Posts From Author: Month: October 2018

Seriously Questioning…Steven Almond

Steve Almond is the author of ten books of fiction and non-fiction, including The New York Times bestsellers Against Football and Candyfreak. His short stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, Best American Erotica, Best American Mysteries, and the Pushcart Prize anthologies. His journalism and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, and elsewhere. He writes the Sweet Spot column for The New York Times with his pal Cheryl Strayed. On November 16, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, The Virtue of Vices, alongside Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Alex Segura, and Cutter Wood. We spoke to Steve ahead of the show. What is your favorite first line of a novel? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” —A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens What advice would you give to aspiring writers? Outlast your doubt. What writer do you wish you could share with the world? Per Olov Enquist. What are you reading right now? Stoner, by John Williams. Are there any quotes you use to inspire you? “Love is a human act of becoming.” —Stoner, by John Williams
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Seriously Questioning…Heather Havrilesky

Heather Havrilesky is the author of How to Be a Person in the World and the memoir Disaster Preparedness. She writes the “Ask Polly” column for New York Magazine, and has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and NPR’s All Things Considered, among others. She was Salon‘s TV critic for seven years. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and a loud assortment of dependents, most of them nondeductible. On October 27, she will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Dazed and Confused, alongside Raymond Villareal, Reyna Grande, and Tarfia Faizullah. We spoke to Heather ahead of the show. What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? This isn’t my earliest memory, but I read The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles on a train from Durham to Philadelphia a few weeks after my dad died, and it was one of the most engrossing and surreal reading experiences I can recall. What is your favorite line from your current work? “I toss a wet dick across the grass for hours.” What advice would you give to aspiring writers? As a writer, you never really arrive anywhere. Instead of treating writing as a means to an end, you have to savor the work itself and […]
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Seriously Questioning…Raymond Villareal

Raymond Villareal is a practicing attorney in San Antonio, Texas. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the University of Texas School of Law. His first novel, A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising, came out in June. Film rights have been optioned by 20th Century Fox and 21 Laps Entertainment. On October 27, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Dazed and Confused, alongside Heather Havrilesky, Reyna Grande, and Tarfia Faizullah. We spoke to Raymond ahead of the show. What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? My mother taking me and my sister to the library before we could even walk. What is your favorite line from your current work? “I’ll just have to search for the in experiences and love…the joy of this place—raising the dead when it suits us…” What is your favorite first line of a novel? “A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.”—Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow What advice would you give to aspiring writers? Keep writing—if I can do it, anyone can. What writer past or present do you wish you could eat dinner with? William Vollmann What writer do […]
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Seriously Questioning…Reyna Grande

Reyna Granda s the author of the bestselling memoir, The Distance Between Us, where she writes about her life before and after illegally immigrating from Mexico to the United States. The much-anticipated sequel, A Dream Called Home, will be released in October. The Distance Between Us is also available as a young readers edition. Her books have been adopted as the common read selection by schools, colleges and cities across the country. Reyna has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards, and in 2015 she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The young reader’s version of The Distance Between Us received a 2017 Honor Book Award for the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature and a 2016 Eureka! Honor Awards from the California Reading Association, and an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award 2017. Reyna is a proud member of the Macondo Writer’s Workshop founded by Sandra Cisneros, where she has also served as faculty. On October 27, she will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Dazed and Confused, alongside […]
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