DAY SEVEN: A stolen moment with the author of Stolen Continents

Traveler, historian and novelist Ronald Wright has had a massive influence on me. I consider him a member of the same hallowed realm as Eduardo Galeano (who, generous soul that he is, agreed to blurb my book). Both Wright and Galeano have spent much of their respective careers revealing untold truths of New World history, telling real (and fantastically fictional) stories of the Americas and rethinking the tropes we've been fed since we were school-children about our origins on this side of the Atlantic. The careers of these two writers... oh wait, add in Peter Matthiessen... the careers of these three writers have shaped how I think about my own budding life as a writer, what kind of topics I am drawn to and what sort of stories I feel prepared (permitted? obligated?) to tell. I think of these three every time I stumble upon a new book idea, or a new concept for a magazine piece.

So, needless to say, I was there last night when Ronald Wright took the stage with Richard Price, Meg Wolitzer and Peter Robinson for a round-table discussion of the writing life. I listened as Wright told the story of how he only started writing when he got unexpectedly sick in South America, how he sold Cut Stones and Crossroads for something like four grand and didn't think twice about the money, how the gold the Inca Atahualpa spent on buying his freedom from Pizarro eventually ended up in Silicon Valley. This idea lies at the core of what Wright and Galeano have written, the idea that riches have consequences - "mankind's poverty as a consequence of the wealth of the land," to quote EG. I was so thrilled to hear Wright speaking the very essence of what fascinates me. It was an inspiring night.

So inspiring, in fact, that after the event I rushed over to Ben McNally's bookstore outside the Brigantine Room, stole a copy of my own book (sorry, Ben), inscribed a wee note to Ronald on the title page, and joined the autograph lineup. When my turn came, I shook Wright's hand, thanked him for his books, and gave him mine (on the very day it was published: October 28th) as a gift.

"This is my Cut Stones," I said, perhaps presumptiously, but reverently as well.

Wright seemed a bit confused at first, but when he turned the book over and saw Galeano's name, he smiled and nodded.

"That's a wonderful blurb," he said. And then he thanked me and wished me luck.

~

Quotes of Day Seven:
"It's amazing what you can do when you don't know anything."
- Richard Price
"The world will chip away at you. A mother shouldn't."
- Meg Wolitzer
"I'd rather be a K."
- Meg Wolitzer, on the discrimination book stores seem to have for author's with last names that start with W.
"It's alphabetism."
- Ronald Wright, on the same topic.
"Holy crap. My last name starts with W, too!"
- me, inside my head.
"I feel that fiction is the great, refreshing antidote to, well, everything else."
- Meg Wolitzer
"When you're twenty-four, you're an idiot. But you're a happy idiot."
- take a guess