Fun
Douglas Stuart on the New Yorker Radio Hour
Dear Ann,
I think you’ll like this one. It combines things you love: knitting, New York City, Scotland, studying English, and designing clothes. Plus: writing novels. I was out running errands, and heard it on the local NPR station earlier this week.
Douglas Stuart did not start out life planning to be a writer. He’d been discouraged in school on the grounds that boys from his part of Glasgow didn’t study English, they went into the textile trades. So that’s what he did, eventually moving to New York and working for Calvin Klein.
He kept writing. In his off hours, Stuart wrote a novel, Shuggie Bain, published in February of this year.
In this piece for the New Yorker Radio Hour, he tells his story and takes us on a tour of a still-working clothing factory in Manhattan’s garment district.
There is knitting in the story. There are powerful steam irons in the story. It’s a good story.
But one thing hadn’t happened yet when the story first aired on October 2. This week, Shuggie Bain was announced as a National Book Award finalist for 2020.
Love,
Kay
And on the shortlist for the Booker Prize!
Wow, great recommendation. I’ve already downloaded the Amazon Kindle/Audible combo (lets you read or listen interchangeably and picks up where you left off in either medium) and I’m 10 percent through it. It’s a great book. I’m listening while knitting.
Thanks for the recommendation. I must have listened to that episode of the NYer Radio Hour, as before the #shelterathome WNYC was always on in my kitchen, and I sit on Saturdays with my tea, The Gray Lady and NPR, dreaming of a brownstone. Still do it on Saturday – other days, not so much anymore. Reading two newspapers is enough despair.
But my knitting has benefited — one UFO down for one new project … and I miss the City.
I wasn’t part of the MDK community when Bowling Avenue was published. Now I can’t wait to read it! Ordered from Amazon today!
❣️ Can’t wait to hear it.
It’s with great anticipation I open my morning’s emails and see the latest post from you. The variety and scope of your emails is amazing. I love that it’s not always just about knitting. We are multi-dimensional people after all. Thanks for keeping us so well informed. This is one of my favorite websites. Thanks for all your hard work.
Ooh, can’t wait to check this out! And I highly recommend Ann’s book and the audiobook, it’s delightful!
And shortlisted for the Booker Prize which will be announced in Nov. Not bad for a fiber guy.
And shortlisted for the Booker Prize, which will be announced in November. Not bad for a fiber guy.
Thank you! I bought a Kindle edition of “Bowling Avenue” last night around 10:00 pm and finished it at 4:00 a.m. today. I am otherwise a responsible adult with daytime responsibilities. I grew up in Nashville (Green Hills and Hillwood) and left over 40 years ago. What a delightful way to go down memory lane. Loved the characters!! My mom was still alive in spring 2010 and I remember the flood. You nailed it, Ann!! Only correction I would suggest-Oprah got her first on air position as co-anchor of the local news in Nashville, even before her widely known association with Chicago.