From her entry:Every October when the finalists for the National Book Award are announced, I go out and buy the five books. (I consider that to be my annual Christmas present to myself and the book industry.) Usually I haven’t heard of any of the books, which is part of what makes it so much fun because it exposes me to work that is completely unexpected (and occasionally disagreeable.) After all, most of the time when I sit down with a book, I’ve carefully chosen something I think I’m going to like. I believe it’s important, especially for a writer, to expose myself to new voices....Susan Breen's novel, The Fiction Class, is the story of a woman's relationship with her ailing mother and the offbeat members of the creative writing workshop she leads.[O]n my list of NBA nominees is Let the Great World Spin (Random House) by Colum McCann. Then In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (W.W. Norton & Co.) by Daniyal Mueenuddin, Lark and Termite (Alfred A. Knopf) by Jayne Anne Phillips and ....[read on]
Among the praise for The Fiction Class:
“In this poignant, funny novel, a writing teacher, nearly 40 and single, is concerned not with romance or writing, but with her difficult, dying mother—until she teaches her mother to write.”
--MORE magazine
“The Fiction Class reminds us of what the right words in the proper order can give: pleasure, laughter, heartache, and, on rare and stunning occasions and just in the nick of time, redemption.”Breen's short stories have been published by a number of literary magazines, among them American Literary Review and anderbo (which lists her story “Triplet” as an anderbo classic).
—Marisa de los Santos, author, Love Walked In
Visit Susan Breen's website and blog.
Writers Read: Susan Breen.
--Marshal Zeringue
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