Author: Cliff

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.
March 21, 2009

>VaBook.org–Friday

>I managed to get to two panels today and enjoyed both very much. First was “Searching for Our Roots: Memoirs” featuring Randall Kenan, whose…
March 20, 2009

>The Short Review: March 2009

>There’s a new issue of The Short Review up and it is, again, filled with fine discussions of short story collections. This month there…
March 19, 2009

>Power of Power

>It’s been a strange 24 hours. Last night at about this time I was working on something–oh, yeah, trying to download student essays to…
March 19, 2009

>VaBook.org

>I only made it to one panel today at the Virginia Festival of the Book despite having several events circled on my schedule. It…
March 19, 2009

>Orange Prize Long List

>The longlist for the 2009 Orange Prize has been announced. The list includes Toni Morrison, Marilynne Robinson, Allegra Goodman, and 17 other women.
March 18, 2009

>The New Yorker: "Endpoint"– Poems by John Updike

>Instead of fiction, the March 16, 2009 issue of The New Yorker included several pages of chilling poems by John Updike, most dated only…
March 17, 2009

>Here comes Pat Conroy again

>I thought the first Pat Conroy book was pretty good. After that, it felt like he was telling the same story over and over…
March 16, 2009

>The New Yorker: "She’s the One" by Tessa Hadley

>Tessa Hadley’s “She’s the One” goes directly on my list of best stories of the year, even though I was vaguely unsatisfied by the…
March 16, 2009

>20 Questions #4

>Do you have a mentor? I think it was much more common a generation ago for writers to latch onto more senior authors and…
March 16, 2009

>Virginia Festival of the Book

>This is the week of the excellent Virginia Festival of the Book or, as we call it around here, VaBook. It starts Wednesday morning,…