Interview 33 with Elise Blackwell

In today’s conversation, I talk with Elise Blackwell about her family’s history in Louisiana like having Faulkner set his dogs set on her grandfather, getting in a car wreck with Ralph Ellison, and many many other things, our first terrible stories, her time as a journalist, why are Souther Writers such a “thing,” choosing to write outside of ourselves rather than autobiographically, the Naropa Audio Archives, and standing up Michael Ondaatje, and other things that keep our writing egos in check.

Elise is the author of five novels, Hunger, Grub, The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish, An Unfinished Score, and The Lower Quarter that was recently released by Unbridled Books. Her books have been selected for several end-of-the-year best of lists, including the Los Angeles Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, and the New Orleans Times Picayune. Her novel Hunger was the inspiration for the song “When the War Came” by the Decembrists. You can read more about Elise and her books at http://eliseblackwell.com

The Outrider Podcast is available on Podbean, iTunes and Stitcher. You can also listen at my website (http://jquinnmalott.com/index.html). 

The intro and outdo music is the song WWOZ by Better than Ezra off their album Friction Baby.