Writing for Your Life #3: Fifty-Five Contemporary Authors Talk About the Art of Writing and the Job of Publishing

These 55 author interviews originally appeared in the pages of Publishers Weekly when new books were released by the writers who are profiled. Most of the interviews are from 1995 and 1996. Each piece, a mere five or so pages in length, offers a glimpse at the story behind the stories. We see how various authors (A. S. Byatt, Michael Chabon, Roddy Doyle, Ursula Hegi, Jamaica Kincaid, Bill McKibben, E. Annie Proulx, and Salman Rushdie among them) deal with the ways in which real life imposes itself upon the writing life, and vice versa. We learn about the authors' writing philosophies and work habits, and glean an understanding of the vicissitudes of dealing with agents, editors, and publishing houses (the fact that names are named makes it ever more tantalizing). While all of the profiles are too short to be wholly satisfying, the accumulation of viewpoints creates a fascinating sort of collage of the writing and publishing life.