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Carolyn Parkhurst Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Carolyn Parkhurst

Carolyn Parkhurst

Carolyn Parkhurst Biography

Carolyn Parkhurst is the author of the novels The Dogs of Babel and Lost and Found and has published fiction in the North American Review, the Minnesota Review, the Hawai'i Review, and the Crescent Review. Parkurst received a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from American University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two children.

Carolyn Parkhurst's website

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Interview

Carolyn Parkhurst discusses her novel, Harmony, and how her own life influenced it

Harmony is in part about raising a child with an autism spectrum disorder. You are the parent of a child with Asperger's. How did your own experience inform the novel?

While I was working on this book, I used to make a rather lame little joke whenever I started talking about the subject matter. I'd say, "So it's about a family that has a child on the autism spectrum. But their kid is a girl, so…see? It's obviously fiction." And then I'd laugh a little too hard.

It's always tricky to answer the question of how a fiction writer's life intersects with her work; in my last novel, The Nobody's Album, I describe the life experience of a fiction writer as being "like butter in cookie dough: it's a crucial part of flavor and texture - you certainly couldn't leave it out - but if you've done it right, it can't be discerned as a separate element."

Which is just another way of saying this: my life is private, and I'm not always comfortable discussing which stories are "true" and which are not. But the fact is, I do have a son who has Asperger's, and any attempt to write about what it's like to raise and care for a child with those particular issues is ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Carolyn Parkhurst at BookBrowse
Harmony jacket The Nobodies Album jacket Lost and Found jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Carolyn Parkhurst but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Trezza Azzopardi

    Trezza Azzopardi

    Trezza Azzopardi was born in Cardiff, UK. She is a graduate of the Creative Writing Program at the University of East Anglia and is an external examiner for Creative and Cultural Studies at Norwich School of Art and Design.

    ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Lost and Found

    Try:
    Remember Me
    by Trezza Azzopardi

  • Michael Chabon

    Michael Chabon

    Novelist, screenwriter, columnist and short story writer Michael Chabon was born May 24, 1963 in Washington, DC.   He grew up in the suburbs of Columbia, Maryland with his parents Robert, a physician, lawyer, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Lost and Found

    Try:
    The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
    by Michael Chabon

We recommend 8 similar authors

View all 8 Read-Alikes

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