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September 2, 2008 3:28 PM

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Joanne Rendell

I loved Joanne Rendell's debut novel, The Professors' Wives' Club and now she answers our questions!

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:

Four professors' wives do battle with a ruthless dean to save a university garden.

Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?

At my desk, while my son sleeps. We live in an apartment with extremely thin walls, so I have to type very quietly indeed!

Your favourite chick-lit book?

Bridget Jones' Diary (cliché, but true)

Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?

Lisa Simpson. She's smart, she's a feminist, plus she unabashedly loves pop culture.

What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?

Join a writer's group - on or offline. You can learn so much from other writers. Not just about the craft itself, but also useful tips about the publishing business. I started off writing without joining a group and made mistakes which I think I just wouldn't have made if I had had other writer's advising me.

What are you reading at the moment?

Monica Pradhan's The Hindi-Bindi Club. I love books about Indian culture. The book also has some amazing recipes (which leave me so hungry, I want to eat the book itself!). Also, I always have an audio book dowloaded on my ipod for when I go to the gym. My current audiobook is Alison Larkin's The English American. As a Brit living in New York, it's particularly funny and resonant for me.

What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

I've just finished my second novel which will come out with New American Library/Penguin next summer (title, tba). It's about two female professors in an English Department. One is a Sylvia Plath scholar, the other loves chick lit. The two of them really don't get along! I'm also working on a new book about a professor (yes, another professor!) who believes she shares ancestry with Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

Do you have a theme song?

"Bob the Builder." My son was three when I wrote The Professors' Wives' Club and Bob the Builder was his favorite show. If I slapped a couple of Bob DVDs in the machine, voila, I suddenly found I had an extra hour of writing time!

What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!)

"How do you stay so slim and beautiful?" Only kidding. The question I haven't been asked much, surprisingly, is "How much of The Professors' Wives' Club is true?" Here's my answer:  My husband is a professor at NYU; we live in university housing; I know some university deans. So, of course, real life sneaks into the novel here and there. But I'm not telling exactly where. My husband likes his job at the university too much!

Thanks, Joanne!

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Posted by Keris on September 2, 2008 in Interviews | Permalink

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