Antonya Nelson was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1961. She is a well-known, prominent author of short stories as well as many novels. Today, I have the pleasure of talking to Mrs. Nelson.
SH: Good Morning Mrs. Nelson! Lets start by telling our readers about your education.
AN: Well, I received my BA from the University of Kansas in1983 and my MFA from the University of Arizona in 1986. Now, I am giving back that education to the next generation by teaching in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers as well as in the University of Houston’s creative writing program.
SH: Oh that’s great! How about your career? What short story collections have you written?
AN: I have written four short story collection so far: Female Trouble, Family Terrorists, In the Land of Men, and The Expendables. They have been featured in Esquire, The New Yorker, Harper’s, and other magazines.
SH: Oh Wow! How about your novels?
AN: I have written four novels as well. They are Living to Tell, Nobody’s Girl, Talking in Bed, and Bound. My most recent one is Bound, which I wrote in 2010.
SH: Now its time to brag about yourself. What are some of your achievements, awards and honors you’ve received?
AN: Haha! Well, The Expendables won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and Talking in Bed received the Heartland Award in fiction. Some of my books have been The New York Times notable books in 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. I was recently named by The New Yorker as one of the “twenty young fiction writers for the new millennium” which was very exciting. I am the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grand and 2000-2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. I also received the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2003.
SH: Wow, congratulations on all of those achievements. You must be ecstatic! So, what are you up to now?
AN: I divide my time up now between Telluride and Houston with my husband Robert.
SH: Thank you so much for taking the time to take to me today. I truly appreciate it and it has been a pleasure.
AN: No, thank you. It has been fun talking to you.
Here is a link to an excerpt from one of Antonya's novels. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130650582
Hey Sarah this was a great post! I really liked how you gave a description of Nelson's awards/achievements. However, if I were you I also would've given a description of the author's style, or what they generally write about. But overall nice job!
ReplyDeleteSARAH...love this! I really got a kick out of reading this. You have completely convinced me to read more of her work and to be more creative.
ReplyDelete<3 your choir bud ;)
Very nice Sarah, I had the same author. (ya Antonya!) I like how you put your post into an interview form, mine was more factual, straightforward and boring. It is interesting to see how someone else interprets the same subject. Good job!
ReplyDeleteSarah, just thought I'd let you know that I actually laughed out loud when you said "now it's time to brag about yourself." I could actually imagine you saying that!
ReplyDelete