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Blake Bailey: How I Write

Literary Dreams

Perhaps the greatest literary biographer of our time returns with Farther and Wilder, on the life of forgotten The Lost Weekend writer Charles Jackson. He talks about his favorite biographies, what drew him to Jackson, Richard Yates, and John Cheever, and why he’s very lucky to be working on Philip Roth’s biography.

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L image: Mary Brinkmeyer
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Where did you grow up?

Oklahoma City. I write about this (plug alert) in my memoir, The Splendid Things We Planned, which will be published next year by Norton.

This won't last long. One year of fearless reporting for only $35 $25.

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