"I feel that there is
something in the heart of this book that I cannot quite unpack. … When I write,
I really am trying as carefully as I can to listen to something. I don’t always
feel it’s coming from inside me. I know it is, and yet I often feel that I’m
just trying to transcribe something I’m listening to in the air. So in a funny
way, I often feel that I am a reader of my own writing, and in that sense I
don’t feel that I have the goods on it. In a sense, I don’t necessarily feel
that my interpretation of what I’ve done is
the interpretation. So I’m always open to what other people think. I’m
fascinated. And each reader — especially of this novel, I’ve noticed — each
reader has quite a different understanding of it. I love that."
—Harriet Scott Chessman, discussing The Beauty of Ordinary Things with Kathleen Stephenson, host of Between the Covers on Portland's KBOO Radio FM.
Chessman and Stephenson were joined by Atelier26 founder and publisher M. Allen Cunningham. Hear the full interview HERE.
