Pasha Malla's first collection of stories, The Withdrawal Method, won the Trillium Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. People Park, his new novel, looks at an island community plagued by a series of natural disasters. He reads tonight (October 24) at IFOA alongside Ekiwah Adler-Beléndez, Chris Cleave, Robin Sloan and Claire Vaye Watkins, and again tomorrow night, with Emily Schultz and others. (And watch for his upcoming Hazlitt feature on Roald Dahl and The Gremlins.)
First, second or third person?
Third.
Nabokov had lepidopterology, Hemingway had the hunt. Do you have an extra-lingual obsession?
Basketball.
Which writers do you wish were more widely read?
Most of the ones I like... Though, no, maybe not, because then I couldn’t pretend to have exclusive taste which confers upon me some illusory elitist status designed to conceal the fact I’m poorly read and full of shame.
Which rules of writing do you think should be ignored?
All of them, though particularly “write what you know.” Write what you want to know, maybe.
Beg, borrow and steal—are there any books you go to when you’re stuck?
Most of the books I love just make me more stuck, because they’re so paralyzingly superior to anything I’ll ever do.
The books business is changing. What elements of the game are you happy to see fall to the wayside? What gives you hope?
I’m glad the bikini contest element no longer factors so heavily.
Do you think it’s fair to call writing a game? (Some writers, mostly men for example, have likened it to boxing.) Or would you prefer another metaphor?
Good writing always plays games, I think.
Can you give any #protips on delivering a good reading performance?
Harness anxiety, check your fly.
Do you have any personal tips for surviving a literary festival?
Find people who aren’t writers to hang out with.
What’s your ultimate past, present, or imaginary IFOA high point?
A few years ago I saw a panel featuring Chris Ware, Seth, Charles Burns and Chip Kidd. Basically the audience got to eavesdrop on a free-flowing conversation between four great enthusiasts and scholars of comic books. I also enjoy imagining a brawl between prize nominees, with snapping and jazzy dancing like West Side Story.
What’s the strangest thing that you’ve seen happen at a literary festival or reading?
Nothing I can think of, though once at a Detroit Lions game a dwarf in front of me in line at the urinal turned and said, "Hey buddy, wanna lift me up?"
Which dead writer would you most like to sit on a festival round table with, and what would you discuss?
Camus. We would talk about being soccer goalkeepers.
On a scale of one to Proust, how would you rate your experience answering this questionnaire?
Somewhere between Gogol and R.L. Stine.
