As part of a week-long shout-out about the James River Writers Conference this coming October 17-19th in Richmond, I’m featuring two local authors here on my blog in one week. The first is Jon Sealy. A member of our JRW organization, Jon has not only released a dark, southern, debut novel called The Whisky Baron, he’ll also be speaking at the conference. I posed a few questions, and Jon happily answered.
How do you perform research for your writing?
I visit libraries to read books and magazines contemporary to my story. For the 1930s, the Sears & Roebuck catalog was helpful (a tip I stole from the writer Tom Franklin).
Do stories find you, or do you go in search of them?
Who knows where ideas come from? I have an old English major’s sensibility that books are made out of books, and that authors are as much in conversation with each other as they are with the reader. With that in mind, I’m always looking for a great book to read, which is a reminder of why it all matters and provides a constant measure of excellence.
Which other authors influenced your work?
In the spirit of “books are made from books,” I’d like to mention two under-read authors. The first is William Gay, who I think is the finest southern writer in recent decades. The second is Mark Powell, a fellow South Carolinian, whose new novel The Sheltering is a real tour de force.
What do you hope to share about your work at the conference?
I’m on a panel about southern literature, which should be interesting because I think southern literature has reached something of a dead end. Places are invented constructs that humans constantly reinvent, and I’m not sure the “South” really exists anymore. I could be wrong, so I’m curious to hear what my fellow panelists think.
Visit Jon Sealy on his website, or follow him for fun bits on Twitter.
You can find out more about the conference on my Facebook page, or on the conference website.