Sans Serif

Jason Roberts compiled writers’ reflections on John Updike today for The Rumpus. There are contributions by Andrew Sean Greer, Andrew Foster Altschul, Rick Moody, and yours truly, among others.

Margaret Cardillo interviewed me for The Rumpus, and asked me all sorts of surprising questions. Read the interview here.
Margaret, a former editor at Hyperion Books, is currently a James Michener Fellow at the University of Miami. Eleven years ago, I was exactly where she is now (except for, well, I’d never been an editor in [...]

What a wonderful day this is! I listened to the radio broadcast of the inauguration at my son’s preschool this morning, surrounded by his friends and teachers. My son, who just turned four in December, sat on my lap, listening intently, clapping when he heard the applause of the audience on the radio. It felt [...]

The Rumpus bills itself as “the National Public Radio of literary magazines.” You decide! It’s a swell site with daily updated content, author interviews, book reviews, blogs from the likes of Michelle Tea and Kaui Hart Hemmings, literary news, music, and oh so much more, people. See the whole thing kick into action tonight at [...]

Tune in to KQED today at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time to hear my City Arts and Lectures conversation with Paul Auster, which was recorded at the Herbst Theater in September. Auster talks about his latest novel, Man in the Dark, his writing process, politics, Scotch, and what it’s like to have an assistant, among other [...]

My husband and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary on Monday, which prompted me to revisit some of our wedding pics. We got married in Yosemite National Park and honeymooned in Hungary, which was brilliantly cold and romantic in January. Eight years ago today, we arrived in Budapest; both of us had been there before, [...]

Elizabeth Stark, filmmaker and author of the award-winning novel Shy Girl, has written a great piece on redroom about why the “growth mindset” matters to writers. Read it here.

I am absolutely, positively loving the cover of Ilana Stanger-Ross’s debut novel, Sima’s Undergarments for Women, forthcoming from Overlook Press in February.
I had the good fortune to publish one of Ilana’s stories years ago, in the first Fiction Attic flash fiction contest. The story is called “In the Kitchen,” and you can read it [...]

National Geographic Traveler magazine recently asked me to name my favorite Golden Gate Park destination. I chose the playground at Koret Children’s Quarter. Pick up the December issue of National Geographic Traveler to see what other Bay Area folks have to say about the park: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, artist Maya [...]