The Hot Author Report

Interview with Dolen Perkins-Valdez – Author of Wench

Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s fiction and essays have appeared or will appear in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, African American Review, PMS: PoemMemoirStory, North Carolina Literary Review, Richard Wright Newsletter, and SLI: Studies in Literary Imagination.

She is a 2009 finalist for the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Award. A graduate of Harvard and a former University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Dolen splits her time between Seattle and Washington, DC. Her official website is http://www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com

Q: It’s rare today to find an author who does nothing but write for a living. Do you have a ‘real’ job other than writing, and if so, what is it? What are some other jobs you’ve had in your life? Have they influenced/inspired your writing?

I am a professor of Creative Writing at a small liberal arts college.  Since I spent the greater part of my twenties going to graduate school and earning my Ph.D., I have not had full-time jobs other than teaching after obtaining my degree.  Of course, teaching greatly influences my writing!! I am so inspired by my students.  I have been fortunate enough to have some wonderfully talented students.  They work very hard.  They motivate me to go home and work on my own writing.

Q: What compelled you to write your first book?

I found this reference in a historical biography to a resort in 1850’s Ohio where slave owners took their slave concubines for vacation each summer.  I couldn’t stop thinking about this historical footnote.  I had so many questions.  How could this be?  Ohio was a free state–why didn’t the women try to escape? What did it feel like to be an enslaved woman in a sexual relationship with your owner?  These kinds of compelling questions led me to the page, and they kept me there for the next four years.

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Yes.  Like most other writers, I started out as an avid reader.  This, naturally, led me to the assumption that I could do it, too.  It took me a decade of “living” to mature enough to write something like my first novel WENCH.  In the meantime, I wrote what I called “apprentice novels” that never saw the light of day.  I learned to write better by writing.  I am still learning.  Even so, I am proud of this first effort.  I have come a long way.

Q: Tell us briefly about your book.

WENCH tells the story of four enslaved women who are the sexual paramours of their masters.  They meet at a summer resort in 1850s Ohio and begin to contemplate escape when the spirited Mawu arrives.  She pushes them to think about running and leaving behind their plantations.  Yet the decision is a difficult one, especially for my protagonist Lizzie who believes she loves her master and that he loves her.  The novel examines the complicated dynamic between a female slave and her white male master.

Q: Do you have a favourite character? Why is s/he your favourite?

Most people who have read advance copies of the book love Mawu.  I must say that each time I think of Lizzie, my heart breaks.  Since I have finished the book, and walked away from her as a character, I must say that I have shed tears for her.  It catches me at the oddest moments, like when I am picking my daughter up from school.

Q: What type of music, if any, do you listen to while you write? Do you need the noise or the silence?

I prefer silence.  If I did listen to music while writing, it would be something without words.  It would be uncomplicated.  Most of the time, I prefer solitude and silence. When I am stuck, I look out the window and daydream.

Q: How do you balance out the writer’s life and the rest of life? Do you get up early? Stay up late? Ignore friends and family for certain periods of time?

There is no formula for me.  Sometimes I get up early.  Sometimes I stay up late. Sometimes I ignore friends and family.  I try to stay self-motivated by writing out weekly and monthly goals.  I am very undisciplined about it.  I am motivated by a love for the page, but I also love other things.  I have many hobbies, and sometimes they compete for my time!

Q: What about now: who is your favorite author and what is your favorite genre to read?

My favorite authors include Toni Morrison, Randall Kenan, Gayl Jones, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Edward P. Jones.  I love literary fiction, especially historical fiction.  When it comes down to it, though, I am a southerner by birth and so I adore a good yarn.  I like stories that remind me of sitting on the porch on a summer evening and listening to someone talk while batting away mosquitoes.

Q: What is your writing space like? Do you have a designated space? What does it look like? On the couch, laptop, desk? Music? Lighting? Typing? Handwriting?

I have a home office.  My husband is a sweet, sweet man.  So he always gives me the best room in the house as a writing room.  I like windows.  I like sunlight.  My office has a lot of both.  I have a small desk in the corner.  A few years ago, I bought a reading chair because I kept falling asleep while reading in bed or on the couch.  My office is usually messy.  I try to organize it twice a year!!

Q: Is there anyone who has inspired, motivated, encouraged or supported your writing?

My parents have been supporters and cheerleaders from the very beginning!  I dedicate WENCH to them because I appreciate them so much.  They have always let me spread my wings.  I know that they really wanted me to be a lawyer, earn a steadier living, and wear business suits.  Yet they always encouraged me to dream.  And when I dreamed, they made those dreams seem real and attainable.

Q: Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where?

Yes, I have book events planned in several major cities.  You can see my tour schedule at www.booktour.com.  Here is what I have scheduled so far!

Memphis, TN Friday, Jan. 8 at 6pm, Davis-Kidd Booksellers

New York, NY Saturday, Jan. 16 at 7pm, Happy Ending Lounge

Washington, DC Saturday, Feb. 6 at 1pm, Politics & Prose Bookstore

Urbana, IL Thursday, Feb. 18, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Baltimore, MD, Saturday, March 6 at 1pm, Enoch Pratt Free Library

Los Angeles, CA, Thursday, March 18 at 7:30pm, Eso Won Books

Seattle, WA, Monday, March 22 at 7:00pm, Elliott Bay Books

Is there anything else you would like to add?

You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dolen.  Also, you can read my blog at http://dolen.blogspot.com.  The official website is http://www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com.  My debut novel WENCH will be released on January 5, 2010.  It will be reviewed in the February issues of O: Oprah Magazine and Town & Country.  You can order it at www.Amazon.com.

Thank you!!