Joe Geha

What’s your genre?
Memoir, fiction and drama

Are you published?
Traditional publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
A teacher in college recognized something in me and encouraged it. That “something” I consider to be a gift as well as an obligation.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
I consider Richard Yates a “writers’ writer,” that is, someone a beginner can learn from. Yates is known for the deceptively simple directness of his prose style, the precision of his descriptions, the way he can pierce the reader with a character’s slightest gesture.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I use poker to inform my work as an artist. In poker it’s particularly evident that nothing risked equals nothing gained. Therefore, a regular dose of low stakes poker is enough for me to keep in mind the need I have to continue taking artistic risks.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Read, and read, and read. Beyond reading, I would encourage the fledgling writer to approach their work as a child approaches a sandbox—ready to play. For the moment, pay no attention to that killjoy grownup, your internal editor. Instead build and tear down and see what turns up. You’ll need that editor, but not till later, while the child’s enjoying a well-earned nap.

And read.

Author bio
Joe Geha, Professor Emeritus at Iowa State University, is also the author of Through and Through: Toledo Stories, and Lebanese Blonde. His poems, plays, essays and short stories have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies. His work was granted an NEA award, Pushcart Prize, and the Arab American Book Award. Read about Joe’s lastest book, Kitchen Arabic How My Family Came to America and the Recipes We Brought With Us, here.