It was our pleasure, along with Books & Books
Westhampton, to host International Bestselling Author Alyson Richman on Sunday,
October 27th. In an intimate
gathering with fans, booklovers and aspiring writers, Ms. Richman discussed her
works, why she writes and answered questions from some of her very inquisitive
readers.
Ms. Richman charmingly captured the audience’s
attention as she spoke of her books, four in total and one on the way, due out
next fall. She shared her background as
to how she became an accomplished, well-known novelist. Her craft wasn’t
cultivated through the typical love of reading and a profound appreciation for
classic literature, though Ms. Richman does indulge in reading many popular
book selections. Ms. Richman was not a
formal literature student; attending lecture on the great writers of the past
and studying their works. She was born
on Long Island to a painter, her mother and her father, an engineer. As a teenager her family moved to Japan due
to her father’s career. After spending
much of her young adult life in a foreign country, Ms. Richman attended
Wellesley College, where she majored in art history. Ms. Richman said she constantly was asking questions
and searching for answers. She was often
told, by her art history professors, that she had a unique ability to tell the
story behind the art itself. When she
graduated Ms. Richman secured a grant and traveled back to Japan this time
immersing herself in the culture as an apprentice to a Noh Mask Carver. These carvers were rare and few still exist. They came from long lineages of carvers and most
times one mask could take a year or more to carve. From this opportunity she began crafting her debut
novel, The Mask Carver’s Son; asking
herself what it would be like to grow up in the traditional Japanese culture,
but desire something else much different, more modern, from what was expected
of you. What was it like to be the first
of your family to shed the customs of one’s inheritance and follow your
dreams? What would it have been like to
be an impressionist painter during the Meiji Period while living in Japan? Hence
the story of Yamamoto Kiyoki, his strained and distant relationships and his desire
to be a painter, not a mask carver like his father.
The Mask
Carver’s Son, just rereleased this fall, was Ms. Richman’s first title
published. In acknowledgment of its
second publication the Monday Night Book Club chose it as their October book
pick. As Ms. Richman read eloquently
aloud to her audience from The Mask
Carver’s Son she furthered her reader’s love of her writing. Attendees learned of Ms. Richman’s writing
process; how she researches the answers to her questions for a year, traveling
and meeting with individuals to help piece her stories together. She the submits
the first draft, after a year of writing and editing, then edits it and eight
months to a year later it’s done and published.
Ms. Richman also discussed her three other titles,
including the well enjoyed, 2012 Long Island Reads Winner, The Lost Wife. She said by
book four she finally found her audience who are now patiently waiting her fifth
novel to be revealed next fall. In
anticipation of her next book Ms. Richman fed the audience bread crumbs of the
story to come; we know the title, The
Garden of Letters, along with the setting, during WWI, and the character, a
messenger for the Italian Resistance.
Thank you to Alyson Richman and her lovely
daughter for joining us on Sunday. The discussion
was fantastic and Ms. Richman is a wonderful storyteller. Many readers were thrilled to have met such a
phenomenal writer and are eagerly awaiting The
Garden of Letters. For more information
or to check out Ms. Richman’s other titles visit her website at
AlysonRichman.com.
