Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/262375
000 BAL HARBOUR exist, but people remember them differently. You also might alienate your loved ones, people who've gone through an experience with you but have a different read on it. KB: As an editor, Robin, do you recognize a fiction writer immediately? Or is it easy for some writers to cross over between nonfiction and fiction? Robin Desser: Fiction can be as much about voice as story. A number of my writers can, like Edwidge, traverse the two with equal power and grace. I published a memoir called "My Own Country" by Abraham Verghese in paperback when I worked at Vintage, and went on to edit and publish his extraordinary novel, "Cutting for Stone" at Knopf. These books shared a beauty of voice and story, and honesty; they both read with great emotional and moral suspense. I published Cheryl Strayed's memoir "Wild," which grabbed me with its voice, wisdom and humor right from page one. Before "Wild," Cheryl had written a terrific and well-regarded novel that we have subsequently reissued at Vintage. Cheryl's next book might be either novel or memoir, but either way I'm sure it will be as uniquely and genuinely hers, and a fabulous and exciting project to work on with her and to publish. KB: Where do ideas come from—both as a writer and an editor? ED: Ideas come from everywhere: from life, from dreams, from the morning paper, from everything that you react to in some way when you see it or feel it or remember it. Ideas come from everything that moves you, or haunts you or that you feel passionate about. KB: What do you read for inspiration as a writer, and as an editor (I know you have to read a lot of manuscripts, but what else)? ED: I read pretty much everything, including cereal boxes. I read more for pleasure than inspiration, and as much reading as I can manage with two small children at home. RD: When I'm on vacation I mostly want to read, which my family doesn't quite understand, considering it's what I do so constantly for work. But it's my joy, and I also think it's important you remind yourself of what first drew you to the profession in the first place—not just the business of publishing, but really that you just love to read, that you love books. KB: So what are you both working on now? ED: I am working on a young adult novel called "Stun Me" about twin sisters living in Miami. RD: I long for Edwidge's next book. I know that when she's ready, I am in for a marvelous adventure, a surprise and a beauty. In the meantime, there are a number of great books I am working on now. One that comes to mind is a novel by Cristina Henríquez, called "The Book of Unknown Americans," which is a beautiful and important book coming out in June of this year. Told in a seamless mix of different characters' voices, it's at once a powerful story about what it means to come to this country from somewhere else, and a deeply affecting love story told without an ounce of sentimentality. It's one of those books that gets so much of its force and beauty and truth from its voices—from the people who seem not just to inhabit it but who come alive on its pages. KB: As an editor, how do you inspire a writer who might be feeling blocked? RD: Sometimes it's simply about offering your confidence in what she or he is doing. Sometimes it takes months or even years. And then inspiration can come in an instant. My guess is that most of the time, it cannot be willed. It's mysterious and wonderful to me, always, how writers do what they do. My hope is that somehow expressing belief in the writer, that you love and respect and admire the work they are doing and will do, even if you're not sure exactly what it's going to be, will help a writer get past the block and believe in what's ahead. 130 BAL HARBOUR "I long for Edwidge's next book. I know that when she's ready, I am in for a marvelous adventure, a surprise and a beauty." —Robin Desser Robin Desser, vice president and editorial director for Knopf, has worked with bestselling authors including Cheryl Strayed, Claire Messud and Edwidge Danticat. Haitian author Edwidge Danticat's latest novel is "Claire of the Sea Light." PHOTO BY JONATHAN DEMME (DANTICAT)