'The smart way versus the fun way'

 

“Often, when you look at history,at least through the lens that many of us have looked at history - high schooland college courses - a lot of the color gets bled out of it. You're left witha time period that does not look as strange and irrational as the time you'reactually living through.” –Karen Joy Fowler

 

Born in Indiana in February of1950, Fowler studied Political Science, then took dance classes with an eye onbecoming a classical dancer before trying her hand at writing and realizing thatwas the right career path.  Although she might bebest known for her mega-bestselling novel The Jane Austen Book Club,she started her career with short stories, beginning with the award-winning“Recalling Cinderella.” 

 

After 10 years of short storywriting, she published her first novel, Sarah Canary, to criticalacclaim, winning the prestigious James Tiptree, Jr. Award in theprocess.  That literary prize is given for science fiction or fantasythat "expands or explores our understanding of gender."  SarahCanary focuses on a group of people experiencing a peculiar kind of“first contact.”   Fowler said she wrote the book to "readlike a science fiction novel to a science fiction reader" and "like amainstream novel to a mainstream reader,” leaving it to each individualreader’s interpretation. 

 

Fowler’s career has been marked byher willingness to try several different genres, particularly Science Fiction,Fantasy and Literary Fiction.   “The smart way to build aliterary career is you create an identifiable product, then reliably producethat product so people know what they are going to get,” shesaid.  “That's the smart way to build a career, but not the fun way.Maybe you can think about being less successful and happier. That's an option,too.”