BEST AUTHOR BEST : ESI EDUGYAN

'' EVERY time I describe myself as a writer of  historical fiction, I feel an inward cringe ,'' she says. '' Inevitably, when asked again, my reply is the same.'' 

An adaptation of her '' Washington Black '' is streaming on Hulu.

.-  What's the last great book you read?

'' Change,'' by Edouard Louis. He writes about how the abandonment of modest roots for a more privileged life can enact a kind of violence on intimate relationships. I read everything he writes.

.-  What's your go-to classic?

I was 18 when I started reading '' Anna Karenina '' and I continue to read it every few years. I remember how grown up and worldly the characters once seemed.  Now they are all so young!

.-  Do you consider yourself a writer of historical fiction?

Every time I describe myself as a writer of historical fiction, I feel an inward cringe as I sense those unfamiliar with my work picturing scenes of ripped-off bodices and men riding horses across twilit downs.

Inevitably when I’m asked again, my reply is always the same. Something in that description must feel true. But I chafe against it.

.-  When '' Washington Black '' came out, you told The New York Times that it would be '' daunting '' to write a novel set in the present. Are you getting close to trying?

The temptation is still to look to parallels in the past for what's going on now. The past has contours the present simply doesn't possess for me ; its throughlines feel more easily grasped and wrestled into a kind of shape.

But I think it's probably an important skill to be able to confront the moment as it now appears,  somehow.

.-  What surprised you most about chairing the Booker Prize panel in 2023?

What a healthy state literature is in. You can only hear that the novel is dying so many times before you start to feel cynical about the whole enterprise.

Pairing down the list became excruciating - our jury had many rigorous conversations from which we all mercifully emerged with our limbs still intact.

It was a fascinating, combative, respectful,  exhilarating experience.

.-  Your favorite book no one else knows?

'' The Cave,'' by the Dutch author Tim Krabbe, is an elegant puzzle of a novel.

The Publishing continues to Part [2]. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.