OPB’s April Baer put together this week’s State of Wonder show and included an interview with me and the sensational PEN Hemingway honor news in a show with some of the most talented folks I know of, including Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Esperanza Spalding, and Sharon Olds.
Wow!
Many thanks to OPB and April Baer and John Sepulvado for their tireless support of People Like You and for their enthusiasm at the PEN news. Thanks guys!!
I am dumbstruck and elated to report that PEOPLE LIKE YOU was selected a Finalist in the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction.
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From the PEN/New England site:
The two PEN/Hemingway Award finalists are S. M. Hulse for Black River (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Margaret Malone for People Like You (Atelier26).
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Suddenly I find myself in the company of other past winners, finalists and honorable mentions… you know, authors like George Saunders, Edward P. Jones, Jhumpa Lahiri, Colson Whitehead, ZZ Packer, Jennifer Haigh, Marilynne Robinson, Ha Jin, Sherman Alexie, Junot Diaz, Yiyun Li, Lily King, Justin Cronin, Ben Fountain, Teju Cole, Mitchell S. Jackson, and many, many other mind-blowing writers.
Biggest of thanks to PEN New England and this year’s judges, Joshua Ferris, Alexandra Marshall, and Jay Parini.
And big, big congratulations to the winner Ottessa Moshfegh for her book EILEEN (Penguin), my co-Finalist S.M. Hulse for BLACK RIVER (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), and honorable mention authors Karim Dimechkie for LIFTED BY THE GREAT NOTHING (Bloomsbury), and Chigozie Obioma for THE FISHERMEN (Little, Brown).
Lastly, never ending thanks to Atelier26 Books, the little engine that could, and Mark Allen Cunningham for making this impossible undreamed-of dream a reality.
To say I’m humbled doesn’t begin to do justice to what I feel today.
Alex Behr and I went to have tea on a Saturday inside a now-defunct caboose in Southeast Portland.
The place is usually quiet and comfortable but for some reason on the afternoon of our interview, the place was crawling with high school kids hanging out there, talking and laughing and mostly on their phones, and then leaning over to show each other things on their phones.
It ended up being the perfect imperfect place to talk about writing and editing and character and craft and film and photography, and the result is this wonderful piece Alex has written for Propeller Magazine on PEOPLE LIKE YOU.
My publisher Atelier26 Books has teamed up with Goodreads for a PEOPLE LIKE YOU giveaway.
If you’re the kind of person interested in receiving a free copy of the collection, all you have to do is go here. The giveaway will be going on through March 12. Good luck!
Last month I had the great good fortune to spend the morning, over coffee, talking to THRU Magazine’s editor Kate Dolan. We spent a couple hours talking about books and writing and stories and women and life and unlikeable characters and… it was tremendous.
Afterwards she wrote this beautiful article.
Biggest of thanks to Kate and THRU.
A little more love for People Like You on Valentine’s Day.
Had a great time talking with Theresa about books and writing. Thanks so much to the legendary Bruce Broussard for sharing his amazing show with me. Honored to be part of what he does.
Got the best valentine this year:
Dan Wickett, co-founder of Dzanc Books, featured the story “Sure Footing” from PEOPLE LIKE YOU on his long-standing Emerging Writers Network site as a Work of the Day.
For those of you who might not know, Dan Wickett has spent years bringing attention to emerging writers in literature and their books. He is a truly legendary figure among writers.
I’m honored he included a story from the collection on his site.
Thanks so much, Dan.
If you’re a writer, especially of short fiction and/or essays, you are a big fan of the folks at New Pages – the preeminent gathering place of literary magazines, independent presses, indie bookstores… you get the idea.
The NewPages review came out this morning for PEOPLE LIKE YOU and I couldn’t more excited to share it with you. Especially because it has this awesome line in it:
“…put a post-it note on your forehead with Margaret Malone’s name on it. You won’t want to miss her next act.”
Big big thanks to NewPages.com for continuing their legacy of reaching out past the big publishing houses and writers to connect readers and working writers with the world. And thanks to writer David Breithaupt for the close read and the beautiful review.
I’m ecstatic to share that PEOPLE LIKE YOU has already gone to a second printing.
As an author, having your book make enough noise in this crazy, loud, bustle of a world to need a second printing is a dreamy, beautiful thing.
I am so grateful to all the booksellers, booklovers, reviewers, readers, curators, librarians and friends who keep putting this book in people’s hands – you are directly responsible for this success. Thank you all so very much.
In honor of the second printing, publisher Atelier26 Books did a cool mash-up of reviews and interviews on their website. Check it out here.
Endless gratitude to you all.
xo
While on tour this week in LA for People Like You, I had the great fortune to be interviewed on the fantastic lit podcast Otherppl with Brad Listi. He’s spent the last several years interviewing some of the best names in literature, and I’m honored to be included in the canon.
We had such a good conversation: it was like we’d been talking about books and kids and life and writing for years already.
Here’s a link to the full interview.
Thank you so much to Brad for the opportunity.