Ann Patchett is the author of seven novels -- "The Patron Saint of Liars," "Taft," "The Magician's Assistant," "Bel Canto," "Run," "State of Wonder" and "Commonwealth" -- plus three works of nonfiction, has won a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize and a dozen more prestigious awards and, since opening Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., in 2011, has become a spokeswoman for independent booksellers.
At 7 p.m. March 31, Patchett will speak as part of the FPL Author Series at the Fayetteville Public Library. Here, she answers five questions for What's Up!
FAQ
An Evening With
Ann Patchett
WHEN — 7 p.m. March 31
WHERE — Fayetteville Public Library
COST — Free; seating is first-come, first-serve
INFO — Email nrowe@faylib.org
"The best of me is always going to be in the book. I gave the book everything. I'm proud of it. I can sign it or read from it or gift wrap it, but the book itself is still the same. If you've got that, you've got me."
Q. I recently saw this quote in an interview about "Commonwealth," and I loved it. But if someone is just meeting you and doesn't know your books, who are you?
A. ... If you mean who am I in my real life, without the books? I'm a pretty domestic soul. I'm making dinner, doing the laundry, helping my mom, taking the dog out. It always cracks me up when people ask me how I keep grounded. Life conspires to ground me. There's also the bookstore, Parnassus, that keeps busy. I have a great relationship with the people who work there. We spend a lot of time talking about the books we're reading. I spend a lot of time working for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) that makes grants to booksellers in need. I'm their ambassador this year. So I have a lot of things going on other than writing; sometimes I think it's too many things.
Q. What was the first book that you remember being wowed by?
A. It depends on how far back you want to go. When I was little I loved a weird book called "The Lonely Doll" by Dare Wright. I was obsessed by "Charlotte's Web" and got a pig for my ninth birthday. Then somehow I jump to "Humboldt's Gift" by Saul Bellow and "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann in high school. I don't think there was much in the way of Y.A. when I was a Y.A. I pretty much went from Laura Ingalls Wilder to John Updike.
Q. Did you come from a family of readers or did you discover it on your own?
A. My family read. My stepfather had been left a pretty significant collection of books by his grandmother, and we carted them from house to house every time we moved. There were always new bookshelves being built. I tended to read whatever was lying around, which is how I came to Updike and Bellow and Roth in the '70s. It was almost impossible for me to check out books from the school library. I was very small for my age and the youngest girl in my class. Whenever I tried to check out a book Sister Bonaventure would tell me it was too old for me. I don't know what kind of salacious books they had in the tiny library in Catholic school, but I wound up checking out a lot of poetry. I don't think Sister Bonaventure read poetry, so she never tried to take it away.
Q. Do all of your books start inside you or are some of them inspired by overheard conversations, moments in the news, other outside sources?
A. "Bel Canto" came from a news event. "Taft" came from an evening in a Memphis bar. "The Magician's Assistant" was inspired by the sudden death of a friend's friend. I think the other ones all started in my head, but really an idea can come from anywhere.
Q. When you go out on a speaking tour, what do you hope to accomplish? And what gifts, moments, little enjoyments, do you allow yourself along the way?
A. The thing about a speaking tour is I wind up going places I would never be sent on book tour, like Fayetteville. I'm going to Fort Collins, Colo., and Grand Rapids, Mich., and San Antonio, Texas, this year. I've been able to build a much wider connection to people than I would have if I'd just kept going to New York and San Francisco. I'm also a whole lot happier when I'm going to give a talk because it's just one talk, one night, instead of being out for weeks at a time the way I am on book tour. I can actually relax and enjoy an evening, really meet people. It's a lot more fun.
-- Becca Martin-Brown
bmartin@nwadg.com
NAN What's Up on 03/24/2017