05 May 2009

Along with A.S. Byatt and Tim O’Brien, I was a member of the prize jury for the new collection of O. Henry prize winners. Long live the short story.
25 April 2009

Hemingway once said, “To be a successful father… there is one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.” Being a father has changed a bit since then. Last year Ben George, editor of Ecotone, solicited essays from a bunch of American writers about being a father. The result is The Book of Dads, a charming, hilarious, and occasionally profound book. I’ve got an essay in there; so do 19 other writers, including Steve Almond, Rick Bass, Nick Flynn, Jim Shepard, Brandon Schrand, and Richard Bausch.
19 March 2009

Friends who haven’t been to Idaho are always curious about why we live here. I’ve got an essay in the April issue of Smithsonian that attempts to explain why. Click here and you can read it online.
10 March 2009

Like book contests? Think book prizes are important? Arbitrary? Want to learn more about contemporary fiction? Think it’d be cool to see last year’s best novels compete against each other in a March Madness NCAA-style showdown? Then check out the 5th annual Tournament of Books over at TMN. For the fourth consecutive year, I’m a first-round judge.