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Items of interest concerning Hawthorne Books and its authors

“Author has marriage issues all locked up,” by Stephen Alexander for the Portland Tribune

18 Apr 2014|

Wedlocked shows how couple wrestles with difficult times

The ingredients for a stellar memoir are simple: lay your soul bare for all to judge you.

Actually doing that, though, takes exploring your own psyche to a terrifying degree. Portland writer Jay Ponteri braved those waters to publish Wedlocked.

A few years ago, Ponteri, the director of the undergraduate creative writing program at Marylhurst University, began writing a journal about his marriage. He planned on eventually using the thoughts to form the basis of a work of fiction. After a time, though, he realized that he had developed a complete memoir chronicling his difficulties with his marriage as he finds himself infatuated with a woman other than his wife.

Wedlocked, published by Hawthorne Books in Portland, was well widely praised and recently won the Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction.

The Portland Tribune caught up with Ponteri to talk about the unique twist of Wedlocked, the aftermath of the book, and how he now feels about marriage:

Portland TribuneWhy did you decide to write a book examining your marriage?

Jay PonteriI just started writing about my own dividedness and mixed feelings about my marriage with the intent that I would eventually turn it into fiction. After a couple of years I realized I was working on nonfiction. The book really describes not so much a marriage, but the experience of loneliness inside of a marriage. I really wanted to see inside of a married man’s head. I felt like I was writing a book that I needed to read.

To read the entire interview go to the Portland Tribune.