Author Talk: David Biddle

Cameras and lights by Michael Sanchez.

Interviewer's Note: David Biddle has been a contributor to Talking Writing since 2011 and wrote the TW column Talking Indie from 2012 to 2016. A few days before Thanksgiving this year, we met up to conduct the first interview in a project that I'm currently calling Perfect Recognition. It's about intense aesthetic experiences—when we seem to recognize ourselves in the work of others—and the role of art, socially and personally. Although we'd read each other's work in TW, we didn't realize that we also live within walking distance.

During the interview, we talked about pursuing art throughout life, the roles that both writing and music have played in David's life, and how his family has affected his path toward an artistic career. As David says:

I'm adopted. In my family, everyone has a Ph.D. except me—not that I'm stupid, I just was more interested in artistic things and followed the beat of my own drummer. From an early stage, I was more interested in reading and writing and messing around with music than either of my siblings.

While pursuing a thirty-year career in consulting, David was also writing for a variety of different publications, including the Harvard Business Review and Huffington Post. Recently, his first novel, Old Music for New People, was published by The Story Plant. The book details a family summer vacation that ends up dominated by a family member's gender transition.

Excerpt from Old Music for New People

As part of the TW Reading Series, we've reprinted a partial chapter from David's Old Music for New People, titled "More Girl Than Girl." Don't miss this powerful excerpt, a culminating dinner scene with an extended family.