The American author on being paid to read in his teens, the allure of graphic novels and the brilliance of Iris Murdoch
The book that made me want to be a writer
When I was in first grade living in the Boston area, David McCord, a writer of juvenile poetry, came to our class to read from his books. I was amazed by the whole thing: by his imagination, by his wordplay, by the manner in which the poetry reached its audience. I knew right then I wanted to be a writer. That night I began writing poems just like his, and from then on it was: read, write, repeat.
My favourite book growing up
At 13, I greatly enjoyed Ray Bradbury’s book of science fiction stories The Illustrated Man – which I had picked up at the school book fair solely based on its cover. For my birthday a few years later, my mother gave me his collected short stories. That was the first time I read through an author, moving chronologically across the decades of his output. Ever since, it has been my preference to do so with authors I admire.
