The Writers of Wales Database

BURNS, CAROLE

Tel: 02920 215072
Email: offthepagebook@yahoo.com
Website: www.caroleburns.com

Fiction Writer, Journalist, and Critic. Carole Burns is the author of Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between (W.W. Norton, 2008), which includes insights into writing from forty-three writers including Martin Amis, A.S. Byatt, Colm Tóibín, Edward P. Jones and Joyce Carol Oates. Her fiction has been appeared or is forthcoming in Washingtonian Magazine, Other Voices and Puerto del Sol, among other publications, and her non-fiction in The New York Times and The Washington Post. She was on staff at washingtonpost.com for four years, where she began the “Off the Page” online interview programme which spawned her book. Born in Danbury, Conn., USA, she lived in Washington, D.C. for five years before emigrating to the U.K. in 2004 to be with her Welsh partner; she moved to Cardiff in 2008. She now runs the M.A. in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Winchester, and is at work on her first novel. 

Reviews:
With respect to Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between (W.W. Norton, 2008):

"…Whether or not you're familiar with the books that result from such struggles, this is a fascinating and enjoyable read…"
Emily Paine, Financial Times

"...Quite fascinating on the art of authors..."
The Bookseller

"...Richard Ford, Colm Tóibín and Joyce Carol Oates are among those interviewed by Carole Burns in Off the Page , in skilfully edited extracts that cover "beginnings and endings and everything in between..."
Aifric Campbell, The Irish Times, Memorable Reads from a Good Vintage 2008

"...this intriguing book..."
PD Smith, The Guardian

“...Artfully edited...”
Elizabeth Taylor, The Chicago Tribune


Selected Publications:
Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between (W.W. Norton, 2008)

 
 

Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between (W.W. Norton, 2008)

Off the Page explores writing and the creative process through conversations with forty-three writers. From prize winners such as Tobias Wolff and Andrea Levy, to first-time authors such as Hannah Tinti and Doreen Baingana, the writers charm, inspire and entertain as they discuss topics such as sex in literature and how characters come to life. The books consists of 16 thematic chapters on writing and the writing process, which begin with an introduction by Carole Burns and continue with quotes from about a dozen of the authors she originally interviewed while on staff with washingtonpost.com. A few favorites from the book:

Martin Amis: "I have been outflanked by the culture. I am now seen as a drawling Oxonian and a genetic elitist who took over the family firm…. This feels odd to me, because my father was an 'angry young man' and helped democratise the British novel. I'm not a toff. I'm a yob."

Stuart Dybek: You’re writing what you know so that you can write what
you don’t know.

A.S. Byatt: Before I wrote Possession, I was often criticized for being erudite
or complicated, and I used to say, “I write for myself or for Henry James.” … when Possession became a best seller, I got so many letters from so many kinds of readers that I decided there are readers who can be interested in almost anything—including erudition—as long as you also tell a story.

From back cover of book: "Anyone who thinks all writers dip from the same stewpot should read Carole Burns's Off the Page. . . That writers don't agree about everything will come as no surprise. That they disagree so fundamentally is oddly reassuring."  — C. Michael Curtis, The Atlantic Monthly

To purchase this title from amazon.co.uk, please click on the front cover