I am was delighted to be interviewing writer Sarah Ruhl about her work and her memoir Smile: The Story of a Face this on Wednesday. You can set a reminder to watch on YouTube:
Cartoonist Lucy Bellwood drew and wrote about talk here.
Are you really helping here? My interview with Tim Kreider
This afternoon I had the pleasure of interviewing Tim Kreider, author of We Learn Nothing, about his life and work. You can watch our conversation on on YouTube.
We talked about so many things, but I loved what Tim said about Kim Stanley Robinson and Rebecca Solnit being the angels on his shoulder when he’s writing and starts feeling too cynical or grim:
Are you really helping here? That’s what you ought to be doing if you’re a writer. Or any kind of artist. Helping. Some. And it doesn’t mean cheerful or Pollyanna-ish. Francis Bacon, the painter, was helping. William S. Burroughs helps. We all help in different ways.
Here are my prep notes:
Big thanks to Tim for being game and thanks to the folks at Literati for setting it up.
Stay tuned: Next month I get to interview Sarah Ruhl about her book Smile.
Tim Kreider’s We Learn Nothing
My January pick for our Read Like an Artist book club is Tim Kreider’s We Learn Nothing. To get the book in time to join our discussion next month, sign up now.
Here’s my intro:
“Fourteen years ago, I was stabbed in the throat.” So begins this collection of personal essays from the former political cartoonist, unfairly as gifted with words as he is with pictures. Krieder’s writing will not be for everyone, but I would like to assign everyone over the age of twenty “The Referendum,” a piece about how as we age, our peers give us a “glimpse of the parallel universes” that would have resulted had we made different life choices. I love this book because the essays only get deeper and richer with each year. Interspersed throughout are Kreider’s cartoons, which take their cues from biting satirists like Ralph Steadman and George Grosz. This is a contemporary classic.
Our first @literati book club pick of 2022 is extremely appropriate, given the new year we’re facing. Join us! https://t.co/i42s5oWNwB#readlikeanartist pic.twitter.com/p7Bx8Ap2cB
— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) December 29, 2021
To join our discussion, sign up for the club!
Interview with David Epstein
In two weeks, I’m interviewing author David Epstein about his book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.
I’ll be asking him about his inspiration, how he works, and how his ideas about the book have changed since he became a parent. (We’ll also probably bitch about how much we both hate writing books!)
The event will stream live on YouTube on Monday, November 29th at 3pm central. If you click through, you can set a reminder.
David Epstein’s Range
My November pick for our Read Like an Artist book club is David Epstein’s Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. To get the book in time to join our discussion next month, sign up now.
Here’s my intro:
“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” What does it say about our culture that we’ve hacked the ending off of that famous phrase? John Steinbeck said people don’t want advice, they want corroboration, and maybe that’s why I love this book so much: it’s both a validation of how I’ve chosen to go about my life and career and a kick in the pants to stay true to my instincts, to not get complacent, to stretch out, and go down weird paths…
Learn more about David and read what I’ve previously written about the book.
To join our discussion, sign up for the club!
