Over at PEN, Emily St. John Mandel chats about forming an identity:
I’d been a dancer all my life but didn’t really want to dance anymore. I spent a great deal of time scheming desperately to get back to New York, where I’d lived for five blissful months during the previous year. I’d always written as a hobby, but during that period it occurred to me that writing was something that could replace dance in my life, and also I sensed that immersing myself in a large-scale project might be helpful in retaining my sanity until I could escape to a new city.
The interview also touches on influence, obsession, and that fine line between government surveillance and unwarranted harassment.
