I love these author questions by Briallen Hopper at Killing the Buddha. They were posted for Valentine's Day, which is so lovely! Killing the Buddha: 11 Questions About Martha Moody
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Converation with Elizabeth McCracken at Marth Moody 25th anniversary virtual book launch
December 15, 2020
Susan Stinson and Elizabeth McCracken. Screenshot by Pamela Millam.
The launch for the twenty-fiftn anniversary edition of my "highly imaginative Western," Martha Moody, was a conversation with the great Elizabeth McCracken at Book Moon Books. It was virtual and recorded, so some day I may be able to post it. Full of launch and good company in the midst of a pandemic, it was one of the best things that has ever happened to me as a writer.
I met Elizabeth McCracken more than twenty-five years ago before Martha Moody was published. I used an excerpt as my work sample in an application to the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. I didn't get in, but Elizabeth wrote me a beautiful letter in praise of the excerpt, which was enclosed in the envelope with the rejection. We eventually started a correspondence, and it has been such gift to get to read her work and witness her literary adventures over the years. Talking with her about Martha Moody was SO MUCH FUN. The audience was full of writers and others dear to me. We sang happy birthday to my dad, who turned 92 the next day! People got passionate in the chat about punctuation marks. So good.