Monday, May 07, 2007
Granta 97
New "Talk of the Book Town" posted today (and printed for that matter), here.
I'd figured there'd be a good-sized crowd at this event and I could go around and interview other writers in attendance who didn't make Granta's Best of Young American Novelists list.
Maile Meloy and Anthony Doerr made the list, and were good sports about talking to the few faces and empty chair backs. Doerr is an excellent reader, very animated.
My one question turned out to be an ignorant one (go figure): how did this best-of collection differ from other potential lists, and was there a Britishness to the lineup on account of it being a British magazine's line-up? Of the half-dozen or so judges, a majority were American (I suppose you could make the case that the judges were selected based on what a British magazine's expectation of an American judge would be, but why bother).
Somewhat surprisingly though, neither Doerr or Meloy seemed comfortable with the query, particularly as it gave a close shave to "what's wrong with this list" territory: both started hemming and hawing and backing away from each other and
twisting their hands and looking generally awkward (in contrast, they looked like BookTV interviewees when responding to "talk about your process" queries). The general response, however, was that the list reflected New York, big publishing houses, and didn't dig very deep. Not exactly usual suspects, but....
Doerr said he didn't expect to win, but then again he didn't know they were doing the list. "It's not like, 'ooh, now the decade has passed'" and an update was due. Not like Young Lions, which writers in the know evidently can expect to be awarded (or to be ignored) in March.
The piece that each submitted is new, and from what they read, worth tracking Granta 97 down for.
I'd figured there'd be a good-sized crowd at this event and I could go around and interview other writers in attendance who didn't make Granta's Best of Young American Novelists list.
Maile Meloy and Anthony Doerr made the list, and were good sports about talking to the few faces and empty chair backs. Doerr is an excellent reader, very animated.
My one question turned out to be an ignorant one (go figure): how did this best-of collection differ from other potential lists, and was there a Britishness to the lineup on account of it being a British magazine's line-up? Of the half-dozen or so judges, a majority were American (I suppose you could make the case that the judges were selected based on what a British magazine's expectation of an American judge would be, but why bother).Somewhat surprisingly though, neither Doerr or Meloy seemed comfortable with the query, particularly as it gave a close shave to "what's wrong with this list" territory: both started hemming and hawing and backing away from each other and
twisting their hands and looking generally awkward (in contrast, they looked like BookTV interviewees when responding to "talk about your process" queries). The general response, however, was that the list reflected New York, big publishing houses, and didn't dig very deep. Not exactly usual suspects, but....Doerr said he didn't expect to win, but then again he didn't know they were doing the list. "It's not like, 'ooh, now the decade has passed'" and an update was due. Not like Young Lions, which writers in the know evidently can expect to be awarded (or to be ignored) in March.
The piece that each submitted is new, and from what they read, worth tracking Granta 97 down for.
Labels: authors, books, fiction, Oregonian, Powell's, readings, Talk of the Book Town
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Hi, I thought Granta's idea was pretty silly. Author Tao Lin (his new novel has a Miranda July blurb) wrote a hilarious, scathing review of it at 3 a.m. magazine.
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