Writester.net

Name: Joseph Cowley
Website: www.josephcowley.org
Contact: JoeCowley@myway.com

Questions:

Q: Where are you originally from?
A: Westchester County, NY

Q: Can you tell us your latest book news?
A: Most recently published book: The Night Billy Was Born and Other Stories

Q: How old were you when you first started writing?
A: 10

Q: When did you first realize you had the potential to be a writer?
A: From the beginning

Q: What was your inspiration to write your first novel?
A: Football

Q: Is there anyone or anything that inspired you to write?
A: No

Q: How has your environment - upbringing colored your writing?
A: Have no idea

Q: Do you have a specific writing style?
A: Style varies with book. But suppose I have.

Q: What genre are you most comfortable writing?
A: Literary fiction

Q: How do you come up with the title(s) for your book(s)?
A: It’s usually the first thing that pops into my head. Have no idea where they come from.

Q: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
A: If I did, that would mean I was writing propaganda

Q: How much of the novel is realistic?
A: Usually a mix; some more, some less, some hardly at all

Q: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your life?
A: Usually.

Q: What books have most influenced your life?
A: Authors, but not books.

Q: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
A: Thomas Mann

Q: What are you reading now?
A: I read 20-40 books at the same time; In fiction, I’m currently reading Muriel Spark, Ian McEwan, and Clarice Lispector

Q: What new author has grasped your interest?
A: Lispector

Q: Is there anything additional you would like to share with your readers?
A: Since The Night Billy Was Born was published in Feb. 2002, I’ve been working on a biography of John Adams for the young adult reader. Hope to have it in print by the end of the year.

JOSEPH COWLEY was born on October 9, 1923. He graduated from Columbia University in 1947, interrupting his academic career to serve two and a half years with the Army Air Force during World War II. The last few months of service were spent overseas as a bombardier with the Eighth Air Force. He received his M.A. from Columbia in 1948 and taught English at Cornell University before entering sales. Most of his career was spent writing and editing material on sales and management for The Research Institute of America. Taking early retirement in 1982 to devote himself to fiction, he moved with his wife Ruth to Lebanon, Ohio, to be near the eldest of their four children and the two grandchildren existent at the time. They now have seven grandchildren: Jesse, Noah, Sarah, Samantha, Eliot, Sophia, and Sean, and live on Long Island.

Joseph Cowley is the author of the novels The Chrysanthemum Garden, Home by Seven, Landscape with Figures, Dust Be My Destiny, The House on Huntington Hill; the plays The Stargazers, Twin Bill, and A Jury of His Peers; a collection of shorter fiction called The Night Billy Was Born and Other Love Stories; and, with Robert Weisselberg, The Executive Strategist, An Armchair Guide to Scientific Decision-Making. His articles have appeared in trade and science journals, and his short stories in Prairie Schooner, New-Story, The Maryland Review, Ohio Short Fiction, and other literary journals and anthologies. He is currently writing a biography of John Adams for young adults, working on a sequel to the adventure novel Dust Be My Destiny, and also writing a futuristic thriller called Don’t Shoot-I’m Not the Enemy. On the back burner are another short novel, and another historical play, this one about Leo Tolstoy.

Joseph Cowley - www.josephcowley.org
69430 Main Road
Greenport, NY 11944 (631) 477-8719
JoeCowley@myway.com