U.S. & Canadian Authors - Interviews, Women's Biography - Interviews

Listen to Their Voices

Name: Listen to Their Voices
Author: Pearlman
ISBN: 9780395681978

by Pearlman

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Overview

Following the success of her earlier essay interviews - called a "treasure trove" for writers and readers (Publishers Weekly) - Mickey Pearlman again listens to the voices of women who write. Some, like Grace Paley, Fay Weldon, and Jane Smiley, have numerous admirers. Others - Janette Turner Hospital and Jessica Hagedorn - are just now achieving recognition. And there are highly praised newcomers such as Gish Jen and Connie Porter. Novelists, short-story writers, poets, and writers of nonfiction - twenty voices in all - talk candidly about childhood, religion, the transformation of memory, and why they chose to write in a particular genre. Their feelings about being classified as "hyphenated writers" (i.e., Chinese- or Japanese-American) are aired, as well as their reactions, both positive and negative, to the world of publishing. Here, in conversations that sometimes surprise the speakers themselves, are the most deeply felt concerns and emotions at the heart of the creative process.

Novelists, short story writers, poets, and writers of nonfiction talk candidly about childhood, religion, the transformation of memory, and why they chose to write in a particular genre. Contributors include Cynthia Kadohata, Lois Lowry, Sue Miller, Anne Rice, Jame Smiley, and Fay Weldon. Photos.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Pearlman adds to her earlier Inter/View, a collection of interviews with women writers (coauthored with Katherine Usher Henderson, and entitled A Voice of One's Own in paperback), by reaching out here to writers of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Many are ``so-called hyphenated writers''--e.g., the exuberant, authoritative African American poet Lucille Clifton ( Quilting Poems ) and the young Chinese American novelist Gish Jen ( Typical American )--whose works encompass issues of culture as well as gender. In essay form, Pearlman describes their responses to being so labeled: ``It's, like, not my problem,'' says Philippine-born novelist Jessica Hagedorn ( Dogeaters ) about being read as a Filipino writer. Other interviews capture the fairly reserved responses of poet Sharon Olds ( The Father ), the publishing know-how of bestselling novelist Anne Rice ( The Tale of the Body Thief ) and the graceful reflections of mystery writer Susan Kenney ( Sailing ). On the whole, however, this volume is somewhat more mannered and less incisively revealing than its predecessor. (Jan.)

Booknews

Grace Paley, Fay Weldon, Jane Smiley, and a host of emerging writers talk about their childhood, religion, the transformation of memory, why their chose their genre, and other topics of interest to critics, fans, and writers. Includes photographs and primary bibliographies. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)