This interview with Donald Harington was first published
in October 2007. Donald Harington is the author of
The
Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks, With,
Choiring
Of The Trees, The
Cockroaches of Stay More, Some Other
Place. The Right Place, Butterfly
Weed, When Angels
Rest, Thirteen
Albatrosses: (or, Falling off the Mountain), The Pitcher
Shower, The Cherry
Pit, Ekaterina,
Lightning
Bug, and Let Us Build
Us A City: Eleven Lost Towns.
Born in Little Rock, but "raised" during summers in dying hamlet of
Drakes Creek, Arkansas, in the Ozark mountains.
What was it that first got you into writing and when did
you start writing?
Wrote first novel at age of six, and countless others
until first published one at age of twenty-eight. Probably inherited Ozark
mountain storytelling tradition.
Which writers have influenced you the most?
Vladimir Nabokov, William Styron, James Agee, John Barth,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes.
What kind of things do you write?
Novels only. Fourteen thus far.
What are you working on now?
A large novel called Enduring, the entire life of Latha Bourne, who was postmistress of my mythical town of Stay More and never dies.
What is your writing day like?
Mornings, mostly, although if the story dictates I'll
work after my afternoon nap also. I try to write about a thousand words each
day
What's the most exciting thing about writing for you?
Finding out what my characters, given free will, might
pull off next.
What's the most frustrating thing about writing for you?
Having to interrupt my work to answer questionnaires.
What's the best piece of feedback that you've had from
your audience?
A member of the audience at a reading who had obviously
read my work and Nabokov's said that I was a better writer with better
imagination.
Do you write for a particular audience, or is your first
priority to satisfy your own creativity?
My first priority is to entertain, and I take it for
granted that my own creativity can accomplish that.
Do you have a homepage? Do you have any short stories or
poems published online? (If so, please provide the URLs):
