I'm the Winner of Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change. The prize-winning novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Algonquin Books), will be in bookstores February 2010. For more information visit www.heidiwdurrow ...
Nella Larsen, Sandra Cisneros, Dorothy Allison, William Faulkner, Dan Chaon, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, John Edgar Wideman, Michael Cunningham, Edith Wharton, James Baldwin
I often wrote in silence--no music, no radio, no sound distractions. But sometimes, I needed to conjure up a certain mood or feeling to write a new scene or passage. On those days, I'd play a single song over and over again as I wrote, until I felt like I was under the song's spell. For the sad scenes, I listened to Roy Hargrove's "Always and Forever" and "Remembrances" from ...
When people ask me how long it took to write the book, I answer: " Six years, 12 years, or 39!" Let me explain the 12 years answer--I started the book in 1997 when I left my job as a corporate lawyer. But at the same time, I started acting school and pursued an acting career. It's hard to write--a solitary activity--and act. I was always taking classes, or preparing for an audition, or ...
I am about two inches taller as I float on the high of last night!I met Barbara Kingsolver when she was in town promoting her new book, The Lacuna (with a biracial protagonist btw).It was wonderful to be able to finally thank her in person for awarding me the Bellwether Prize and well, changing my life! She was lovely, warm and kind--so absolutely genuine, and wonderful. I know I am ...
