Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from Monticello, Kentucky. My previous novels, Swimming the Echo and Wheelman, were featured on NPR, and my debut story collection, Baptisms & Dogs, was a finalist for the Linda Bruckheimer Literature prize, with one copy currently sitting in Washington, D.C.’s historic Marine Barracks, Center House. I hold an MFA in Creative Writing from the Bluegrass Writers Studio (EKU ’12).
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent & forthcoming book, Pokeweed, is special and unique in its own way. In the tradition of Robert Gipe, I worked with a fantastic illustrator named Katerina Dotneboya to add a ton of amazing artwork to the novel. The result is a piece of historical fiction that is at once unique and almost melancholy in all the good ways.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Coffee houses work for me, unlike a lot of other writers. I don’t mind the distraction. And one coffee house in particular is where I love to settle in – The Meeting House in Red Bank, Tennessee. It provides a sense of creativity and comfort that I cannot get in the recliner at home. Odd as that sounds.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Harriette Simpson Arnow – The Dollmaker, Hunter’s Horn.
Charles Ports – True Grit, The Dog of the South.
Wendell Berry – anything.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on my first children’s picture book for my newborn daughter, Zella. I am trying to work again with Katerina Dotneboya (the illustrator for my forthcoming project).
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use BrianLTucker.com for promotion and discussing projects with readers the most. But I’m on Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and publisher websites as well.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read what you enjoying writer. The material will flow from there.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Chris Offutt told me I didn’t need permission to write stories. It was something so many authors think they need before they begin to write something down.
What are you reading now?
Robert Olmstead’s Savage Country.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to chip away at a memoir I started prior to my daughter’s birth. I started it at a point when we’d just found out she was on her way. Now, I can see beginning, middle, and present a little bit better.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Bible, Don Quixote, a Wendell Berry collection of poems, and something by Tolstoy.
Author Websites and Profiles
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