Author News & Interviews

Interview: Rebecca East, author of A. D. 62: Pompeii: A Novel

Feb 1, 2003

Q: The setting of your book (which I thoroughly enjoyed!) is Pompeii, just before Mount Vesuvius blew. Have you seen Pompeii and what was it like?

RE: Most parts of Pompeii are just the skeleton of a city: streets and walls and doorways. It's crowded with tourists and stray dogs, and choked with weeds and dust. Unfortunately, the ruins are gradually being destroyed by exposure to the weather, and souvenir takers, and the wear and tear of more than two million pairs of feet a year.

Interview: Jeanne Breaselton , author of A False Sense of Well Being

Oct 1, 2001

Kaye Gibbons: Interviewers always ask the same questions, don't they? What time of day do you write? Do you use a computer or write longhand? Who are your favorite writers? Why do you write about the South? What is the role of the Southern writer in society? What makes Southern literature unique?

Jeanne Braselton: Oh my, yes. Let's not talk about that.

KG: After being asked a few too many of these sorts of questions, I have to fight the urge to give completely ludicrous answers.

: Michael C. White, author of A Dream of Wolves

Jan 23, 2001

Q. Where did the idea for the novel come?

: Maureen Howard, author of A Lover's Almanac

Jan 1, 1999

Q: Part of the unique beauty of A Lover's Almanac is the fascinating detail that you use -- like entries in an almanac -- throughout the novel. What is your own conception of the significance of the almanac as cultural and historical repository, and what did you hope to achieve by shaping your novel in the almanac's image?

Interview: Lorna Landvik, author of Your Oasis on Flame Lake

Jun 1, 1998

Q: Where did the idea for this story come from?

LL: I really don't know. The characters just came into my head and said, "Here we are. We want a story told about each of us!"

Q: Your first novel, Patty Jane's House of Curl, was rejected many times by publishers. Did you ever doubt yourself as those rejections piled up?