by Maggie Swofford We watchedthe flowersfold underthe summersun—105°windchill—we lookedout my bed-room window. I baked andcaked mymakeup on bythe windowsillonly to haveit drip off. The flowervase toreoff itsstandduring aviolentstorm,and wethrew ourlaundryat eachother asnights grewdim andhot. The nextday, everyday, we’dcross ourlegs andfoldthe wrinkledfabric backinto somethingwe couldwear.
The New Yorker editor Willing Davidson talks to the award-winning writers Junot Díaz and Karen Russell about the difficulties of writing short stories.
NYT bestselling author Veronica Roth tells the story behind “Divergent.” Learn more about Roth at www.veronicarothbooks.com.
Augusten Burroughs shares his writing process and discusses how to beat writer’s block.
In this compilation video from Charlie Rose, Malcolm Gladwell discusses finding the story, Martin Amis talks about the war on clichés, Zadie Smith speaks of her her faith in fiction, Joan Didion about writing novels, Jonathan Franzen addresses the novelist’s charge and Fran Lebowicz addresses her fear of writing.
Yann Martel, author of the Mann Booker Prize-winning novel “Life of Pi,” discusses how becoming less reasonable in his life led to the writing of his much-acclaimed book.
Poet and activist Allen Ginsberg talks about the resurgence of the 50s Beat Generation of artists and poets—and how Bob Dyland was influenced by Kerouac. He talks also about censorship of his work and others.
Bestselling authors Stephen King and Audrey Niffenegger discuss how much they reveal and what they leave to the readers’ imagination with Kerri Miller at the Talking Volumes series at the Fitzgerald Theater in 2009. The second video focuses on each writer’s work environment.
Bestselling detective and crime novelist Michael Connelly, author of over 20 books, discusses character development.