Talking about the historical novel

This week on campus we're featuring two events with Nick Taylor, author of the just-released Civil War-era historical novel The Disagreement. (For details, click here.) The novel focuses on the experiences of a young man living in Virginia who becomes a doctor pressed into practice early because of the war. Conflict ensues when he saves the life of a union soldier.

At one event, Nick will be in conversation with ZZ Packer about the writing of the historical novel. I'm especially excited about this since I'm working on an historical novel and would love to hear their thoughts about the process.

ZZ's working on a novel about the Buffalo Soldiers and--based on exceprts of the novel--has been named by Granta one of the Best Young Novelists. (To read an excerpt, click here.) Also, I wrote about her reading from the novel at an earlier event here.

Spring is Here

Spring semester, that is.

It's still miserably winter here with rain, rain, rain and the longest cold-snap in recent memory. I long for this.

This semester I'm teaching Fiction Writing and Introduction to Creative Writing. Hi to all my students who've found me here!

The Center for Literary Arts spring events include the following:

ZZ Packer, who is now on campus for the semester as an endowed chair. She was named Best of Young American Novelists by Granta. Her story collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, is our campus book selection. She's currently working on an historical novel about the Buffalo Soliders, which I'll be sure to ask her about when I interview her on-stage February 27.

On March 12 & 13, American Book Award-winning poet Kimiko Hahn will be here for several events. Her work is edgy and rich. Read a few of her poems here.

Hahn's husband Harold Schechter will be joining her and giving a talk the day after hers. Schecheter is a writer of historical true-crime classics and a series of mystery novels featuring Edgar Allan Poe.

Other events include talks by Nick Taylor, SJSU professor and author of a forthcoming Civil War historical novel, and an evening of poetry featuring Ishmael Reed, Boadiba, Neli Moody and others.

Check out the CLA website for more information on any of these events: http://www.litart.org/.