Interviews with Book Authors en-us http://www.publishersweekly.com/community/Author+Interviews/47147.html?nid=3324 2009 Reed Business Information. Subject to its http://www.publishersweekly.com/info/337409.html Terms of Use. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:47:51 MST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6705985.html?nid=3324 Cookbook editor and food blogger Luisa Weiss recently sold a memoir, My Berlin Kitchen, to Viking. On her blog, The Wednesday Chef, Weiss explained, “I'm moving back to Berlin and I'm writing a book, about Berlin, about my life, about cooking and home and family and love.” She talked to PW from her office at Stewart, Tabori and Chang, where she’s wrapping things up before departing for Berlin in December. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:31:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6706056.html?nid=3324 An interview with Mary Karr, whose new memoir, Lit, was published November 3 by Harper. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:22:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6705666.html?nid=3324 To the fantastically successful family in Jonathan Dee's The Privileges, failure is foreign, and money is not money. Is this perilous? Perhaps. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704285.html?nid=3324 Leila Meacham makes a grand return after a 20-year absence with Roses, a compelling East Texas saga with echoes of Gone with the Wind. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704171.html?nid=3324 Q: What were you hearing from your readers that gave you the idea for this book? A: I'm always around high school and college-age girls, and they all ask me the same questions: How do I get an internship? What should I study in college? Should I go to design school? What kind of education do I need for different jobs? I thought, We need a book that encapsulates advice about how to break in, how to stand out... Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6703586.html?nid=3324 Former Viking assistant editor Ann Mah left New York for Beijing, took a job as the dining editor for the English-language magazine That’s Beijing, and wrote a novel about a young Chinese-American woman who moves to Beijing in the midst of an identity crisis. Mah spoke to PW from Paris, where she now lives, about Kitchen Chinese: A Novel about Food, Family, and Finding Yourself, which Avon will publish as a paperback original in February. Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6703286.html?nid=3324 Q: What was the actual event that inspired this book? A: In 1955, my parents moved our family from New York City to Stamford, Connecticut, and on our property was a lake that was a source of all kinds of pleasure for us throughout the seasons. The first winter we lived there, my siblings and I wanted to go ice-skating and my mother said we could - as long as my father tested the ice first to make sure it was safe. He agreed to do that - with reluctance. You see, he couldn't swim. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6702111.html?nid=3324 Q: Had you been contemplating a book on the Civil Rights Movement before you saw photographer Matt Herron’s photos? You credit him with jumpstarting the book. A: No, I had not had the least inkling to do a book on the Civil Rights Movement. And then I ran into Matt’s Web site. I fell in love with his photos, 100 percent in love with what he had done on the march, and I just wanted to get those photos out there. Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:35:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6701525.html?nid=3324 Chef Thomas Keller may be known for his high-end cooking (miniature salmon tartare ice cream cone, anyone?), but his newest book, Ad Hoc at Home, is his most accessible yet. Keller took a few minutes on a recent afternoon to sit in the yard outside The French Laundry in Napa Valley, California, to talk about why he loves comfort food. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6701177.html?nid=3324 Norberto Fuentes, a 66-year-old former Castro associate now living in exile in Florida, gets into the head of the commandant in his startling and surprisingly funny novel, The Autobiography of Fidel Castro. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6700852.html?nid=3324 Q: Your first two books were written for adults. What made you decide to write YA fiction, and how is it different from writing adult fiction? A: I was playing around with an idea for a long time. It didn’t originally start as a young adult novel. The voice was an adolescent voice, though, and I thought, "Well, that's interesting." I tried to let the material tell me what it was, rather than forcing it to be something. I found it really liberating, actually. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:35:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6699679.html?nid=3324 Q: What inspired you to write this book? A: This is the first time in my long life as a writer when somebody has suggested a story to me and I’ve taken the suggestion. Some years ago, our church sponsored a refugee family from Kosovo, and a good friend of mine said you should write the Haxhuis’ story. And so I went over there... Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:25:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6698656.html?nid=3324 On October 27, Morrow will release The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond, who writes the blogs Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and Pioneer Woman Cooks. Drummond’s loyal fans—her site registers two million visitors a month—helped make The Pioneer Woman Cooks the #1 pre-ordered hardcover on Amazon recently. The author talked to PW from her Oklahoma ranch about her writing, from blog to cookbook to a forthcoming narrative nonfiction book. Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6698839.html?nid=3324 Hurricane Katrina shut down Barb Johnson's carpentry shop, so she went back to school for her M.F.A. at the University of New Orleans. Her debut collection, More of This World or Maybe Another, deftly chronicles the lives of characters most people would pass on the street with a tinge of wariness. Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6698614.html?nid=3324 Q: When you wrote the short story 'Shotgun Cheatham’s Last Night Above Ground' years ago, did you have any inkling that it would grow into three entire novels? A: No, I didn’t. I was asked by Harry Mazer to contribute something to a collection of stories about guns and I thought, "He’s going to get too many guy stories, so I’m going to think up a female character." That’s how Grandma Dowdel was born. Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:08:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6697383.html?nid=3324 Q: In 'Stick Man,' you introduce a humble stick that is taken far from home and almost becomes kindling. How did you invent this unusual hero? A: It was two things coming together. In my book 'The Gruffalo’s Child,' the child drags a stick doll everywhere, and that must have sparked it. And I fully remember my own children, 20-odd years ago, loving sticks. When we would go out for a walk, they would find a stick, and it wouldn’t always become a weapon. A stick could be anything to anyone. Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:20:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6696003.html?nid=3324 When Holly Hughes began editing the Best Food Writing series 10 years ago, the term “locavore” wasn’t a part of the foodie vocabulary and no one knew what the omnivore’s dilemma was. As Da Capo prepares to publish Best Food Writing 2009, Hughes spoke with PW about how food writing has changed over the past decade, why food writers are wonderful people, and why Marshmallow Fluff deserves a serious essay. Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6695636.html?nid=3324 Q: What made you decide to write Forest Born? A: I really just go where the story takes me. It’s funny—with every one of the Bayern books, I thought each one was a stand-alone. The character of Enna was so different from Ani in Goose Girl, and after writing about Ani who was so quiet, the idea of writing about a character so fiery, so outspoken and dangerous was what attracted me to Enna Burning. Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:10:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6695400.html?nid=3324 PW talked to comedian and self-proclaimed D-lister Kathy Griffin, whose new book—Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin (Ballantine), dropped on Tuesday—about botched plastic surgery, the brilliance of Kitty Kelley tell-alls and outselling "that hack" named Dan Brown. Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:06:00 EST http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6686407.html?nid=3324 In Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, Ari Weinzweig sings the praises of cured pork belly. Weinzeig says “pretty much everybody connected to the food world has got the bacon bug,” and the author, business owner and bacon lover tries to explain why bacon seems to have such a hold on eaters, and also offers some advice for booksellers on surviving the recession. Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST