Interview with Joselyn Takacs, Author of Pearce Oysters

We are delighted to feature this interview with Joselyn Takacs.  Her debut novel, Pearce Oysters, a family drama set during the 2010 BP Oil Spill, is out now.

Tell us about your beginning, where are you from?

I grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

How did your childhood impact the writer you’ve become?

I was a reserved, observant, imaginative kid. And I think one side effect of being so reserved is that you spend a lot of time hanging back, thinking about how relationships work. That early disposition made writing about people a bit easier because I had years of study behind me.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I had an inkling when I was a kid that I wanted to write. When I was very young, I said I wanted to write rom-com screenplays, but it wasn’t until college that I became a serious reader and discovered that I wanted to write. In college, I started writing saccharine poetry (as one does) and then graduated to writing stories. Once I’d decided, though, that I wanted to be a writer, I didn’t waver.

How has writing changed you as a person?

Writing is a form of thinking–a more considered form of thinking. There’s an old chestnut attributed to Flannery O’Conner that has always resonated with me. Forgive me, I can’t verify the source! It goes, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”

What inspired you to write Pearce Oysters? 

Long before I began writing this novel, I was living in Louisiana after college. I was waiting tables at a French Quarter restaurant in 2010 when I heard about an explosion on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. That explosion preceded the largest accidental oil spill in world history. We were all gobsmacked by the enormity of the disaster that followed.

That summer, I read a profile in a weekly paper about an oyster farm that was closing down. The oyster farmer explained the threat of the spill from his perspective—one that could put him out of business for years. An oiled oyster reef was not just a season’s loss, but the loss of several years because it can take three years for an oyster to reach market size. I kept thinking about that profile, even after the oil spill and its effects faded from national headlines.

Do you need a special place to write?

I’ve become a little precious about my writing habits. My ideal setup is to write in the morning–someplace quiet and preferably next to a caffeinated beverage.

Are you part of a writing community or a writing group?

I married another fiction writer, Taylor Koekkoek, so I’m fortunate to have a live-in editor. After Taylor reads my work, I have a few dear friends from my MFA program that I still share work with. I think, the more you write, and the more assured you become of your own sensibilities, the fewer people you need weighing in on the results.

What is your experience with social media as a writer? Do you find it distracts you or does it provide inspiration?

I’m a latecomer to social media, and I find that it’s mostly a distraction. (Those reels!) But I’ve also had really wonderful interactions with people about the novel that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, and I’m grateful for that.

Who are your favorite authors?

I find new favorites every year. This year, my favorite was Tessa Hadley. Last year it was Eve Babitz.

What are you reading currently? 

I’m reading Barbarian Days, a memoir about the surfing life by William Finnegan. But more than that it’s about the writer’s attitude towards society–whether to join in or opt out and chase waves. In this way, it’s about what makes a meaningful life.

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PEARCE OYSTERS

A fractured family, a devastated community, and the disaster that brings them together.

Pearce Oysters, a lush, evocative, finely-drawn debut novel set on the Louisiana coastline during the historic 2010 oil spill, follows the Pearce family, local oyster farmers whose business, family, and livelihood are all on the brink of collapse.

Eye-opening, eco-fiction at its best, Pearce Oysters highlights the grit and beauty of lives lived in an overlooked corner of the American South and the interdependence of nature and man. Diving deep into the bonds of family, culture, community, class, and industry, blazing new talent Joselyn Takacs elevates the voices of her deeply sympathetic characters: Jordan, the reluctant head of his family’s storied oyster business; May, his distressed, widowed mother who has her own unexpected drama; and Benny, the beatnik musician brother, who returns from New Orleans to help with the crisis.

Inspired by years of her own research, Takacs’s debut novel sparkles as it shines a light on murky waters, old wounds, the power of a family clinging to survival, and their inspiring path forward.

BUY HERE

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing