Hawthorne Books

Part Two: On Writing, Teaching, and Legacy: An Interview With Novelist Tom Spanbauer

NAILEDHow did you get into writing, Tom?

SPANBAUERWell, I got a Bachelor’s in English at Idaho State University because I always wanted to write. I was always writing short stories and poems. They were all pretty bad, but my professors were nice to me. When I went to the Peace Corps, I spent a lot of time writing love letters to my girlfriend back home. I loved the idea that I could capture something very fleeting in a moment. When you can stop time and just watch the verticality of this thing open up and up. I loved that about poetry. I came back [from the Peace Corps] and got married. Thought I’d teach high school. I couldn’t teach high school. I got dumb jobs and became a waiter. Finally, I left my wife and spent a lot of time drinking and drugging, you know, being a waiter. Living that glamorous life of a waiter. Key West and all that. Then finally I got to New York City and Columbia.

NAILED How did you get involved in Columbia’s MFA creative writing program?

SPANBAUER It was another serendipitous moment where literally I was living on Spring street. I got the Sunday Times and there was a section in there about education and courses available that Fall. I know this sounds really corny, but the wind blew open the paper and there was Columbia writing, come get your MFA. I said to my boyfriend at the time, “Oh look, I should go up to Columbia and go get my MFA,” and he said, “You ought to.” There would never have been a way I would have done that but he said, “No, call them up, call them up right now.” So I left a message, and this woman named Janet called me back the next day and she said, “Classes are filled, and really the deadline is over but why don’t you send me over some of your stuff just in case.” So I got on the subway the next day, that was when it was still a scary thing to do, be on the subway, and I dropped off some of my stories I had about Africa. She liked them a lot and she called me up and said, “We want you in the program, you start tomorrow,” but I had no money. She said, “We’ll get you some loans.” Then I had to stop and think if I really wanted to spend twenty five thousand dollars on loans.

To read the entire interview, go to Nailed.