The World Within

by Win McCormack, Holly MacArthur (Editor), Jeanne Mcculloch (Editor)

The World Within pulls aside the curtain on a variety of literary personalities and careers, presenting frank, funny, and informal discussions with Sherman Alexie, Francine Prose, George Saunders, Mark Strand, and others. Writers discuss craft, literary theft, dry spells, what they do besides writing, and more. The World Within gathers twenty of the freshest, funniest, and most intriguing interviews in the history of Tin House. Featuring informal conversations with a veritable who's-who of contemporary writers, poets, and graphic novelists, these remarkable interviews offer insights into the creative process, questions of craft, and the balance between a writer’s work and life. Featuring Sherman Alexie, Tracy Chevalier, Charles D'Ambrosio, Lydia Davis, Anita Desai, Roddy Doyle, Rikki Ducornet, Deborah Eisenberg, Nuruddin Farah, Denis Johnson, Tracy Kidder, Francine Prose, Marilynne Robinson, Barney Rosset, James Salter, Marjane Satrapi, George Saunders, Wallace Shawn, Jim Shepard, Mark Strand, and Gus Van Sant.

Genres: Writing

350 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2007

About the author

Win McCormack is an American publisher and editor from Oregon.

He is editor-in-chief of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books, the former publisher of Oregon Magazine, and founder and treasurer of MediAmerica, Inc. He serves on the board of directors of the journal New Perspectives Quarterly. His political and social writings have appeared in Oregon Humanities, Tin House, The Nation, The Oregonian, and Oregon Magazine. McCormack's investigative coverage of the Rajneeshee movement was awarded a William Allen White Commendation from the University of Kansas and the City and Regional Magazine Association. His latest book, You Don’t Know Me: A Citizen's Guide to Republican Family Values, examines the sex scandals of Republican politicians who espouse "moral values."

As a political activist, McCormack served as Chair of the Oregon Steering Committee for Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaign. He is chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon's President's Council and a member of the Obama for President Oregon Finance Committee. McCormack was also chosen as Alternate Delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He currently serves on the Oregon Council for the Humanities and the Oregon Tourism Commission. Additionally, McCormack sits on the Board of Overseers for Emerson College, and is a co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Liberty Hill Foundation

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice colletion. I think I enjoyed the interviews with authors that I knew less about more than I enjoyed the ones with authors that I had read before. I expected it to mostly be writers-on-writing, so it was a pleasant surprise that most of these interviews had a wider scope.

[corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not know the majority of the authors in this book - but it sure made me curious about their works. I appreciated so much these interviews, especially hearing about peoples' rituals for approaching writing and their own internal conflicts about it.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for the interviews with two of my heroes: Denis Johnson and Charles D'Ambrosio. Great stuff with Marilynn Robinson, too.