Willy Vlautin - Author Q & A

Willy Vlautin on Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy and a pitcher of Margaritas ...

What was your favourite childhood book?

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Which book has made you laugh?

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Which book has made you cry?

Dirty Work by Larry Brown

Which book would you never have on your bookshelf?

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rifles and Machine Guns

Which book are you reading at the moment?

Under The Banner Of Heaven by John Krakauer

Which book would you give as a present to a friend?

It depends on who it is, but I've probably given out twenty Jim Thompson novels as presents.

Which other writers do you admire?

Larry Brown, Raymond Carver, Flannery O'Conner, James Welch, and William Kennedy.

Which classic have you always meant to read and never got round to it?

Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?

Ironweed by William Kennedy

Dirty Work by Larry Brown

Death of Jim Loney by James Welch

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver

Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

Raymond Carver.

What is your favourite time of day to write?

In the morning

And favourite place?

I always try to write at Portland Meadows, the local horse track.

Longhand or word processor?

Word processor

Which fictional character would you most like to have met?

Doc from Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?

Ah, that's too tough for me to attempt. There are so many great writers that I know I'd disagree with myself every time I wrote one down as the best.

Which book have you found yourself unable to finish reading?

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy and he's one of my favourites. I just can't get through that one. I've tried it a couple times.

What is your favourite word?

Today it's dilapidated

Other than writing, what other jobs or professions have you undertaken or considered?

All my other jobs have been horrible, except being a musician. That one's alright. Besides that, I just worked in warehouses and trucking companies. I was a house painter for 10 years.

What was the first piece you ever had in print?

I published a story called Turning Point #3 in a Florida literary journal when I was in my early twenties. It was one of the greatest feelings I'd ever had. It was a crazy story too about a mechanic who has a nervous breakdown and ends up running down the street in his old boxing gear while carrying a pitcher of margaritas. I still can't believe they published it.

What are you working on at the moment?

I'm working on one set at the horse track here in Portland but then it ends up drifting all over the American West. It's been really fun to work on, but it's sad as hell.