Interview With Author John Biscello
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an author, poet, playwright, screenwriter, director and performer, whose multi-disciplinary tastes and interests inform and influence each other, and frequently interweave. One of my abiding passions is creatively working with youth, and I am the founder and director of the Taos Youth Ensemble, a theater company, serving students from grade school to high school, in creating productions for stage through a six-month program, and summer theater camps. I have published five novels, two poetry collections, and two children’s books.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title is The Last Furies, and the inspirational wheel began its initial turning over twenty years ago, when I was reading the poetry of French Symbolist poet, Arthur Rimbaud, and biographies detailing his life. At the time, I began writing what was going to be a play titled, Abyssinia … a fragment of which survived, and was included in The Last Furies. Over the course of the past twenty years, different ideas and themes and characters began attaching themselves to this work on Rimbaud, which grew in different directions, and into something quite different from its original conception. The final form is a hybrid novel, combining different forms and genres (screenplay, play, letters, musical prompts, narrative), or a literary work of fusion which offers a spectrum of conversations between realities.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not particularly. I still write longhand in my notebooks which is, perhaps, quickly on its way to becoming unusual (or antiquated).
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So, so many, over the course of my lifetime. I will list ten major literary influences and inspirations: Haruki Murakami, Henry Miller, Patti Smith, John Fante, Patrick Modiano, Clarice Lispector, Raymond Carver, Samuel Beckett, Julio Cortazar, and Roberto Bolano.
What are you working on now?
I am working on different shorter pieces, interconnected under the title: Vanishing Points. I’m not sure what it will evolve into, but the idea of “disappearances” or “vanishing” is one of the guiding tenets.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My blog also functions as a website, with links to all of my books, plus many other categories and catalogs (containing reviews, interviews, excerpts, videos, performance clips, etc) represented there.
johnbiscello.com
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Whatever schedule you cultivate: be consistent.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Inspiration is born of hard work, not the other way around.” — Stanislavski
What are you reading now?
I just finished reading Cesar Aira’s “How I Became a Nun” and Han Kang’s “Human Acts.”
What’s next for you as a writer?
My fifth novel, The Last Furies, was just released, and I will be doing reading/book-signings and promo for that one. My sixth novel, No One Dreams in Color, will be released in April of 2026 (Unsolicited Press).
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?
“Agua Viva” (Clarice Lispector)
“Antwerp” (Roberto Bolano)
“Kafka on the Shore” (Haruki Murakami)
“Molloy/Malone Dies/The Unnameable” trilogy (Samuel Beckett)
Author Websites and Profiles
John Biscello’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.