A look at some of the personalities at the TW FestRichard Ford is one of America's preeminent modern novelists, but a lot of people don't associate him with New Orleans--or, for that matter, with the South. He was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived for years in the French Quarter (his wife, Kristina, was head of the city planning commission for eight years until Mayor Ray Nagin came along).
Ford is the author of six novels and several short-story collections, but he's probably best known for the trilogy of novels chronicling the progress of American everyman Frank Bascombe: The Sportswriter, Independence Day, and last year's The Lay of the Land. In 1996, Independence Day became the first novel ever to win both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
I'm not sure if the Fords are still living in the French Quarter or if they've decamped permanently for parts North, but I did see him a couple of years ago at Fiorella's on the French Market, quietly waiting for Fiorella's justly famed fried chicken plate lunch. That's typical New Orleans; you can run into anyone in a barroom or a luncheonette. Even a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Fri., Mar. 30, 4 pm
"A Conversation with Richard Ford"
1 comment:
I had heard that Richard Ford had moved back to New Orleans.
Here's a story of how "... Richard returned to New Orleans from his own post-Katrina exile, and wanted to help do something to rebuild the city in his own quiet, behind the scenes way. He ended up as a frequent volunteer carpenter, painter, and jack of some trades on the Delery Street houses in the final weeks of construction."
http://tinyurl.com/2bgv44
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