Shiny in Seattle: Mark Doty

The Seattlest interviews Mark Doty in two parts. I've interviewed him before. He's a really nice guy and smart and interesting to boot. He's one of the best readers I've had the luck to hear/see. Reverence without pretense.

From the Seattlest interview: "[W]hat's not to like about glitter and sparkly stuff, the trappings that have been making drag queens (and real ones) shine since the dawn of time?"

And this, about reading as a child: "There were many animal books and stories that made me weep with their profound sense that we were isolated from animals, that we could never really be with them because our lives were shaped by words but theirs were not. I thought this was the saddest thing in the world. I remember one night I finished a book in bed, about some chidren who could understand the speech of cats when they took a special medicine, but then of course they had to go back to the human world. I was crying in my bed about the book, and my father found me, and told me I couldn't read any more sad books."

See? He's great.

Also, Doty is apparently putting out a handbook called The Art of Description: World into Word. According to Amazon, it's scheduled to come out on July 20 (which is my son's first birthday. Coincidence. Well, yeah. Still), but the Graywolf site says August. Time will tell.

Thanks, Laura, for the tip.