Horse Racing and "Lord of Misrule" from On Point with Tom Ashbrook Podcast

We speak with 2010 National Book Award winner Jaimy Gordon about her novel "Lord of Misrule" -- and ride into the world of horse racing. William Nack, author of "Secretariat," joins.

Download that On Point podcast here. She's a Brown University alum, and The Brown Daily Herald had this to say about the author and her recent win for Lord of Misrule:

In fact, her decision to attend Brown for graduate school instead of the University of Iowa was partly due to the fact that there was a racetrack nearby. The other deciding factor was novelist John Hawkes, who was on the faculty at the time. "I'm very proud to say I went to Brown when people ask me where I went to graduate school," Gordon said. "As graduate programs go, this one has a very special character. It welcomes idiosyncrasies." At Brown, she interacted with students and faculty who were "powerful influences." It is also where she met McPherson, then an undergraduate, with whom she worked at Hellcoal, a student-run literary press. Through Hellcoal, they published three books written by prisoners whom Gordon taught creative writing in Cranston.

Read that Brown Daily Herald article here. The New York Times also covered the writer and her publisher, really well; they did well to put in a lot of good context here. It turns out that the publisher, McPherson, is an indie; expected. But they're a special company, with the sole proprietor of the publishing business Bruce McPherson, being its lone full time employee. The publisher is the sort that "the kind of publisher who sometimes seems more concerned with how his books look than how they sell. “Lord of Misrule,” for example, has a full cloth cover and a stitched binding, which is practically unheard of these days." If you believe in "you are what you read," and if you believe in reading well in the same way that people eat well to live well, then you should check out McPherson's catalog. Here's the publisher's website. Here's that NYT piece. Gordon also wrote: She Drove without Stopping: A Novel, Shamp of the City-Solo: A Novel, Bogeywoman (Sun & Moon Classics), Circumspections from an Equestrian Statue

"Surprise! Jaimy Gordon Wins The National Book Award, And Patti Smith Weeps" - from NPR's blog, "Monkey See"

The National Book Awards are like the Oscars of literature, without the national telecast, the security guards to watch over the Harry Winston jewels or the glowing Hollywood tans (most of the nominees bear the wan, indoors-y look of the writer's life). But, like the Academy Awards, there are fancy dresses, cummerbunds and cater waiters passing around Bellinis and caviar bites — trust us, book people can party. And, much like the Oscars, the NBAs are a particular industry's biggest night, in which a career can be made (or at least pushed heartily along) with the opening of an envelope. This year, that career belongs to Jaimy Gordon, a mid-career novelist from Baltimore living and teaching in Kalamazoo, Mich. Her fourth novel, Lord of Misrule, won the NBA for fiction on Wednesday evening, a victory that came as a surprise to many — including Gordon herself. When the announcement was read, the author's table companions shrieked at full volume, and Gordon seemed to be in shock when she finally took the stage. "I'm totally unprepared, and I’m totally surprised," she told the crowd. Later, we observed the author standing alone outside the grand façade of the Cipriani Ballroom on Wall Street in her long red gown, talking quietly into her cell phone: "I won," she said into the receiver, still seeming stunned. "I won ... the National Book Award."

Read the full NPR Monkey See piece, here. See also: She Drove without Stopping: A Novel, Shamp of the City-Solo: A Novel, Bogeywoman (Sun & Moon Classics)