There is a most interesting article in the weekend Financial Times newspaper here which is an interview, over lunch, with the American author Jodi Picoult.
She is a married woman with a husband and 3 teenage children and manages to write (and sell) a book a year. Her publisher is Barnes and Noble and it seems she has now published 16 books! I have never read her stuff (yet) but apparently she has a great following but never wins any literary prizes.V Friedman, in her article states:
"She thinks of herself as an activist writer and says: 'I love the idea that I can change the world one mind at a time.' Personally [say the FT journalist] I think of her as a genre writer, and the genre is one she has invented, which could be labeled '[air]plane reading for smart women', or a mystery where the issue is not 'who done it?' but 'what would you do?' ".
It seems there is an appetite for this type of book these days, i.e. books that deal with contemporary issues (living with a child who has a long term illness, bullying, shooting rampages) and where there are no easy answers. However, this writer manages some sort of closure in the stories and this seems to be what readers are looking for. (And if the book is made into a movie with the ending changed it seems they get really upset!)
There is an interesting video of Jodo talking to the Borders Book Club but it will not download!
This is the website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK7GRN0plO8
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Photo is from her website here.
1 comment:
I looked at her website - she certainly has written many books. I have so many books waiting to be read - that I've been buying along the years, that I don't think I'll get to read hers soon.
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