Peter Bognanni, Author, Macalester College professor

 

Hello and welcome to the 43rd 3 Art Questions With Jackson interview! I am very excited to be interviewing award winning author and Macalester College professor Peter Bognanni. I love his books The House of Tomorrow, Things I'm Seeing Without You, and This Book Is Not Yet Rated. They are all so good - you should read them! His book The House of Tomorrow was also made into a film starring Nick Offerman and Ellen Burstyn and the film was really great. You should see it! I thought his answers were wonderful and I think you will too. Thank you for reading!

Jackson: What made you want to become a writer? Did you have a specific experience?

Peter: The story I often tell is that I came to writing last after trying every other art from first. I was really into visual arts and theater when I was a kid. But I was always reading. My mom was a librarian and we had books all over the house. At the end of high school, I wrote a play, and that was the first time I remember thinking that this was something I could do. It was a ridiculous play in retrospect. I'm pretty sure it was narrated by an old man and his dog, and there was a scene where Ronald Reagan gave a speech wearing an American flag as a toga. Still, I had the bug, and when I got to college I had some fantastic teachers and started to take it more seriously. The simple answer, however, is books. Reading books made me want to be a writer. They still do. 

Jackson: What was it like to have The House of Tomorrow made into a film? Was it surreal to see characters you created for a book on a movie screen?

Peter: Yes, it was a little surreal. There was a moment before shooting began where the two actors playing Sebastian and Jared were just practicing guitar in a room. I was on set that day and it looked like a moment from my teenage years had just been perfectly staged in real life (with better looking people). It's always strange when something that has lived primarily inside your head is suddenly outside of your head. There were many of those moments during filming, and it never stopped being delightful and strange.

Jackson: If you could meet any writer living or dead, who would it be and why?

Peter: This is a tough one. There are so many. Also, I only occasionally read a famous writer's biography, so I don't know who would be generous and who would reduce me to tears. As a result, I'm going to make a really safe bet. I met George Saunders once at a book signing and he was one of the most generous people I've ever encountered. I was (and am) a huge fan and I'm sure I was not playing it cool at all. But he talked to me about writing for a little while in the middle of a bookstore. So, even though I know I'm supposed to say Walt Whitman or something, I'm going to stick with what works. George Saunders. Final answer.