May 24

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 24, 1928: William Trevor born.

Q&A with Kevin Sessums

Kevin Sessums is the author of the new memoir I Left It On the Mountain. His other work includes the memoir Mississippi Sissy. He is the editor in chief of FourTwoNine magazine and dot429.com, and was a contributing writer for Vanity Fair, Allure, and Parade. He lives in San Francisco.

Q: This is your second memoir. Was your writing process similar this time, and did writing this memoir evoke similar emotions for you?

A: These are very different memoirs. The first one was more novelistic in its way because I had such distance from that child and that teenager that they became rather like characters in my own story.  

What is it that Marianne Moore said about poetry - imaginary gardens with real toads in them. That memoir was the reverse - a real garden with imaginary toads. I was the toad. That memoir was my kiss upon my own head. I didn't become a prince. But I did cease to be a toad by telling my story. I became the author of it.  

This new memoir was a way to save my life. I looked around while I was still an active addict and realized that the only way I was going to save myself was to be my truest self and that was writer. I am a writer even before I am an addict. So I wrote the narrative of becoming sober and became it.

There is a saying in the 12-step program to which I belong and that if you have to, then act "as if." So much of writing this new memoir was writing "as if" until "as if" became the truth. 

Q: Much of this book focuses on your struggles with drug use and your eventual sobriety. What finally caused you to get sober and stay sober?

A: Grace. 

Q: You’ve worked in celebrity journalism for many years. What do you see as the biggest changes in the field, and are there ways in which it’s remained the same?

A: We once spent a lot of time with a subject in order to write a piece about them. My cover stories in Vanity Fair were sometimes five to six thousand words. A real narrative could be shaped. Now you're lucky to be assigned 1,500 words and to get an hour with someone between a bowel movement and a Botox injection. 

I think social media has helped morph this part of the media. Celebrity is no longer celebrated with a five thousand cover story in Vanity Fair. It's attained now on Facebook or Youtube or calling yourself a "housewife" and living in a designated city.  

Q: Your book’s title also appears in a chapter in the book about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. What does the title signify for you, and why did you choose it?

A: I don't want to give away what I left on the mountain. I think readers should discover that for themselves. I hope everyone goes and finds their own mountains to climb and if they leave something of their own there, that's what is important - not what I left there finally. With a memoir, I think what is important finally is not the life that is written about but that it inspire the reader to think about his or her own life. 

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I am beginning to write a theatrical version of Mississippi Sissy for New York Theatre Workshop. I plan to be in it at this point. Stay tuned. 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: I'm a SF Giants fan. Dark chocolate is my new drug of choice. I am currently reading John Williams's brilliant novel Stoner. I'm single.

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

May 23

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 23, 1810: Margaret Fuller born.

Q&A with Herb Keinon

Herb Keinon is the author most recently of French Fries in Pita, a collection of his columns about life in Israel. He also has written Lone Soldiers. He is the longtime diplomatic correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, and a columnist for the paper. He lives near Jerusalem.

Q: How did you select and organize the columns that appear in your new book?

A: I've been writing the columns on-and-off on a monthly basis for about 30 years, and had over 200 to choose from. I picked my favorites, as well as ones I thought best reflected the everyday experiences that immigrants living here – as well as visitors -- could relate to and say, “Ah ha, I know what he's talking about.”  

Q: In your columns, you describe the differences between yourself, as someone born in the United States who moved to Israel, and your Israeli children. How are you able to bridge those gaps in perception?

A: Even though I have lived in Israel for more than 30 years, I am very American. 

I look like an American, think like an American, and have a very American accent. My humor, perspective, and cultural references are all American.  

All four of my children were born in Israel. They are very Israeli. They look Israeli, think Israeli, speak English with a very Israeli accent. They have Israeli humor, an Israeli perspective and Israeli cultural references. 

The gaps are wide. Our perspectives are different. But I like the Israeli perspective. That is one of the reasons I moved here from America. I preferred the Israeli Jewish perspective to the American Jewish one. I thought it was more confident, more natural, more authentically Jewish. I wanted it for my kids.  

Zionism has brought about a fundamental change in the way Jews think. You think differently living naturally in your own country, than you do as a minority in someone else's, even if it is the most friendly country in the world. 

All that being said, my children have grown up in my house; they have heard, felt and seen my perspective. They are familiar with it. We are not foreign to one another. They understand where I'm coming from; I understand where they are coming from. 

Q: As someone who has lived in Israel for many years, what is your sense of Israel’s image internationally today? How has that changed or remained the same over the years? 

A: There is a basic disconnect in the way Israelis view themselves and their situation, and the way much of the world views it.

To understand Israel today it is necessary to understand what it is like to feel insecure: that a rocket can crash into your living room if you live near Gaza, or a terrorist can ram his car into a bus stop you stand at everyday in Jerusalem, or harm can come to one of your loved ones serving in the army. 

Just beyond the country’s borders, the region is in flames, literally. And above it all hovers the threat of a nuclear weapon in the hands of an ayatollah who says over and over that Israel needs to be destroyed. 

That's the Israeli perception of reality. It's a perception that colors everything, and that explains so much of what the country does – from building the security fence to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting he must address Congress.  

The world doesn't always grasp that reality. Israel views itself as a David in the wider Middle East; much of the world perceives it as a Goliath vis-a-vis the Palestinians.   

It's tough to speak generally about Israel's image internationally, because there is no one image internationally. It varies from region to region, country to country. Much of America still views Israel as a scrappy little democracy in a hostile sea, while many in Europe see it differently -- as a last bastion of colonialism and an obstacle to world peace. The image of Israel in Russia, China, and India is different altogether.

When Israel was small and weak and seen as a refuge for survivors of the Holocaust, it was a sentimental favorite. As it grew stronger, as it won war after war, as it was not willing -- because of its own view of its vital needs -- to make the concessions many would like to see it make, that image changed, and continues to change.  

The image of many who have never been here is of a stern, religious, militaristic country – because that is all that comes out in the news. The reality is much different. One of the things that I wanted to do with this book is try to puncture that monochromatic image by giving a real glimpse of daily life. 

Q: Your family members are a big part of your column. What do they think of it? 

A: The book is a compilation of columns I've written for The Jerusalem Post over the last 30 years, much of it centered on the family. 

I often get asked if they don't mind being written about. The truth is that I would never write anything that might embarrass them – not my wife, who I lovingly refer to throughout the book as The Wife, or my kids.  

I've written for The Post for some 30 years, and have a simple rule: “when in doubt, leave out.” 

If I think something might be offensive or problematic or not sufficiently corroborated, then I’ll just omit it -- it's not worth it. That goes for the news that I've reported on over these years, and also for these personal columns. I like writing these columns, but I like the family more, and wouldn't write anything that they would object to or would mortify them.  

As to what my wife and children think about the book, I think they view it as an accurate account of some of the simple moments we've spent together.  

Q: What are you working on now? 

A: Right now I'm concentrating on my daily reportorial duties at The Post, and considering future book ideas.

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

May 22

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 22, 1859: Arthur Conan Doyle born.

Q&A with Peter Slevin

Peter Slevin is the author of the new book Michelle Obama: A Life. A former Washington Post reporter, he teaches at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Q: Why did you decide to write a biography of Michelle Obama?

A: There were two things I wanted to do: first, to write about her remarkable trajectory from the South Side of Chicago, a working-class household, all the way to Princeton, Harvard, and the White House.

The second was to tell her story against the backdrop in which she lived—the first generation of African Americans who came of age after the Civil Rights movement—to chart what changed and what remained.

Q: How did you research the book, and did you talk to Michelle Obama?

A: I haven’t interviewed her since the first presidential campaign, when I interviewed her twice. I researched the family history and the world she inhabits.

I talked to relatives of hers and the president’s; mentors from her professional life in Chicago; Princeton and Harvard friends, classmates and professors; White House staff members and former staff members.

I had the luxury of time. I read hundreds of thousands of words Michelle Obama had spoken.

Q: Did anything you came across in your research change your impression of her?

A: Many things deepened my impression of her. The self-doubt she’s had in her life and her willingness to talk about it—times in a majority-white environment, times on the campaign trail when she wondered if she could get it all done. Speaking at Maya Angelou’s memorial service, she described herself feeling lonely in Ivy League classrooms, and on the campaign trail where her very womanhood was challenged.

Q: Do you know if the Obama family has read the book, and if so, what they think about it?

A: I would love to know what they think, but I don’t know. I sent copies!

Q: Michelle Obama is often in the news, but her recent graduation speech at Tuskegee University got a lot of attention. What is your impression of what she said, and why do you think it got the attention it did?

A: Michelle Obama gave a speech that was very true to herself and her experience. In the speech, she pulled together many threads of her life and her previous remarks. There was nothing really new, but she pulled it together.

It reflected a message she’s giving—that she believes the deck is stacked. She put herself in the story to show young African Americans that this is not new, it’s not unfamiliar, and they should not let it stop them. She’s been saying this for many years but sometimes people focus on nutrition or fashion and don’t always pay attention to the deeper story.

The reaction speaks to a polarized country. Many would say, What’s so exceptional about what she’s saying? It’s not a polemic. It shows how quickly critics are prepared to pounce.

Q: What will Michelle Obama’s legacy be once she leaves the White House?

A: My guess is that her legacy will have two broad themes. One is how she delivered her message, the way she mastered the marketing of her message—using humor, being very physical, hula hoops on the White House lawn, skits on late night television—and the way she would sometimes avoid the mainstream news media in favor of specific audiences she wanted to reach.

The other part is her message that we are living in a grossly unequal society where too many people, not just people of color…simply do not have the opportunity they should have. Her message is tied to policies she’s worked on connected to childhood obesity and the lack of equality in educational opportunity.

Q: She’ll still be only in her early 50s when the Obamas leave the White House. What do you think she’ll do?

A: She’ll only be 53; she’ll turn 53 three days before. She’s said she will continue to work on education policy…She will continue to be a mentor; she has always been a mentor. She’ll need to decide how deeply she wants to speak out on issues she cares about. It’s an open question.

Q: Are you working on another book?

A: I’m not. My head is still on this one. I loved working on this one.

Q: Anything else we should know about the book?

A: I love the characters in the book. The characters beyond Michelle Obama were so influential in her life—her family…her friends. It was fascinating to explore the constellations of her relationships. It was important to me that these characters be fully formed.

The reviewers haven’t noticed this too much, but there’s a lot about Barack Obama that’s pretty fresh [too].

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Andrea Gillies

Andrea Gillies is the author of the new novel The Enlightenment of Nina Findlay. She also has written the novel The White Lie and the memoir Keeper. She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Q: How did you come up with your main character, Nina, and why did you decide to involve her in a triangular dynamic with two brothers?

A: The origin of fictional characters in the head of writers is a genuine mystery. Who is Nina Findlay and where did she come from?

There must have been an encounter with a skinny Nordic girl with plaits, at some point in my life - or perhaps it was [Nina’s mother] Anna I met, or saw in a magazine, or stood behind in an airport queue, and subconsciously banked her in imagination for later. I have no conscious origin for either of the women.

But I suppose one of the things that interested me, when I decided I wanted to write about a midlife meltdown, was how people are often misled by beauty, and make assumptions about it.

I say at one point, about Anna, that people had always misinterpreted her blondness, her cornflower blue eyes, her easy-tanning skin, with summer and with lightness of spirit, and I was interested in how a tortured frustrated soul might lurk unseen behind those eyes.

I find it hard to separate Anna and Nina in my mind; to me they're very much a pair, the same and yet starkly different. I was interested in how Nina might feel she had inherited her mother's soul and temperament, despite evidence to the contrary, simply because they looked almost identical, and how she might wrestle with that.

Once I had Nina and Anna, I needed some dynamic in Nina's childhood that would divide them later: Nina's enlightenment is as much about her mother as about herself, after all.

It came to me that Anna was covertly unhappily married and flirtatious with other men (and boys!) as a way of shoring up her own esteem, and that Nina's enlightenment would be partly about seeing that in a new way.

A little bit of autobiography comes in at this point - in the 1970s in my Yorkshire village (a similar one to Nina's own) we lived in the big square starkly modern house with the nine paned vast window. It's my childhood home, so was easy to write about, and to feel, and to see.

The boys next door were imaginary (sadly!) but the triangle dynamic seemed an ideal way of Nina learning about herself - very belatedly - and learning that her mother's advice was toxically wrong in some ways - in its theoretical basis - but at the same time, essentially right.

I was attracted to that tangle. Tangled relationships are always interesting.  (I write about this character-invention process as if it were rational and conscious but in fact the characters and the scenario came to me quickly and in flashes like cinema, playing out in my head, as they always do when I'm about to write a book. It's more instinctive than planned).

Q: Much of the book takes place on a Greek island. Why did you choose that as one of the novel’s important settings?

A: The island is based on the tiny island of Antiparos, in the Cyclades island group in Greece, where my ex-husband and I spent a happy, lazy month in 1987, two years before marrying.

The island in the book is based on my (probably very faulty) memories of the island, with added fictional elements - there was no modernist white hospital on the shore, for instance. The island of the novel superimposed itself on the island of memory.

I don't think there's a high top village on Antiparos, with a winding road leading up to it: that invented itself, spooling ink onto the map, because it was needed as the ideal place to make a big decision, and to look down on the perfect little world laid out below.

The more I think about it, the more obviously fictional this island becomes. I haven't been back, since 1987, although after my divorce I thought about returning.

But then I began to imagine how difficult it might be to be unhappy there. The rising panic Nina feels when she returns on her own, having just separated from Paolo, is exactly how I feared I would feel. 

On a more prosaic level, I needed somewhere for Nina to run to, that was absolutely opposite to her home territory. Many of us fantasise about the ease and self-invention of a new life of simplicity in an old-fashioned society like the island.

I know from experience (although in my case, it was two years spent living in rural France) that the fantasy often fails to live up to the reality.

Q: The novel goes back and forth in time. Did you write the first draft in the form the book appears now, or did you write it more chronologically and move scenes around later?

A: What I do is begin to write the story, in the right order, and then scenes that belong elsewhere might suggest themselves, so I allow myself to be distracted from the forward progression, in order to write those.

Sometimes it's just notes that are needed on a later scene, that bear some relation to the part of the book I'm at, chronologically. Sometimes it's the whole fleshed out episode.

Often this works in a symbiotic way - I'll be writing about Luca in his recklessly flirtatious relationship with Nina, for instance, and my mind will travel to a later, darker scene, in which we see another sort of Luca altogether.

I write quickly and do a lot of drafts and edits. Once I get onto the second draft, it's pretty much all done in the right order, from front to back, because otherwise a complicated time-looping book like Nina Findlay would become unmanageable, in terms of its narrative threads and internal logic, and spinning plates would begin to fall off poles.

Q: Why did you choose a doctor-patient relationship through which to tell much of the story?

A: Dr. Christos arrived fully formed in the book, his face very clear in my head, and the complications in his own life (and heart) very clear, the moment I realised that Nina was going to have a near-fatal accident on her little Greek island.

That's how the book begins: with a car accident that might have been fatal, that (even though it wasn't fatal) might have been a disaster, but was the engine of Nina's re-ravelling herself, knitting herself back together from her earlier, desperately unravelled, state.

She needed to be made to sit still and think - something she'd avoided doing for over 20 years. Once I'd got her to sit still and think, I had the problem that the story was going to be too static and too much about interior monologue.

It had already seemed imperative that Nina encounter further romantic temptation on the island, and I needed a man to provide it.

Dr. Christos's face loomed up in my imagination, shortly after having this thought. There he was: an almost-handsome, almost-romantic, almost-honest, but ever-attentive confidant and advisor, who might complicate Nina's love triangle even further by appearing to offer another way out of her problem.

I also liked that he could be an authority figure, and assume expertise, that he could present himself as another male authority figure in her life, telling her who she was and what it all meant. Another patient at the island hospital wouldn't have presented the same metaphorical potential.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I've just finished writing the next novel, which is called Waiting in the Woods. It's about a 34-year-old Englishwoman called Isabella who realises that her husband is in love with their neighbour, and who goes to a retreat weekend at an abbey, a community of nuns, to think about the decision she needs to make.

There, in a clearing in the woods on a snowy winter's day, she meets a middle-aged nun, who seems to be a perfect person to confide in.

Isabella tells her, not only about her current marital crisis, but about four other crises she's had in her life. She takes the chance to confess to it all. The meeting proves life-changing for both of them.

The following summer, the nun appears in Isabella's small English village--Isabella is now pregnant--and Isabella's instinct tells her that she should be afraid. The nun says she needs to talk to her, but given opportunities to - and Isabella keeps giving them to her, wanting to know - she doesn't seem to come to the point.

The hinge of the narrative sees Margaret, the nun, revealing her purpose to Isabella, at which point a cat and mouse game ensues, a psychological drama that takes us from Somerset to London, to northern Scotland, to a hidden farm in Dorset, to the safety of family in Kent, and back to the abbey again.

When Isabella has a baby, the game changes. The stakes are higher. And it may no longer be possible to be sure about who the pursued is, and who the pursuer.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: The next novel is about a woman artist in the mid-20th century. I'm just beginning to do some reading and thinking about it. 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb