JULIANNA BAGGOTT is the author of four novels -- including
national bestseller Girl Talk, The Miss America Family, The
Madam, and Which Brings Me to You, co-written with Steve
Almond, as well as three books of poems, including This
Country of Mothers, Lizzie Borden in Love, and Compulsions
of Silkworms and Bees. She also writes novels for younger
readers under the pen name N.E. Bode -- The Anybodies trilogy, The Slippery Map (fall 2007), the prequel to Mr.
Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007), a movie starring Dustin
Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman; and The Prince
of Fenway Park (spring season 2009). Her work has appeared
all over the place, including the Best American Poetry series, Glamour, Ms., Poetry, TriQuarterly, and read on
NPR's Here and Now and Talk of the Nation. She teaches at
Florida State University's Creative Writing Program. To learn more, visit www.juliannabaggott.com.
Brief Interview with Julianna Baggott
Since we’re currently in the throes of winter, describe your version of summer in several fragments:
I’m living in Florida so…Soggy camellias – fat doughy red fists cluttering trees…
The lazy rambunction of holiday break…The memory of snow – thick and wet – and boots and mittens and ice…
Breakfast or brunch, and if you could eat anything without consequence, what would you have?
I take this pill everyday and I can’t eat for an hour after … So I wake up every morning wanting to eat but not yet eating, and so breakfast has become more anticipated, more lurid, more fantastical … I eat big breakfasts, always have. And one of my favorite foods is French toast. (I’m not a foodie and have very little food refinement.)
What are your favorite songs to drive to?
Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town”
I’ve just gotten an appreciation for Bruce’s “Born in the USA.” It was always just this endlessly redundant thing – but his dropped verses are so stunning to me now, the empty lyrics when he’s talking about his lost brother … and then the scream at the end – not a note at all, just a scream. My husband made me listen to that scream one day and it changed my work, frankly.
Tell us about the last time you remember laughing really hard?
Oh, damn. My husband is with me all the time everyday. We work side by side, and I find him to be the funniest human being on the planet. I blame my crow’s feet on him. If I’d married someone stodgy, I’d have to look at least five years younger. But he’s so worth it. Right now I can hear him singing “Foxy” while doing the laundry – and, well, what’s sexier than someone doing your laundry for you – then he just dropped the dog’s scooper – I can tell it’s the scooper because I just can – and he just said, “Sorry!” like he’s in a Benny Hill production. It’s just that kind of shit all the time…
If you could wake up anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would it be?
South of France – with all the kids and Dave – no responsibilities though. That would have to be part of the deal. And now back to my responsibilities…