About Because You Have To
• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press (September 15, 2012)
Part memoir, part handbook, part survey of the contemporary literary scene, Because You Have To: A Writing Life is a collection of essays that, taken together, provide a walking tour of the writing life.
Original, witty, and practical, Because You Have To ably steers us through the journey of Frank’s own life as a writer, as well as through the careers and work of other writers. Subjects range from the “boot camp” conditioning of marketing work to squaring off with rejection and envy; from sustaining belief in art’s necessity to the baffling subjectivity of literary perception—and the magical books that nourish writers.
About Joan Frank
Joan Frank was born to New Yorkers in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up in Sacramento, Hawaii, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of five books of fiction—her recent novel, Make It Stay, was published in March 2012 by The Permanent Press.
Her recent story collection, In Envy Country, won the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year award and the Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction; it was also named a finalist for the California Book Award.
Joan is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, winner of the Dana Literary Award, Michigan Literary Fiction Award, Emrys Fiction Award and Iowa Writing Award; a Pushcart Prize nominee, two-time nominee for the Northern California Book Award in Fiction, San Francisco Library Literary Laureate, and recipient of grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and Sonoma Arts Council. She has taught creative writing at San Francisco State University and continues to teach and edit in private consultation. (If you have interest in working with Joan, please contact her through her website.) She lives in Northern California with her husband, playwright and English teacher Bob Duxbury.
Joan’s Tour Stops
Monday, November 5th: Becca’s Byline
Tuesday, November 6th: Unabridged Chick
Wednesday, November 7th: Stephany Writes
Monday, November 12th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Tuesday, November 13th: Kind of a Mess
Wednesday, November 14th: Book Chatter
Monday, November 19th: Peppermint PhD
Tuesday, November 20th: 50 Books Project
Monday, November 26th: BookNAround
Tuesday, November 27th: Let’s eat Grandpa!
Wednesday, November 28th: Luxury Reading