Page Turner Focus: Porochista Khakpour

This Saturday, November 14, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop will be hosting Page Turner, its first literary festival—an all-day lineup of panels, readings, and award presentations at Brooklyn’s powerHouse Arena featuring a slew of great writers. I’ll actually be taking part in the festival that afternoon as the moderator of a panel on “queering the Asian-American coming of age story” with Alexander Chee, Abha Dawesar, and Rakesh Satyal, so I hope New York area-readers of Beatrice might be able to come by and say hello. In the meantime, it’s my good fortune to be able to share with you some mini-interviews with a few of the other authors who will be appearing at the festival. (Thanks to Ken Chen and Vyshali Manivannan for putting these together and sending them my way.)

Let’s start with Porochista Khakpour, the author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects. She’s one of four writers who’ll be taking part in a panel called “The New Eclectics,” which promises to be one of the funniest segments of the festival. She lives in New York City except when she’s out in Pennsylvania teaching creative writing at Bucknell.

So, what’ve you been working on lately?

Grading! Also working on my second novel, doodling some essays, trying to resurrect hopeless short stories.

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

If it’s not the internet or just worrying a lot, then it’s the best case scenario: turning from one form of writing to another. I really only got into essays and creative non-fiction as a way to avoid writing my second novel. Journalism, in general, has always been my way out from fiction. Writing to avoid other writing… I keep the cheating in the family.

(more…)

9 November 2009 | events |

Sarah Hall & Richard Milward at the Slipper Room! (with special musical guest)

I always have a really great time when I schedule a Beatrice party at the Slipper Room, and next Wednesday’s reading with novelists Sarah Hall (How to Paint a Dead Man) and Richard Milward (Ten Storey Love Song) should be no exception. I spent some time with Sarah last year when I interviewed her for GalleyCat, but this will be my first time meeting Richard Milward and I’m looking forward to it—I’m told he’s planning some sort of audience participation element for the event. (So get your drawing hands ready!) And, as always when we’re at the Slipper Room, there will be a musical component to the show; this time around, I was able to lure Gee Henry out of retirement for a short acoustic set.

The Slipper Room’s at the corner of Orchard and Stanton in the Lower East Side. Doors will open at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4; there’s no cover charge for the cash bar. I hope you’ll be able to come!

29 October 2009 | events |