In this effervescent interview, the author of The Well Fed Writer: Back for Seconds talks about his new book (and how it relates to his old one), the huge demand for commercial writers, perceptions and misconceptions about commercial writing, how he found his many experts, how he juggles short and long term goals, how to leverage a creative writing background, on mentoring, his next book, and lots more.
Category: Author interviews
Interview with Ouyang Yu
The “Angry Chinese Poet” is true to form in this feisty interview which looks at his new collection of work, about labels, on writing in two languages, the nature of ‘academics,’ his literary journal Otherland, migrants, predjudice, and his many rejections.
Interview with Dr Coral Hull
In this courageous and very in-depth interview, the author of Broken Land talks about her extensive body of work, her many ongoing projects, her literary magazine Thylazine, her passions, her politics, and the positives and negatives of life as an empowered multiple.
Interview with Chad Hautmann
When Billie’s Ghost first came out in October 2002, we interviewed the author, Chad Hautmann. Following its very successful debut, the book has been taken up by Penguin, and has just been re-released. The Compulsive Reader decided that it was time to interview Chad Hautmann again and find out more about the soft spoken author, the extraordinary story of how he was found by Penguin, his new book, the difficulties (and joys) of working on a second novel, his feelings towards government funding of the arts, and lots more.
Interview with John Blumenthal
The author of Millard Fillmore, Mon Amour and What’s Wrong with Dorfman talks about his adventures in self-publishing and how he attracted St Martin’s Press, his out of print titles, the relationship between his life and his art, his next novel, his influences, on living by the pen, his moving Blue Streak, and lots more.
Interview with Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
In this charming interview, the author of The Last Song of Dusk talks about the origins of his first novel, the nature of the songs his characters sing, the unbearability of mercy, his favourite scenes from the book, on being compared to Rushdie, on homelessness, future stories, and lots more.
Interview with Christopher Klim
This ambitious novelist (who also published Jesus Lives in Trenton) takes time to discuss his most recent novel, the current state of the publishing industry, what it’s like to assume the POV of a sexually deviant pyromaniac, and his mentor…ahem, Albert Einstein (yeah, I know, it’s a weird choice for a writer of literary fiction, but Klim actually was a rocket scientist).
Interview with Peter Mews
The author of Bright Planet talks about the writing of his second novel, the premises of his book, his research, his use of the Fibonacci numbers for the book’s structure, the literary games he plays in the novel, about the…
An interview with Luke Davies
The author of Totem talks about his latest book of poetry, the differences, similarities, and comparative difficulties in writing processes between novels and poetry, the spread of concerns in Totem, the overall conception of the book, the importance of “the…
An Interview with Michael Joyce
The author of Liam’s Going talks about the writing of his latest novel, his characters, on being a “Joyce”, the big themes, on hypertext and his own celebrated hypertext works, the natural weaving of voices in Liam’s Going, on the limitations (and…