Interviews
Click on links:
LITSEEN Interview / Spring 2017
“Marianne Rogoff on the Solid Round Oak Table and the Early Vote of Confidence” + video reading of “Exhale, Laughing” filmed by Evan Karp
Featured in The Rumpus "Notable San Francisco" column, 5/10-5/16
BLOG HOP Interview / Summer 2014
Marianne Rogoff's friend Frances Lefkowitz, SheBooks editor, flash fictionista, and author of the stellar memoir To Have Not, tagged her in a “blog hop.” In this chain, started by publisher Mark Cunningham, writers answer questions about “character” in their recent or upcoming books. Most of these books are novels so Frances challenged Marianne to address the fact that her new story collection from SheBooks, Love Is Blind in One Eye: 7 Stories, is "a different kind of memoir," both fiction and nonfiction.
THE QUESTIONS
What is the name of your character?
Jewel is the name I call myself in my stories. (In academic writing I call myself Moi.)
Is s/he fictional or a historic person?
Jewel is real; what happens is unreal, even when it really happened.
Love Is Blind in One Eye is a different kind of memoir, told in stories with elements of fiction. Whether a story happened in fact or not, Jewel is someone who veers wildly between wanting stability and peace, and craving adrenalin.
When and where is the story set?
The seven stories move through the stage of life between 25 and 45, when you are trying so hard to become yourself. Jewel moves in time and place from RCA Beach to Maui, Larkspur, San Miguel de Allende, Mill Valley, Lisbon, and Barcelona.
What should we know about Jewel? What is her personal goal?
My first book Silvie’s Life describes the beauty, joy, and real risks of new motherhood. Jewel’s journeys here take place before and since that life-altering experience. Jewel’s goal is to stay strong, stay in motion, more cautious and more fearless.
What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
The main conflicts are revealed in the course of events and threaten to kill Jewel’s spirit. These are travel stories, near and far, and Jewel finds life everywhere is messy, tragic, strange, unpredictable, and also orderly, full of music, art, love, and surprises.
When can we expect the book to be published? Can we read more about it?
Love Is Blind in One Eye: 7 Stories was published May 2016 by Shebooks.
Previous Interviews with Marianne Rogoff:
With Lavinia Spalding, Editor, Best Women’s Travel Writing: Meet the Contributors
