The Lost Saranac Interviews: Forgotten Conversations with Famous Writers

by Joe David Bellamy, Connie Bellamy

Uncover a Forgotten Piece of Literary History What if you could spend an exclusive weekend secluded away with today's most celebrated authors where you could discuss writing, literature, and how to develop your craft? The Lost Saranac Interviews takes you into one of the most stimulating and dynamic writing environments of the past thirty The Saranac Writers' Conference. In wooded cabins surrounding the idyllic Saranac Lake in upstate New York, writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Ann Beattie, and Carolyn Forche congregated from 1975-1979 to discuss their work. Invaluable transcripts and photographs have captured the wisdom and atmosphere of that time, which celebrated the importance of community and conversation between writers. Never before have the Saranac conversations and interviews been made available, until now. This book will forever change how you live your writing life.

279 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2007

About the author

Joe David Bellamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Duke University, Antioch College, and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Bellamy won the Editors' Book Award for his novel Suzi Sinzinnati, and his collection of short fiction, Atomic Love, was an AWP Award Series Selection. He is also author or editor of fifteen other books, including Kindred Spirits, New World Extra, Literary Luxuries, The New Fiction, Superfiction, American Poetry Observed, Island in the Sky, and two collections of poetry. His new novel, Green Freedom, is forthcoming in 2011 from Narrative Library.

Bellamy was the founding editor and publisher of Fiction International magazine and press. A former president of both the Associated Writing Programs (AWP) and the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines (CCLM), he served as Director of the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts in the early 90s. He has been a member of the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) since 1980 and served as a member of the NBCC Board of Directors from 2001 to 2004.

His articles, fiction, poetry, and reviews have been published in: The Atlantic, The Nation, Harper's, Paris Review, Narrative, The New York Times Book Review, Ploughshares, Partisan Review, Story, North American Review, The Washington Post Book World, and some seventy others.

He has taught at several colleges and universities, including the University of Iowa, Virginia Wesleyan College, St. Lawrence University, and George Mason University and was Whichard Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at East Carolina University. His literary papers are archived at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. "

Reviews

[Erika Dreifus]

My review of this book appeared in the September 2008 issue of The Writer magazine.

[Kathy Crow · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a joy to read these candid interviews with so many famous authors from when they were young. Any reader as well as any writer will treasure this.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

What looks and feels like an impersonal textbook (that's what my mom assumed it was) is actually a literary treasure trove that's long been completely unknown to the general reading population. This is a compilation of interviews, lectures and photographs from conferences that took place during the late 1970's at a mountain retreat in Saranac Lake, New York; the dazzling list of participants includes Joyce Carol Oates, Ann Beattie, Margaret Atwood, Annie Dillard, Gail Godwin, Russell Banks and E.L. Doctrow and a host of equally recognizable (or not as recognizable but equally important) names.

All of those listed above are featured authors and have chapters devoted to the intimate talks they gave, and each section is littered with valuable advice and musings to potential writers or those simply interested in literature and its creation. But wisely Joe David Bellamy, who founded this unique event and who eventually compiled this book, also includes the questions and dialogue the featured lectures sparked among the participants--often they are just as interesting and thought-provoking as the actual speeches are. A wonderful, valuable document, and what a pleasure to read.

"If you think about your college education: it's very distracting to be under the age of twenty-five, and you really don't get a college education. You don't really learn until you get out of college and have to do something yourself, and then you relearn it all and it finally begins to make sense."

-Robley Wilson

[SmarterLilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my Great Book On Writing find for '08. Has a ton of terrific (and rare) stuff on the notable authors of the '60s and '70s, including my beloved Margaret Atwood.