Stewart O’Nan’s award-winning fiction includes Snow Angels, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Emily, Alone. Granta named him one of America’s Best Young Novelists. He lives in Pittsburgh.
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Hi, Stuart. Love your work. Got introduced to you, like many, with Faithful. Listening to Sox/Pirates on my iPhone right now and wondered if you are on Twitter? Couldn’t find anything that was you.
Thanks!
Shawn
I just finished reading your “Wish you were here.” This story so closely parallels my husband’s life, including the golf, he & I could swear you were in the room observing the interactions between him and his mother. Your book drove me bonkers and I would like to know how you stumbled on this story line. This whole thing was spooky for me and took me back to a not so memorable time. Drop a line if you can.
Hi Stewart
My husband grew up with your Father on Grafton Street. He lived at the corner of Grafton and Farragut and they played lots of basketball on Farragut. You never mention that the bus used to go down Grafton in Emily. I lived on Elgin and went to WT with your Aunt Carolyn. Also what seems interesting to me is that the ladies go east all the time while we often went to Aspinwall or Fox Chapel to shop.
Darin
Love your interview on NPR about Emily. Thank you for sharing the process of writing your story. It teaches me how to look at things when you have a story to tell and how to go about it from a different point of view.
Noodi
Just finished “Last Night At The Lobster” and loved it. Am now reading “Everyday People”. Love the Pittsburgh touch – as a South Side Hospital baby and a Mt. Washington resident ! The payoff was when Vanessa’s father goes off to Grenada and was killed. I spent two years in the Peace Corps teaching in Grenada.
You write so beautifully. August Wilson was my playwriting MFA thesis. Thanks.
Hey man,
Just wanted to drop a line and say that Night Country is one of my “go-to” novels of the past few years, but Faithful is by far “THE $HIT!” Being a Sox fan in Tennessee doesn’t lend itself much room for watching or listening to the games on a regular basis, so I tend to listen to my audio copy on my lunch breaks throughout the season just to remind me why I love the game.
Keep fighting the good fight and GO SOX!
Hi Stewart,
Once a year, I treat myself to another read of your book “The Night Country.” Each time I read it, I discover something new to love. It is without a doubt my favorite book. Just one thing: I think there’s more than one way to interpret the ending, and wish I knew exactly what you had in mind.
Stewart
Nancy Martin is my neighbor and told me about Pittsburgh Noir, which I just picked up. She raved about your work! As a lifer from Shadyside and Highland Park I am looking forward to “Emily” I heard you on NPR the other day. Super!
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Stewart, at my uncle’s suggestion, I have been reading and enjoying “Emily, Alone.” I find it very moving and beautifully written. I’m eager now to read “Wish You Were Here,” which is sitting on the bookshelves at my family’s cottage just down the road from Pendergrast Point at Lake Chautauqua.
Some years ago, I read “Snow Angels,” a book I greatly admire and one that I suggested, in turn, to my uncle. (Then, I’m afraid, a decade of grad school intervened, and I didn’t get to read much contemporary fiction. I like your work, because it’s contemporary, but with many elements of classic American literature. ) After I read “Snow Angels, I was under the impression that you had lived in Butler? Am I right, or did you spend your entire youth in Pittsburgh? What schools did you attend? I went Saint Paul’s in Butler in 69-70, but mostly grew up in the South Hills. Like you and President Obama, I was born in 1961.
Best wishes,
Bill Grattan
Dear Mr. O’Nan,
It’s Halloween, one of my favorite days of the year. In keeping with All Hallow’s Eve tradition, I’m starting the day with a re-reading of the haunting, pitch-perfect opening paragraphs of The Night Country. Those pages capture the delicious darkness and beauty and anticipation and wonder and thrill of Halloween better than any I’ve ever read. Thanks for keeping the jack-o-lantern blazing.
Sarah Combs
I read a review of ” Emily Alone” somewhere, ordered it, and on reading it, felt as if I had been transported back to the old hometown. I too grew up in Point Breeze—-across from Lyndhurst Green and Mellon Park. Dave McCullough and I used to wait for the schoolbus at the same stop (corner of Dallas and Reynolds) when we were kids. You mentioned a family named “Sanner” in this book—-I went to Chatham College—then PCW— with Mary Kay Sanner (later “Hooper”) from the St. Bede area. Was your Sanner a tribute to the same family? Prantl;s Bakery? Never had their Tiremisu, but Oh, that almond cake! Henrietta Clay Frick Museum? Part of our family lore. And in addition there was the treat of reading your lovely novel. Young as you are, your portrayal of an 80 year old woman is positively eerie—-you have captured us perfectly and haven’t missed a trick. Thank you for some wonderful moments. I’ll now have the fun of reading your other novels.
Hi Mr. O’Nan,
I just finished reading The Odds (previously just completed Emily, Alone) and once again could not put down either book and had to read both tomes in one sitting.
And, once again; did not want either story to end.
Thank you for creating such wonderful and unique reading experiences for myself and your many fans.
I wish you continued success and look forward to immersing myself in your next novel.
P.S. I would love to see you and Mr. King collaborate on another book…..
Hi Stewart, I’m a student of Peter Laufer, who’s class interviewed you about Last Night at the Lobster. I was in Thailand at the time, so I listened to the recording a few weeks later. I have a few follow up questions for you after the interview, which was a lot of fun to listen to.
1) How did you want to use the characters emotional states to relate to the development of the story and setting? I.E. hope, frustration, joy, anger, despair.
2) One of the things that I loved about the book was your ability to squeeze emotion and detail into inanimate objects, such as the Swordfish or the snow blower/icer/etc. What’s a tip for doing this in writing?
3) How many people did you interview for each character? Are they amalgamations of several people or are they the personalities of people you know personally?
Hello Mr. O’Nan,
After listening to an interview you did with Nancy Pearl, I looked into getting some of your work. I read a lot of short stories so I first chose “In the Walled City”. After reading the descriptions of several of your novels, I knew I had to get “Wish You Were Here”! I have lived on the shores of Chautauqua Lake all my life. When I have read these, I expect to follow with the sequel, “Emily Alone” and your other novel that is “local” for me, “The Odds”. I admire your work.
Sandra Gustafson