Virginia Evans: I loved books about things that can't exist'

Childhood reading memories include uncertain titles but a clear sense of reading alongside a sister in car rides and shared bedrooms. Early favorites centered on mysteries and fantasy, including Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children, Narnia, and The Wind in the Willows, with a strong pull toward impossible things like talking animals, time travel, and tiny people. At 15, The Grapes of Wrath provided a first deep understanding of fiction’s power to convey the intricacies of living and to stretch empathy through the Joad family’s suffering. Later, Joan Didion’s writing shifted perspectives on the world, politics, land, water, time, motherhood, and marriage. In college, Interpreter of Maladies inspired a commitment to writing through the beauty and compelling force of language. Pride and Prejudice was initially confusing but became enjoyable in the late 20s, while Rebecca and East of Eden were reread repeatedly.

"I read so many of the Nancy Drew books, and The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. And I loved the Narnia stories and The Wind in the Willows. I loved books about things that can't exist. I suppose it's all escapism crimes solved by children, talking animals, time travel, people two inches tall. I always loved to slip into another, better world."

"It was my first real understanding of what fiction can do, how far a story can go, how words can be put to the intricacies of living. It stretched my empathy, seeing what the Joad family endured, learning through story what had happened in that place and time in American history."

"Every time I read her work, I am changed in some way. Her writing makes me think of the world, people, politics, the land, water, time, motherhood, marriage differently."

"I read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and I discovered what can be done with language and words to make something beautiful and compelling. I thought: I have to do this, I can do this, I will do this."

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