Stuff
Kirsten Tranter Revealed
About Kirsten Tranter
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What is your birthdate?:7/17
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Previous occupations:Graduate student, editor, literary agent, fashion retail assistant.
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Favorite job:Writing for a living is hard to beat.
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High school and/or college:In Sydney - Fort Street High and Sydney University, then Rutgers in NJ for my PhD.
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Name of your favorite composer or music artist?:I'm loving Cat Power right now.
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Favorite movie:The Big Sleep.
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Favorite television show:Mad Men.
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. Sydney writer, mother, reader.
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. This too will pass.
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. The feeling of being only a few steps away from a treasured destination, about to arrive.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. That I will lack courage.
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. The Metropolitan Museum.
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. Anyone who has lost a computer due to drinks falling on it.
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. My mother. She's also my agent in Australia and my most trusted reader.
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. Really. Love. And, I discovered while having my work proofread, "look" and "back."
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Living in New York for ten years and being so lazy about getting out and doing stuff.
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. Singing.
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. Balancing motherhood and writing.
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. Narcissism.
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. Generosity (I try).
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. Happy being myself. Possibly a cat. They seem happy to be cats.
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. You tell me...
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe.
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. Henry in The Secret History.
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. I'd love to meet Henry James. I would just listen.
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. Too much plastic in the world.
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Reading or watching a movie.
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. Apart from this? Visual artist.
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Honesty. Imagination. Understanding.
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. Crusty french bread & butter.
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. Today, it's Boots of Spanish Leather by Bob Dylan. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. I Don't Want To Get Over You by The Magnetic Fields. Aretha, Sing One for Me by George Jackson, sung by Cat Power. Ariel's song Full Fathom Five in The Tempest.
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Henry James; Raymond Chandler; Donna Tartt; Bret Easton Ellis; Evelyn Waugh; A.S.Byatt; Martin Amis.
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. The Secret History; The Portrait of a Lady; The Big Sleep; The Age of Innocence; Brideshead Revisited.
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. The Secret History
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Remember to get across the passion you have for this story above all others.
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. I couldn't wait to finish it (this is said in a tone of surprise, because they don't associate this with a literary book or something)
