Author Archives: Peter Selgin

About Peter Selgin

Peter Selgin is the author of Drowning Lessons, winner of the 2007 Flannery O’Connor Award for Fiction, Life Goes to the Movies, a novel, two books on the craft of fiction, and several children’s books. His memoir, Confessions of a Left-Handed Man, was short-listed for the William Saroyan International Prize. His latest novel, The Water Master, won the William Faulkner Society Prize, selected by Random House Senior Editor Will Murphy. His work has won the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize, the Dana Award, six Best American Essay notable essay citations, and two selections for the Best American series. A second memoir, The Inventors, is forthcoming from Hawthorne Books in April of 2016. He teaches at Antioch University’s MFA program and is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Georgia College & State University.

The Elephant in Marshall Field’s Window: My Glimpse of Saul Bellow

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Peter Selgin

As we pulled up the driveway there he was, an old man with white hair sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of his Vermont farmhouse, reading the newspaper. I was with my friend Oliver. We’d been invited … Continue reading →

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Living With Lyle

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Peter Selgin

A young woman runs into an old friend in a grocery store—at least she thinks he’s an old friend. In fact the man Eleanor mistakes for “Lyle” is fresh out of prison, sent there for what crime we don’t know. … Continue reading →

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Flying With Father

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Peter Selgin

In Latin there’s a phrase for it: in media res. It means “in the middle of things,” and it’s where many authors like to begin their books. By starting “in the middle of things,” authors avoid the long and potentially … Continue reading →

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Suspense: False & Real

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Peter Selgin

In works by inexperienced authors suspense tends take one of two forms. The first kind of suspense, the good kind, raises questions like the following: What will happen to X when Y happens? How will Character X solve Problem Y? … Continue reading →

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