Author Interview: Sophie Hardach

Author and journalist Sophie Hardach on the Turkish-Syrian border

Sophie Hardach wrote The Registrar’s Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages while working as a reporter for Reuters in Paris. The novel follows the intertwining lives of a young Kurdish boy trying to build a life in Germany and a registrar working at a Parisian town hall.

If that sounds like an unlikely combination, I can assure you the result is equally as surprising. While grappling with issues of immigration, identity, love, and marriage, the book also displays an unexpected humor that made it a pleasure to read.

As with some of my favorite discoveries, I didn’t know much about the author or the story going in. I was delighted to first hear Sophie speak at the American Library and then delve into her delightful debut. Both her talk and her book sparkled.

On the occasion of the paperback release of The Registrar’s Manual next Thursday, March 29, I’m pleased to have Sophie on the blog today to answer a few questions.

You’re German, live in France, and write in English. Wow! How does this trilingual mix influence your work? And why did English become the language of your creative self?

I fell in love with English literature as a teenager, and unlike most teenage love affairs, this one turned into a lifelong passion. English is my ideal home: a place where everyone is welcome, where writers from countries as far apart as Nigeria, Ireland, the U.S. and Singapore – to name just a random few – mingle and contribute. I can think of no other language today that is so open to new influences, so ready to absorb new trends.

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Paris Short Story Contest

More good writing news!

I just found out today that my story was shortlisted in the Paris Short Story Contest! (And this time the story’s more than 30 words! It’s 5,000 to be exact!)

Wish me luck in the next round.

Happy weekend!

Have good news? Feel free to share in the comments! Always enough love to go around and I’d love to celebrate with you!

Author Interview: Cara Black

While based in San Francisco, mystery author Cara Black probably knows a lot more about certain aspects of Paris than most of us living here.

Her national bestselling series featuring a half-French/half-American female detective has seen Black visiting Paris’ sewers and morgue, talking to private eyes and river police, and constantly contemplating juicy new crimes for her “Aimée Leduc investigations.”

Since her first novel, 1999’s Murder in the Marais, Black has published a new book nearly every year, setting each one in a different Paris arrondissement.

On the occasion of the eleventh book, Murder in Passy, coming out next week
(March 1), Black took time to answer some questions about her popular series.
Lucky for her fans, she still has nine arrondissements to go!

Paris is one of the most romanticized cities in the world; the beautiful City of Light. In your novels, however, it is the darker side of Paris that plays a starring role. Can you talk about why you chose Paris as the setting for your crime series? (And why the city keeps inspiring murder!)

30 Words (Or Celebrate the Small Things in Life)

Hi friends,

I was slightly embarrassed at first to share this bit of small news because it seemed so, well, small, but then I remembered: it’s the little things in life that make it grand!

My story “Dear John” was recently selected as a winner in Smokelong Quarterly‘s 30-word story contest.

For anyone counting, that amounts to just 3 sentences in my case.

The best number to me, however, is that only 5 stories made the cut from over 1400 entries. So it feels kind of like being the shy girl in school you think no one notices – but then having the star quarterback ask you to prom. (Ok, that totally never happened to me and doesn’t even work as an analogy. Also, I lusted after the skater boys and genius slackers, more than jocks).

It was fun to take a little break from the monster work of a novel and write something of this size. I find sometimes I’m more creative when given strict constraints. And affirmations keep the fire going: Yes, you *might* just get picked out of a crowd. Chances are slim, but it happens!

Enjoy the bite-sized fiction here. And remember to celebrate the small things!

Yay!