March 22, 2012, by Thomas Legendre

Alan Warner: Narrative Voices, Scene Construction & Landscape in Writing

Alan Warner came to the university on Tuesday 20 March 2012 to discuss the writing process and read from his work. Currently a Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh, Warner has written numerous short stories and six novels including Movern Callar, which won the Somerset Maugham Award and served as the basis of a film adaptation, and The Sopranos, which won the Saltire Book of the Year in 1998. More recently The Stars in the Bright Sky was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010.

In the talk Warner discussed the challenges of using different narrative voices, the logistics of constructing a scene, and the role of landscape in his writing. In a separate session he read ‘Sullivan’s Ashes,’ a story forthcoming in McSweeney’s, after which he answered questions about the differences between short and long fiction, the choices involved in film adaptation, and the process of revision.

Listen to a sample of Warner’s talk.

    

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