Bomb: The Author Interviews
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Thirty years of interviews that offer “a window into the minds and the writing processes of some of the world’s best practitioners of poetry and prose” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Since 1981, the quarterly magazine Bomb has been the gold standard for artist-on-artist interviews, showcasing writers, performers, actors, musicians, painters, and architects. The founders, a group of New York City–based artists, wanted a public space for art-makers to talk to each other about their work without the interference of critics or journalists.
Thirty years later comes this anthology: an addictively insightful collection of thirty-five interviews with some of the world’s most thought-provoking, funny, profound, compelling authors. It includes literary luminaries such as Mary Gaitskill, Junot Díaz, Sharon Olds, Amy Hempel, Martin Amis, Jeffrey Eugenides, Sapphire, Edwidge Danticat, and Jennifer Egan, among many others, as well as an introduction by Francine Prose.
These authors speak frankly about the joys and the pain that inform their work, the influence of family, ambition, criticism, and the sinking, thrilling knowledge of their own mortality. This is Bomb Magazine’s gift to readers: a glimpse into the minds that created the books which informed you, challenged you, yanked on your heartstrings and touched your soul.
“Bomb: The Author Interviews brings together a selection of conversations in a handsome anthology. The book, which offers 35 of the magazine’s interviews, is both a primer on authorial strategies and a record of the evolution of an iconic literary institution.” —The Washington Post
“BOMB’s author interview series, which has been going for years, is one of the most inspiring dialogues between writers available.” —Bustle
“These are not your run of the mill author interviews featuring a journalist throwing canned questions at a writer, these are conversations between writers and delve into the essence of creativity . . . Essential reading for any admirer of contemporary literature.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This essential new anthology from Bomb magazine offers a rich trove of author interviews. The 35 selections span 30 years, revealing many of the subjects at the height of their fame: Jonathan Franzen in 2001, Martin Amis in 1987, and Kathy Acker in 1983, to name a few. The interviews are not conducted with nameless interlocutors rather, they're conversations between colleagues: Lydia Davis talks with Francine Prose, Junot D az with Edwidge Danticat, Jeffrey Eugenides with Jonathan Safran Foer, and Tobias Wolff with A.M. Homes. The collection format makes it easy to dip in readers may succumb to the temptation to skip right to a favorite author's interview. Insights abound, with some writers revealing intensely personal feelings and others focusing on books, writing, and broader ideas about literature. Some of the interviewees, such as Charles Simic and Wayne Koestenbaum, seem so at ease with their interlocutors that reading their discussions feels akin to eavesdropping. In his interview, Roberto Bola o bristles at the idea that his work is a self-portrait, yet each of these selections provides a captivating image of the author in his or her own words. Through the diverse range of voices represented, the book affords a window into the minds and the writing processes of some of the world's best practitioners of poetry and prose.