by Isaiah Hinsley
John Darnielle, a musician and novelist, recently read from his latest novel, “Wolf in White Van,” at the Michael and Andrea Stone Visiting Artist Series. John is also the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist for his indie folk band, the Mountain Goats. “Wolf in White Van,” his first novel, was nominated for the Fiction National Book Award in 2014 along with 10 other novels.
The reading was held in the Kathy Cashen Recital Hall in the Humanities building. After John read a portion of his novel, the audience asked questions regarding to the development of the book and the relationship between his career as an author and musician.
“The questions about writing music versus writing proses - in sense to anything you write it’s just the after effect of the actual creative process,” he said. “The process is the act of asking questions about what would happen. Anything you write down is just one of the possibilities.”
The audience also asked questions about the geographical setting of the novel, the creative development stages of the protagonist Sean Phillips, and the unusual nonlinear narrative of the story.
Milestone Investment Management, the UWG School of Arts, and the University Writing Center sponsored the event. Following the Q&A session, there was a book signing in the Humanities lobby and a reception at Underground Books in downtown Carrollton.
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