools are making last-minute changes to their syllabi, I just started working on mine. I’m teaching two courses: a survey in contemporary fiction and a non-fiction workshop. Should be fun.

My trip back from Asheville was as hellish as my trip to: A major flight delay, rude gate agents, bad food, airport “routine” checks, and an overnight stay in an airport hotel. But not even that dreadful flight experience could take away from what was a very invigorating and thought-provoking residency at Warren Wilson. I co-taught three workshops: one with Stacey D’Erasmo, one with Charlie Baxter, and one with Mac McIlvoy. I gave a reading from my new book (this was only the second time that I read material from this new novel, so it was very helpful for me to hear it out loud.) And I gave a craft class, focusing on language use in situations where there are discrepancies between the language of the characters and the language of the text. I enjoyed the lectures given by the other instructors and learned a lot from them. And the students were a joy–talented, hard-working, motivated. So it was a great experience, though I’m happy to be back.