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I always seem to find one of Louise Erdrich’s books exactly when I need them most, thanks to some combination of a trusted recommender and fate. A dear friend texted me in the middle of reading Love Medicine, Erdrich’s first novel, to tell me that I absolutely had to go pick it up. I discovered Future Home of a Living God after an old boss could not stop gushing over it. The Sentence came into my possession during a “book fishing” event run by my local independent bookstore, Brookline Booksmith: You describe your literary taste, and an astute bookseller—hidden behind a large sheet of paper made to look like water—attaches a title they think you would like to a faux fishing rod for you to “catch.” I can’t recall now how I explained what I love most in a book (there are a great many things), but I’m not at all surprised that a Louise Erdrich title was what I reeled in.
Erdrich is an absolute master of fiction. Her characters come alive on the page, each of their voices as distinct and consuming as the last. Her work is infused with an incredible depth of humanity—both piercingly clear-eyed and deeply empathetic—that is, to me, the very best of what fiction can do.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author is back this spring with a collection of short stories, Python’s Kiss. I couldn’t be more thrilled that she took the time ahead of the book’s publication to answer Electric Lit’s 23 Questions.
– Katie Henken Robinson
Senior Editor
1. Describe the process of writing Python’s Kiss in a six-word story.
Louise Erdrich: Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose. Run!
2. What book should everyone read growing up?
LE: Charlotte’s Web. Tension, death, kindness, hope, and regeneration somehow squeeze effortlessly into this book. When a young child learns about death it is a betrayal. This book is consoling.
3. Write alone or in community?
LE: Alone, for as long as possible.
4. How do you start from scratch?
LE: I rummage around in the notebooks I keep for random ideas and follow the most interesting thread.
5. Three presses you’ll read anything from:
LE: I’m not taking this literally, as I can’t read everything, but Coffee House, Milkweed, and Graywolf are local presses that publish thought provoking books that go around the world.
6. Hardcover, paperback, or e-reader?
LE: Hardcover, ideally, for favorite books. If I can’t get a hardcover, then a well made trade paperback. And I do love a book with French flaps.
7. Describe your ideal writing day.
LE: It is a day in summer by Lake Superior and I am completely engaged with my narrative. Every so often I leave my desk and jump into the water, which is very cold and pure. I sit in the sun until I am warm. Then start writing again.
8. Typing or longhand?
LE: Longhand.
9. What’s a piece of writing advice you never want to hear again?
LE: From a book reviewer reading a book of mine set in a small town—Louise Erdrich should go back to the reservation.
10. What’s a piece of writing advice you think everyone needs to hear?
LE: If you try to defend your writing to someone by saying what you meant, you failed to get what you meant across. You might as well stop talking, go back, and try again.
11. Realism or surrealism?
LE: Quite often there is no difference.
12. How did you meet your agent?
LE: Through a friend who was looking out for me.
13. Best advice for pushing through writer’s block?
LE: Do some tangential research around your subject and eat some ice cream.
14. What’s your relationship to being edited?
LE: When I started writing I decided that criticism would be my friend. I appreciate any response to my suffering manuscript. I pay attention to every suggestion although I might not ultimately make a change. Trent Duffy, my longtime copyeditor/editor, is a sort of guardian angel. Terry Karten has been a staunch friend and guide. Jonathan Burnham is brilliant, fearless, exacting. Deborah Triesman is a passionate expert. I have been lucky.
15. Write every day or write when inspired?
LE: Joseph Albers gave the best advice: Leave the door open. So every day.
16. What other art forms and literary genres inspire you?
LE: Art Heist books—fiction or non-fiction.
17. Book club or writing group?
LE: Family.
18. The writer who made you want to write.
LE: George Orwell.
19. How do you know when you’ve reached the end?
LE: A sensation of inevitability.
20. Writing with music or in silence?
LE: A gently snoring dog.
21. What’s the last indie bookstore you went to.
LE: Birchbark Books—I like sitting in the office with anyone on our peerless staff (my daughter Pallas is a manager) and working out problems. I also like browsing through the latest as chosen by our buyer, Nate Pederson, who does a tremendous job and has been there nearly as long I have. This is our 25th year.
22. Activity when you need to take a writing break:
LE: Walking around outside, or, with a sense of aggrieved resignation, cleaning the house.
23. What does evolving as a writer mean to you?
LE: Discarding my pretensions.
