Upstairs at the Strand: Writers in Conversation at the Legendary Bookstore

by Jessica Strand (Editor), Andrea Aguilar (Editor)

Overview

Revelatory conversations between renowned writers at New York City’s legendary bookstore.

For nearly ninety years, the Strand Book Store has been a New York institution, a legendary mecca for readers throughout the five boroughs, across the country, and around the world. Featuring freewheeling and behind-the-scenes conversations between renowned novelists, playwrights, and poets on how they work, think, and live, Upstairs at the Strand captures the happy collision of books and ideas in the Strand's famed reading series in its Rare Book Room.

Upstairs at the Strand is indispensable for aspiring writers, readers of contemporary literature, and devoted fans of the 18 Miles of Books at the Strand Book Store.

Contributors include: Renata Adler • Edward Albee • Hilton Als • Paul Auster • Blake Bailey • Alison Bechdel • Tina Chang • Junot Díaz • Deborah Eisenberg • Rivka Galchen • A. M. Holmes • Hari Kunzru • Rachel Kushner • Wendy Lesser • D. T. Max • Leigh Newman • Téa Obreht • Robert Pinsky • Katie Roiphe • George Saunders • David Shields • Charles Simic • Tracy K. Smith • Mark Strand • and Charles Wright.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393352085
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/21/2016
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jessica Strand, former events coordinator at the Strand Book Store, is the associate director of public programs at the New York Public Library. She lives in New York.

Andrea Aguilar is a freelance journalist based in New York. She has been a contributing writer to El País since 2003.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 Deborah Eisenberg & George Saunders 1

2 Hilton Als & Junot Díaz 15

3 Rivka Galchen, Hari Kunzru, & Rachel Kushner 39

4 Edward Albee & Paul Auster 61

5 Tea Obreht & Charles Simic 78

6 Alison Bechdel & Katie Roiphe 92

7 Blake Bailey & D. T. Max 112

8 Tina Chang & Tracy K. Smith 132

9 A. M. Homes & Leigh Newman 142

10 Wendy Lesser & Robert Pinsky 153

11 Renata Adler & David Shields 167

12 Mark Strand & Charles Wright 190

About the Contributors 201

Acknowledgments 207

Editorial Reviews

01/25/2016
Since the Strand Bookstore in New York City opened its rare book room in 2003, it has hosted numerous writers there in conversation. This fascinating book collects 12 of those conversations. Biographers D.T. Max and Blake Bailey discuss Bailey’s biography of Charles Jackson and various methods for structuring their work. Rachel Kushner, Hari Kunzru, and Rivka Galchen debate everything from stereotyping and irony to inspiration. Poets and old friends Mark Strand and Charles Wright chat about the struggles of creating new work. Katie Roiphe talks with graphic novelist Alison Bechdel about the way their families react to their work. George Saunders reveals to Deborah Eisenberg that when he was starting out as a writer, he had a “medical condition called a ‘Hemingway boner.’ I just loved him.” Some conversations are less interesting than others, but overall the level of insight remains high. One of the greatest values of these interviews is that they focus on the books at hand and strive to uncover what is best about each writer’s work. Ranging from Junot Diaz’s talkative, casual style to Charles Simic’s easy conversational poetry, this assortment of literary interviews brings together the voices of some our best writers and leaves the reader wanting more. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

03/15/2016
This collection edited by Strand, former events coordinator at the Strand bookstore in New York City, and journalist Aguilar covers a wide range of author visits to the venerable institution. The book evokes a feeling of eavesdropping on a private conversation between old friends but more often shifts to a lovely piece of advice about writing and writers. Readers will find cherry-picking through the selections as rewarding as it straight through. With a panoply of award-winning contributors, including Renata Adler, Alison Bechdel, Junot Díaz, and George Saunders, among others, sharing conversation with those they know well, or not at all, delving into poetry, biography, fiction, and memoir, it's a who's who of the Strand's illustrious history. Occasional questions from the audience give structure to the authors' answers and contain passages in which the best tidbits can be found. VERDICT This volume brings together in one place an array of talent, and distills it in such a way that lovers of literature, writers, and students of literature will find invaluable. For most collections.—Linda White, Maplewood, MN

Library Journal

2016-01-09
New York's grand repository of millions of used and rare books has been the venue for readings by dozens of notable writers over the years, and many have stayed for the conversations recorded here. Upstairs in the Rare Book Room of the celebrated Strand bookstore, Paul Auster and Edward Albee talk of the salutary influence of Samuel Beckett, Leigh Newman remembers life in Alaska, and Tina Chang says that her 3-year-old son "likes to write poems." Renata Adler notes the drawbacks of composing on a computer, Blake Bailey contemplates the art of biography, and Robert Pinsky considers required reading. Charles Simic is recorded paying tribute to the venerable shop in which he spoke, and this text is, in a way, a celebratory literary salute to the Strand's vitality. Favorite authors—very few found on bestseller lists—are a common refrain, and the contributors cite a wide variety of work from a diverse selection of essayists, poets, dramatists, memoirists, novelists, and graphic novelists. The colloquies lean a bit toward the arcane, in the best Paris Review-esque tradition. The artists speak of their first novels as learning experiences, of how much work and time writing can take, and of the construction and final trimming of poetry. They touch on psychotherapy, imagination, and inspiration as well as techniques, work habits, gender, and race. Friends talk with friends, and questions from the audience are entertained. Other contributors include George Saunders, Hilton Als, Junot Diaz, Rivka Galchen, Hari Kunzru, Rachel Kushner, Téa Obreht, Alison Bechdel, Katie Roiphe, D.T. Max, Tracy K. Smith, Mark Strand, Charles Wright, A.M. Holmes, David Shields, and Wendy Lesser. As it must be, the conversations do not avoid solipsism. They are, after all, writers talking shop. An array of authors edifies their fans at the home of the flourishing last survivor of Gotham's grand old Book Row.

Kirkus Reviews