Page Turner Focus: Ed Park

Ed Park was one of the first participants in the Beatrice reading series, so I’m looking forward to Saturday’s “Page Turner,” the Asian American Writers’ Workshop’s inaugural literary festival, as an opportunity to see him again—he’ll be part of a panel on reviews (books, music, and film) and what cultural impact they actually have in this day and age. If you haven’t read his debut novel, Personal Days, yet, I encourage you to give it a try. (And thanks again to Ken Chen and Vyshali Manivannan at the AAWW for sending this Q&A with Ed so I could share it with you.)

So, what’ve you been working on lately?

Another novel—different scope and mood from the last one.

We all know that writers can be exceptionally good at procrastinating when they should be writing. What do you typically do to procrastinate?

This week I spent far too long watching YouTube clips of old Sandra Bernhard appearances on Letterman. I just couldn’t get enough.

What’s your favorite guilty pleasure that most people would be surprised to know about, be it in literature, food, music, or what have you?

I feel no guilt, have prepared no surprises. I have impeccable taste. We all do. Having said that, I really liked the movie Smiley Face.

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what’s on your iPod right now?

I rarely write with music on—if I do, it’s to something without words. A friend gave me a CD called Work which has stuff by Arvo Part, John Adams, Luciano Cilio, and Cluster & Eno. I found I could write with it on. And I will occasionally turn on my Buddha Machine, which is a little device that plays prerecorded, lo-fi loops. But generally, music is too distracting if it has any meaning or intentionality for me. Curiously, if I’m writing at a café or some public place and there’s music on—even, or especially, music I don’t like—I can write quite happily, since I have no control over it.

What did you do this morning?

Fed breakfast to my son, then met up with my parents who were in town. Then I read a chunk of a book I have to review.

11 November 2009 | events |