| CHRONICLE CURRENT CALENDAR LETTERS ... IAIA Lunch with Louise Erdrich: An Interview LESLIE GEE “You have to be very confident in your version of the truth,” Erdrich told me. “Your art has to be your truth. A very mediocre vision seems to please a broad range of people, so, in a way; strong criticism is a positive thing." Despite her fame, Erdrich remains easy to talk to, very approachable, even for the awe-inspired creative writing student. As a student working on the IAIA Chronicle staff, I had the unique opportunity to interview Erdrich during her visit. I found myself completely unprepared for my very first interview, petrified, in fact, that it was with an author I had read since I was nineteen, which was over a decade ago. Off To A Bad Start I made small talk on the way down, fumbling over my tongue, which seemed to loll around my mouth, swollen and limp. I forgot I had no cash and had to finagle our meals from the kitchen staff. Nice. The lunch room was crowded and noisy beyond the usual gnashing of knives and forks. People were visiting and laughing as loud as humanly possible. I turned on the recorder and began casually trying to decipher my way through the chicken scratches of questions I had written down. We had to lean in towards each other, and more importantly, the recorder, in order to exchange words. | |
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