Anthony Doerr's Blog, page 2

Orion asked thirty writers and thinkers to name one thing we will increasingly need over the next thirty years if humans are going to find a way to live happily, sustainably, redeemably on earth. The result is a fascinating little book featuring essays by Ralph Nader, Diane Ackerman, Carl Safina, Pete Seeger and many others.  My contribution is titled “Empty Pockets.”

Anthony’s story “Oranges,” which appeared in the London Sunday Times Magazine as “A Life in Sections,” (behind a paywall) will be available for free on r.kv.r.y. until the fall.

Where did the old forests go? Sailing masts for the British navy. Staves for wine barrels. They went into railroad cars, “snake fences,” and orange crates; they went up the hugely inefficient chimneys of settlers…  From American Canopy, a May 20 column in the Sunday Globe.

Anthony’s short story “The Deep” is included in the 2012 edition of the O. Henry Prize Stories.

Doerr is one of the modern short story’s most exciting and innovative exponents.  -Irish Examiner

Not Mom, not the prim librarians stamping return dates onto slip after slip. No one ever said: This book is outside your age range; this book is too complicated.…  From Let Us Now Praise Libraries, Librarians, an April 1 op-ed in the Sunday Boston Globe.

This is how I feel, lately, about my reading life: dizzy, overwhelmed. Somehow, seemingly overnight, I have 70,000 choices…  From Too Many Books, Too Little Time, a March 4 op-ed in the Sunday Globe.

 His writing is lyrical, his stories are moving and his style is controlled. -From a brief review in the Irish Times.

Preachy fiction is so often joyless fiction. It is uncomplicated fiction. Yet, despite its narrative breadth and complexity, more than any novel I've read in the past few years, "The Street Sweeper'' risks being called preachy. It's very last line, after all – no spoiler here, don't worry – is "Tell everyone what happened here.'' From a review of Elliot Perlman's The Street Sweeper in the Feburary 5 Sunday Globe.

I have a short essay about almost drowning in a new book called The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure.  There're lots of smart, alarming, funny, charming, and fascinating pieces in this little book.