Kentucky and Kentuckians are full of stories, which may be why so
many present-day writers have Kentucky roots. Whether they left and
returned, like Wendell Berry and Bobbie Ann Mason, or adopted
Kentucky as home, like James Still and Jim Wayne Miller, or grew up
and left for good, like Michael Dorris and Barbara Kingsolver, they
have one connection: Kentucky has influenced their writing and
their lives. L. Elisabeth Beattie explores this influence in twenty
intimate interviews. Conversations with Kentucky Writers was more
than three years in the making, as Beattie traveled across the
state and beyond to capture oral histories on tape. Her exhaustive
knowledge of these authors helped her draw out personal revelations
about their work, their lives, and the nature of writing. When
Still concludes his interview with "I believe I've told you more
than anybody," he could be speaking for any of Beattie's subjects.
Aspiring writers will learn that Mason submitted twenty stories to
the New Yorker before one was accepted, and that Still wrote
articles for Sunday school magazines. There's plenty of advice:
Dorris tells budding authors to get real jobs, keep journals, and
read everything, even cereal boxes, and Marsha Norman reminds
playwrights that "it is not the business of the theater to provide
writers with a living." Kingsolver advises, "Read good stuff and
write bad stuff until eventually what you're writing begins to
approximate what you're reading." Beattie's collection includes
striking self-portraits of such writers as Sue Grafton, Leon
Driskell, James Baker Hall, Fenton Johnson, George Ella Lyon,
Taylor McCafferty, Ed McClanahan, Sena Naslund, Chris Offutt, Lee
Pennington, and Betty Layman Receveur.What most distinguishes these
moving conversations from other author interviews is their focus on
creativity, on the teaching of writing, and on the authors' strong
sense of place.As Wade Hall writes in his foreword, all twenty
writers recognize that their works have been significantly
influenced by their "Kentucky experience." This collection offers
insights into Kentucky's rich and flowering literary heritage.
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