Barnard Women Share Their Passion for The Writing Life
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AS SEEN AND HEARD AT... GREAT WRITERS AT BARNARD
The Reading Life
“I can imagine my life without writing, but not without reading. My worst nightmare is that I’m on a transatlantic flight and I run out of book.”
—Anna Quindlen ’74, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, bestselling author, and chair of the Barnard trustees |
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“I remember reading Lolita in my dorm as a freshman [at Barnard] and I knew what I held in my hands was amazing. I just wanted to go up to someone and ask, ‘Have you read this book?’”
—Jhumpa Lahiri ’89, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Interpreter of Maladies
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“I remember finding an old copy of Mrs. Dalloway on the bus, reading it, and feeling like a bone had broken in the middle of my chest; it was such a powerful moment for me. I thought I was a poet, and it was the first time I read fiction and realized it too could be written like poetry.”
—Mary Gordon ’71, Chair, English Department and Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of Writing |
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“I was a huge Judy Blume fan! I loved those girls [in her books] – Margaret, Deenie, Karen; I loved their honesty and the fact that their lives sort of looked a lot like mine.”
—Ann Brashares ’89, author, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series
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“I believe in the power of a book when it meets the moment for you as a reader; it’s the book, and it’s also where you are in your life when you read it.”
—Edwidge Danticat ‘90, National Book Award finalist for Krik? Krak! |
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“The play that changed my life when I saw it as a kid was King Lear. I decided I was Cordelia and said to myself, ‘I’m going to play that part some day,’ and I did.”
—Ellen McLaughlin, English Department Faculty
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Photos by Diane Bondareff |
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