Who is Coming to 702WI?
Meet Julia Fine
702WI: What book changed your life?
Julia Fine: Atonement by Ian McEwan.
702WI: What book(s) are coming out this year that you're looking forward to reading?
JF: Everything Under by Daisy Johnson. The Witch Elm by Tana French.
702WI: What books are currently stacked next to your bed/on your desk/in your pile-to-read?
JF: Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, Willa & Hesper by Amy Feltman, The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower, My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci, Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom ed. Leonard Marcus
702WI: What book did you most recently recommend to someone else?
JF: Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt. The Quiet Noisy Book by Margaret Wise Brown.
702WI: What was your favorite book when you were a child?
JF: Eloise by Kay Thompson has always had a special place in my heart. Many Moons by James Thurber. Many Waters by Madeleine L’Engle.
702WI: Who are your favorite writers?
JF: A small sampling: Shirley Jackson, Angela Carter, Helen Oyeyemi, George Eliot, Karen Russell, F Scott Fitzgerald, David Mitchell, Sarah Waters, Robert Penn Warren, Jorge Luis Borges, Kazuo Ishiguro, Dylan Thomas, Hilary Mantel
702WI: What book/s could you never part with? Think “stranded-on-a-desert-island” books.
JF: Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
702WI: What fictional character do you most identify with? Why?
JF: I like to think I’m a Jo March, but in reality I’m probably more of an Amy. Can I say Amy March meets Hermione Granger? A bit of a snob and a know-it-all…
702WI: Is there a creator who is doing something you find amazing?
JF: Hannah Gadsby. She’s basically created a new genre with Nanette, her standup comedy special—it’s provocative and painful and absolutely brilliant.
702WI: What do you wish you knew more about?
JF: Pretty much everything! Catholic saints and astrophysics and the history of department stores and nature photography. The lives of my great- and great-great-grandparents. Money management.
702WI: Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
JF: Michelle Obama and/or Gertrude Stein.
702WI: Vinyl, cassette, CD or digital? Typewriter, notebook, tablet or computer?
JF: Vinyl and computer.
702WI: What is your most meaningful place?
JF: Marc Chagall’s America Windows are displayed in a dark, quiet room at the Art Institute of Chicago, and standing in front of them is a religious experience.
702WI: What’s your favorite bookstore?
JF: Politics & Prose in Washington, DC, and City Lit Books in Chicago.
702WI: Can you share a favorite line from a creative work (book/play/film/song)?
JF: “Earth’s crammed with heaven/and every common bush afire with god/ but only he who sees takes off his shoes” – from "Aurora Leigh", by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
702WI: What do you enjoy most about doing a reading or talking about your book?
JF: I could geek out forever about the feminist history of fairy tales and the sentience of trees. I am also eternally grateful for the friends I’ve made while touring.
702WI: What is something you know about or have heard about Madison or Wisconsin?
JF: Madison taught me the word isthmus!
Attend the free upcoming reading with Julia at 702WI
Discover more about What Should Be Wild here
Visit Julia's Website