Dashka slater biography of rory

PERSONAL:

Given name interest pronounced Dah-shka; born November 21, 1963, in Boston, MA; colleen of Philip (a writer) plus Dori (a writer) Appel; wedded conjugal Cliff Baker (a teacher), June 23, 1991; children: Milo. Education:University of California, Berkeley, B.S.

(with high honors), 1986. Hobbies illustrious other interests: Hiking, yoga, naiant, theater, art.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Felicia Eth, 555 Bryant St., Ste. 350, Palo High, CA 94301. [email protected].

CAREER:

East Bay Express, Berkeley, CA, contributing writer, 1990-93, staff writer, 1993-2000, city collector, 1996-98; freelance writer.

Guest perfect television and radio programs; gives readings from her works.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Winner of Arts Recognition and Aptitude Search, National Foundation for say publicly Advancement of the Arts, 1981; winner of Tenth Anniversary Script book Competition, Gamut, 1990; Golden Ear-drop Media Award, State Bar reproach California, 1993; Alice Phelan Reward, 1994; first prize, feature chirography category, California Newspaper Publishers Society, 1994; Health Care Journalism Fame, best print feature category, Preserve Council of Northern and Main California, 1994 and 1997; Impressive Achievement Award, print journalism classification, Media Alliance, 1994; PASS Grant for print journalism, National Assembly on Crime and Delinquency, 1995; award for best feature recounting, Association of Alternative Newspapers, 1996; award for "one of nobleness ten best community-based and problem-solving stories of 1998," MediaFile's Review '98, 1999; award for unexcelled public service article, Western Review Publishers Association, 2003; creative penmanship fellow, National Endowment for distinction Arts, 2004.

WRITINGS:

The Wishing Box (novel), Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

Baby Shoes (juvenile), Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2000.

Lights, Camera, Alcatraz!,Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

Firefighters in integrity Dark (juvenile), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

Work represented in anthologies, including 1995/1996 Anthology of Munitions dump Verse and Yearbook of Indweller Poetry; Orpheus and Company; Travelers Tales America; The Underground Show to San Francisco; and Signs of Life: Channel-Surfing through '90s Culture. Contributor of articles, verse rhyme or reason l, and short stories to periodicals, including San Francisco, Sierra, Sluggishness Jones, Teachers Digest, More, Calif.

Lawyer, Beloit Poetry Journal, Earth's Daughters, Descant, Salon, Dallas Cockcrow News, San Francisco Chronicle stall Berkeley Poetry Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Dashka Slater soon told CA: "I grew engage in a literary household. Both of my parents are writers, as is my brother come first one of my sisters.

Middling when I began making renovate stories of my own, Uproarious naturally assumed that the universe wanted to hear them.

"My parents lived in Europe and significance Caribbean for the year turn I was four, and by reason of I was away from additional children and didn't have ostentatious to do, my mother schooled me to read. I hollow myself in books from guarantee time on and gloried run to ground being precociously literary.

I lax to haul around a facsimile of Shakespeare's sonnets when Distracted was about six which each did a great job another impressing grown-ups even though Hysterical mainly used it to tug pictures in the margins. Timorous age ten I had fated two fifty-page ‘novels,’ neither penalty which I ever got sourness to finishing. The first was in the realistic mode; rendering second, which I called ‘Colors of the Day’ after trim Judy Collins record my apathy owned, was surreal bordering take a break the psychedelic.

Most of say publicly stories I wrote from corroboration on were on the miraculous side of magical realism.

"I came to the University of Calif. at Berkeley in 1981. Mad was determined to major bank something other than English, since I'd seen up close medium undependable writing was as unadorned source of income.

I bounced around from department to turnoff, flirting with majors in Sculpturer and dramatic arts, and took a semester off to be extant in Eugene, Oregon, with reduction boyfriend (now my husband) pole study midwifery before finally decrease in a small interdisciplinary document called conservation and resource studies. I never cured myself flash the writing habit completely, though.

"After college I traveled briefly add on Latin America and then took a job as a introduction manager for a company roam made solar energy software.

In peace was half-time, which allowed encompassing to write, but I didn't really accomplish much until Crazed was laid-off two years ulterior. For six months, I nonchalant unemployment and wrote the cap draft, in longhand, of description book that would eventually grow The Wishing Box."

"The next occasional years were spent trying get on the right side of support my writing habit sell a slew of temp jobs and a job as market coordinator for a computer emergency supply publisher.

In 1991, I took a feature writing class peer the editor in chief be keen on the weekly East Bay Express, a newspaper sometimes described owing to the Bay Area's New Yorker because of its emphasis best long-form journalism. He liked adhesive work and began publishing in peace, and eventually I discovered go it was possible to bring off a living writing after all—even if it was by expressions nonfiction.

"It seems like I'm again reading articles about writers swivel they say, ‘She dashed make bigger the novel in two weeks, while studying for the prevent exam,’ and it always euphemistic pre-owned to make me feel totally inadequate.

But I really suppose that my experience is yet more common for writers, boss so now that I formation to be the subject claim an interview, I want curry favor preach the word: It takes a long time! I in progress when I got laid decay from my job at span computer software firm, and Farcical wrote in longhand two-thirds ransack a first draft, of which maybe one or two sentences are in the final new circumstance.

Then my unemployment ran germfree, so I had to budge get a job, and didn't get to work on shakiness again for a while. Go with was like that for waterlogged years: I'd work on indictment, there'd be a big activity of activity, and then righteousness needs of having to make happen a living would intrude.

"For The Wishing Box, I started tighten the scene that ended system becoming the prologue, in which Julia's grandmother finds herself watery in a pool full fail angels.

The scene came extremity me very vividly and accordingly it was a question tactic finding out who are these people and what is that story about? I had doublecross idea somewhat that there was a father who disappeared. Sell something to someone always hear the stories decelerate the guy who goes equal the corner store for wonderful pack of cigarettes and at no time comes back, and I began wondering what it would promote to like to grow up interview an unfinished story like ditch.

What happens to the create he leaves behind? And county show much are we shaped antisocial the mistakes our parents strenuous in raising us?

"I don't thirst for to get too mystical give the once over this, but there really go over the main points a feeling when you're exhausting at work on a delegation that the characters have keen life of their own, turf that you are just perception to the stories they're impressive you.

The odd thing pump up that I'm convinced that insufferable of the characters have continuing to live lives of their own since they were begeted. Julia's grandmother, for instance, swims at my gym. The taken as a whole time I was writing grandeur book, I kept running pierce her at the pool, dowel I felt like apologizing breathe new life into her for not having ready it yet.

"I love Dickens stand for Jane Austen and Toni Author and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, on the other hand probably the books that possess been the most influential financial assistance me have been children's books.

When I was young Hysterical was an avid reader, title those were the books range I read over and topple again—I think I read Charlotte's Web fourteen times. In tidy lot of ways, I was formed as a writer build on by E. Nesbit and E.B. White and Lewis Carroll outstrip anyone I've read since. Unrestrained don't think I ever stoppedup believing that magical things occur to ordinary people as ingenious matter of course—talking spiders pot take up residence in your barn, a looking glass throne lead you into a jumbled world, a second-hand carpet stool turn out to be nobleness flying kind.

What people be endowed with termed ‘magical realism’ I give attention to is really just a consideration of how peculiar and unpredicted the world actually seems be acquainted with most of us.

"One thing Funny learned from being a reporter is that if you appear around waiting to be emotional, you'll never get anything see to.

So I make it on the rocks habit to at least take the weight my butt in the pew by my desk for uncomplicated couple of hours a way in. I can write nonfiction weekly eight hours at a confront, but with fiction I'm for the most part tapped out after four. Pretend it's going horribly, I'll give permission myself get up after bend in half hours and go for cool walk or a swim argue with try to clear my head.

"I don't know if other writers are this superstitious, but I've always felt writing was famine wishing—it's better not to background anyone about it until insides comes true.

When I wrote The Wishing Box, I didn't even tell my husband what I was doing until Distracted had a first draft.

"I back-to-back a computer—in fact, I'm packed together completely paralyzed without one. Thing of the problem is roam after being a journalist all for ten years, my handwriting has become completely illegible.

I'm thus used to taking notes bully top speed that writing owing to full sentences seems incredibly herculean. But all those years taste working as a temp has left me with superior sort abilities—70 words a minute, show gratitude you very much. So do business feels as if there's well-organized direct link between my intellect and the computer screen—until adhesive computer crashes and I wrap the entire day's work …

"I have a wonderful writing advance.

They see everything first. Uncontrollable also show my writing summit the writers in my lineage. They love me, but they still tell me when core needs work. Still, it's humanitarian of funny to have orderly critique that begins with ‘Sweetie’ (my dad) or ‘Darling’ (my mom). My husband is cloudy biggest fan, but it's hardest of all to show in mint condition writing to him.

I most of the time tell him that if grace doesn't like it, I'm filing for divorce, and then Crazed hover over his shoulder period he's reading, trying to figure if he's laughing at loftiness funny parts. He's much funnier than I am, so venture he laughs, I know illustriousness scene must be working."

More newly Slater added: "I often discipline that I suffer from Writer's ADD because I work entail many genres—fiction, journalism, and apprentice books.

I'm usually working ammunition far too many projects dislike once. So, at the second, I'm working simultaneously on practised short story collection, a long work of fiction, a 6 books for children that ring in various stages of termination, and a couple of paper articles.

"When my novel came handle, I told everyone that Irrational was most emphatically a long-form writer—I wrote long articles rent newspapers and magazines and Crazed had never written a concise story that I liked.

Followed by I had a baby, viewpoint suddenly I found myself conjecture of short stories I desired to write—multitudes of them. Funny think it was partly thanks to I as living the duration of a parent, in which it's difficult to complete regular thought, much less a unconventional narrative. But beyond the dexterous impediments, there was also nobleness fact that parenthood was specified a profoundly new experience defer I felt compelled to trade name sense of it in greatness only way I know—by effective stories.

So my short recital collection in progress, A Saunter on the Way to position World, is about the rapport between caretakers and their tax, particularly parents and children.

"In doubtful life as a writer, Comical have written poetry, a original, magazine articles, and picture books, and I find short allegorical to be the single first difficult genre I have invariably attempted.

There's just no carry on for error. It's like shop a bridge out of toothpicks—one false move and the full thing collapses. I was highly grateful to the National Financial aid for the Arts for abrasive me a fiction-writing grant drift allowed me to spend deft lot of time failing—writing pages and pages that I deleted at the end of position day, or simply writing class same sentence over and passing on again.

There was one account that I wrote five multiplication from top to bottom previously I finally hit upon top-hole way to tell it. During the time that I got the grant, Farcical imagined myself gliding along from one side to the ot the manuscript like a canoe in a current, but preferably I did a lot depose paddling, and even more portaging.

My moment of inspiration, supposing there was one, was consummation that it didn't matter bon gr the writing came easily part of the pack not—at the end of magnanimity year, I couldn't tell righteousness difference between the pages think about it came in a flood touch on inspiration and the ones put off were laboriously constructed over weeks and weeks."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Dashka Slater Home Page,http://www.dashkaslater.com (April 10, 2007).