Author News and Book Reports
Jonathan Lethem, Michael Thomas, and Ben Greenman mix fact and fiction for potent prose
Three of America's fast-rising stars in the literary universe today--Jonathan Lethem, Michael Thomas, and Ben Greenman--took the dais at the 2009 Miami Book Fair International to read from and talk about their new works. First up, New Yorker book critic and author Ben Greenman provided the premise for his latest novel, loosely based on the life of Sly Stone Please Step Back (Melville House; April, 2009), not to be confused with his recently released book of short stories, What He's Poised To Do (Harper's Perennial; June, 2010). Greenman read three passages, the first dealing with his main character's inspiration from tragedy as a youth, followed by a passage detailing his main character's sudden career breakthrough in 1968, and ended with a passage set in 1972 when the main character is at the peak of his career. Next up, award-winning, bestselling author Jonathan Lethem introduced his latest winner, Chronic City (Vintage paperback reprint; August, 2010), and read a long passage wherein eagles are nesting in New York City creating a clash between nature and modern civilization. Winner of the 2009 International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, Man Gone Down, Michael Thomas wrapped up the reading part of the program by introducing a non-fiction, autobiographical work-in-progress and then reading a passage on fatherhood. The authors then took a few questions from the audience, who asked Lethem about progress on the movie version of his first novel Motherless Brooklyn, his blend of comics, sci-fi, and high-brow literary storytelling styles, and the themes Of Chronic City. Greenman and Thomas took the final question about the blurred line separating fiction and non-fiction. Then Greenman, followed by Lethem, and Thomas each contemplated their process of creating characters, and shared their thoughts on their processes for discovering their voice for each book they write.
