Be a part of the conversation! Get candid access to working writers from all over the world as Writers House instructor (and former bookstore owner) Alex Dawson talks craft (via video chat) with some of the planet's hottest pen pushers.
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| Lev Grossman (The Bright Sword) demonstrates the ox stance with a polypropylene sword. |
Part show-and-tell session, part creative writing master class,"Inside the Writers House" invites you into the homes, offices, secret libraries, and backyard writing sheds of acclaimed authors, providing an inside eye on their working life and a level of intimacy often lacking in more formal settings. An obvious reference to the televised Actor's Studio seminar, "Writers House" interviews are likewise craft focused, but strive for an earthy spontaneity unencumbered by prepared queries and index card cues. Visits are conversational and plastic, largely molded by (and dependent on) audience questions. In addition to the conversation, most visits include short readings, writing prompts, and house/apt tours. Chances are you'll meet their pets, see/discuss new tattoos, investigate the most "haunted" parts of their home, and peer into forgotten pots at the back of their fridge.
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| Daniel Wallace (Big Fish) shows off his collection of glass eyeballs. |
From Buenos Aires to Stockholm, Johannesburg to Tehran, Paris to Oxford, Alaska to the Florida panhandle, students have visited with over 200 authors from dozens of different cities all over the world, including Lev Grossman (The Bright Sword), Jennifer Egan (A Visit From the Goon Squad), Mariana Enriquez (Our Share of Night), Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians), Andre Aciman (Call Me By Your Name), Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles), N.K. Jemesin (The Fifth Season), Brian & Wendy Froud (The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth), Amor Towles (A Gentleman in Moscow), Josh Malerman (Birdbox), Scott Snyder (Batman, American Vampire), Tom Perotta (Little Children, The Leftovers), Grady Hendrix (How to Sell a Haunted House), Tommy Orange (There, There), Daniel Kraus (The Shape of Water), David Gran (Killers of the Flower Moon), Ken Liu (The Grace of Kings), R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War), Karen Russell (Swamplandia), Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Friday Black), and Joe Abercrombie (The First Law Trilogy).
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| Filmmaker/puppeteer/vampire enthusiast Adrien Beau (The Vourdalak) shows us his bite mark tattoo. |
What are some things that Rutgers writers can look forward to when attending?
Informality,
humor, pets, the insides of refrigerators or medicine cabinets. There's
an MTV Cribs vibe. We get a lot of house tours. Show and tell sessions.
David Wallace, I remember, had a collection of glass eyeballs. Swedish
writer Karin Tidbeck raised pet snails. Terri Windling's dog Lottie is
adorable. Holly Black showed us her secret library. And Adrien Beau had a
mummified cat. I like to get the guest to do something they don't
usually do. Sing, play guitar, read from the story they wrote when they
were eight. I made push aside furniture and hula hoop. And I almost got
Alexander Chee to do a shoulderstand
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| The great Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians), a five-time IWH guest. |
What are some highlights from the best, or most interesting, or most informative Inside the Writers’ House events you’ve hosted?
Oh, man, that's hard. They're all good. It was pretty memorable when Jennifer Egan locked herself out of her Manhattan brownstone and did the first half of the event from her front stoop (until a neighbor came by with a second key). I like when the guest takes us outside. Backyards and balconies. Or just points the computer out their window. During the pandemic, when folks were essentially shut inside, we got to see parts of Tehran, Chicago, London, Manhattan, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, Orlando, Stockholm, San Francisco, Louisiana, Boston, Bath, Chagford, and Peak Island, Maine. Hmmm. What do I remember? Maybe I'll just riff. Let's see. I remember Maryse Meijer's sword earrings, Tom Lin's railroad spike knife, Megan Giddings witch chime, Laura van den Berg's boxing gloves, and Cat Valente's orca tooth. I remember when Swamp Thing's Ram V. fingered out some blues licks on his guitar and Lev Grossman demonstrated an ox stance with a black polyprylene blade. I like tattoos. We've seen a bunch. Sam Delaney, Kevin Barry, Sarah Gailey, Kevin Rosson. Sophie White has a haunted house with legs and Karin Tidbeck has the gates of heaven and hell on her forearms. When I asked Jonathan Mayberry if he had any tattoos, he said "No, but this is a scar from when I was Stevie Nicks' bodyguard and someone attacked us with a knife." Stephen Graham Jones talks beautifully about hopping fences and not staying in your own field, about cockleburrs on your pantlegs and Ken Liu talked about finding people "who want to live in your house."
See Previous Author page for complete list. See Rec Episode page to watch past visits.
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| Clay McLeod Chapman (Ghost Eaters) kicks off the Fall 2023 IWH sequence w. a live event at the RU B&N |