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The Hunter Becomes the Prey
"[James Earl] Ray was an evil man, but he was also struggling to figure out his place in the world: reading self-help books, undergoing hypnosis, going to shrinks. Maybe he could have gone clean but for that burning ambition and restlessness."
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PW Talks with Hugh Raffles
"The only way I could get close to insect experience was to find individuals—scientists, cricket-fighting aficionados, crush freaks—who had these really close and particularly intense relationships with insects and try to get inside those relationships."
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PW Talks with Alex Taylor
Native Kentuckian Alex Taylor delves into working-class loss and longing in The Name of the Nearest River, his debut collection.
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PW Talks with Jesse Kellerman
"I began to wonder what life would be like for someone whose only job was to make conversation... the ultimate 'man of inaction.' And from there I came to wonder what it would take to spur such a person to action."
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Why I Write: Frances Mayes
As a child in Fitzgerald, Ga., way back in the middle of the last century (that sounds so archaic), I was struck with the power of the land. Always, I felt the primal potency beneath my black Mary Janes (polished with Vaseline). A tornado might lift me and the bathtub into the sky. Sinkholes swallowed whole houses.
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Q & A with Carrie Jones
Carrie Jones has been spending lots of time with pixies, shape shifters and other fantasy creatures-and it doesn't look like she'll be stopping anytime soon. Her books Need and Captivate, about a smart girl being stalked by a pixie, have struck a chord with readers; both books landed on the New York Times bestseller lists. Now the series could be as many of five books. Jones spoke with Children's Bookshelf about how she became enchanted by pixies, what comes next in the series, and why teen readers need fantasy books right now.
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Q & A with Frank Cottrell Boyce
Q: What inspired you to write this insanely funny and wonderful book?
A: Two things, really. People of my age, we all wanted to go to space. Fly to the moon? That was the dream. So I started with that. And then, my family went away for a year, and when we came back one of my son's friends had had a growth spurt. He was barely recognizable. His mother said something that I actually put in the book. She said, "That's not a growth spurt. That's a mutation." -
Why I Write: Karl Marlantes
Certainly, writing the novel [Matterhorn] was a way of dealing with the wounds of combat, but why would I subject myself to the further wounds all writers receive trying to get published?
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PW Talks with Jo Nesbo
"I actually feel more related to the American hard-boiled crime novel than the Scandinavian crime novel, whatever that is. But since 'Scandinavian crime fiction' seems to have become a trademark for quality, being a Norwegian writer is not a bad starting point."
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Cooking the Books with David Lebovitz
In May, Ten Speed will publish pastry chef, cookbook author and food blogger David Lebovitz’s new book, Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes. The book is a “greatest hits” of sorts, with updated versions of 150 previously published recipes, plus 10 brand new ones. In this interview, Lebovitz talks about how his recipes have evolved, what he tries to accomplish when writing head notes, and why he’s totally fine with giving away recipes free online.
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When the ALA Calls: Stead and Pinkney on Winning the Big Prize
When you win a Newbery or a Caldecott Medal, you find out in a phone call — usually very early in the morning—and then your life is instantly changed. Both Rebecca Stead and Jerry Pinkney got recently that phone call; we spoke with both of them to find out where they were when the phone rang, what their reactions were, and what came next.
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Cooking the Books with Marcy Goldman
Cookbook author Marcy Goldman's site, BetterBaking.com, has pioneered a pay-for-content model that charges visitors $2.49 per recipe and also offers quarterly and six-month subscriptions. As Goldman continues work on her fourth cookbook, she talked to PW about fiercely guarding her content: "Everything has its value. We have to just not panic. Publishers are confusing the delivery system with thinking people don’t want content anymore."
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Why I Write: David Allen Sibley
Even before The Sibley Guide to Birds, people would sometimes ask if I considered myself an ornithologist first or an artist first. I always wished I had a simple answer for them, but the truth is that the two things—science and art—have always gone together for me.
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PW Talks with Randy Wayne White
"As much as I miss the marina, losing my job was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had to make my living as a writer. I had two young sons, and failure wasn't an option."
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PW Talks with Gabrielle Zevin
Credit card debt plagues a modern American family in Gabrielle Zevin’s The Hole We’re In, a witty, frightening look at how we spend now.
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PW Talks with Joe R. Lansdale
Versatile East Texan storyteller Lansdale goes all over the genre map in The Best of Joe R. Lansdale: "They're not all jewels, but they're all mine."
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PW Talks with Nancy Martin
"My children think I'm a gracious lady, but I came of age in tumultuous times. I know my way around the concert parking lot."
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PW Talks with Melissa Milgrom
"I visited the Schwendeman family [taxidermy] studio, expecting them to be creepy animal killers like Norman Bates. But instead I felt as if I had fallen into Darwin's study with all the skeletons and birds, the beauty and the strange tools."
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Cooking the Books with Clotilde Dusoulier
Clotilde Dusoulier talks about her translation and adaption of the French classic I Know How to Cook, first published in 1932, with more than six million copies in print in France. As holiday shoppers snap up the just-out DVD of Julie & Julia, Dusoulier discusses I Know How to Cook versus Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
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PW Talks with Connie Willis
"Books should never be too fat to read in bed or take up all the memory on a Kindle, so my publisher split it up. I hope the wait between the two books will whet people's appetites rather than just annoying the heck out of them."
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