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Joseph Olshan

Joseph Olshan

Joseph Olshan is the award-winning author of eight novels. His first novel was Clara's Heart, which went on to be made into a film starring Whoopi Goldberg. His other novels include Nightswimmer and In Clara's Hands. In addition he has written extensively for newspapers and magazines and for several years was a professor of Creative Writing at New York University. He spends most of the year in Vermont. His most recent release is 'Black Diamond Fall.'

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Joseph Olshan

Miscellany

Why Contemporary Novels Can’t Resonate with All

Is it possible to write about a book you’ve read and didn’t viscerally respond to without discouraging that book’s other potential readers? Is it possible to recognize a book’s many qualities and still say that your experience reading it wasn’t exactly satisfying? I am going to try and do this…
Joseph Olshan
October 1, 2018
Miscellany

Finding Narrative in Dangerous Tourist Settings

I recently visited the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland’s County Clare—a mecca that attracts tourists from all over the world. The cliffs rise precipitously above the Atlantic, and when you stand at the top of them, you look down on a short grassy decent that quickly ends at a sharp…
Joseph Olshan
September 18, 2018
Miscellany

The Ever-Changing Climate of Book Reviewing

A good friend of mine (who started her career more or less at the same time) reminded me the other day how it used to be when a writer of literary fiction published a book. All the reviews would appear within a couple of weeks, and there were quite a…
Joseph Olshan
August 7, 2018
Miscellany

Sorting Through Fiction and Non-Fiction Narratives

At Delphinium, we often ponder the difference between fiction and non-fiction narrative, and it seems more and more that these two literary distinctions are being blurred. Even though the memoir genre is still thriving, it’s now generally understood that memoirs are embellished, truth laced with invention; and yet it’s also…
Joseph Olshan
August 7, 2018
Miscellany

My Favorite Short Story: “The Captain’s Daughter”

Writers and editors are often asked to name their favorite novel but seldom are asked to name their favorite short story. This fact may be determined by the short story’s brevity and that there are many more “perfect” short stories than there are “perfect” novels. Then again novels are not…
Joseph Olshan
May 23, 2018