At a talk called "Concept to Completion," hosted by the Gene Barnett Literary Society of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, N.J., Pulitzer Prize-winner Elizabeth Strout spoke about her new novel, The Burgess Boys (Random House), craft and the importance of fiction. "Fiction is truer than most of the nonfiction we read because in fiction one can stay closer to the facts," she said. "Novels are there as a social tool to bring the news and make readers understand that people are more alike than they are different. And while those differences can be significant, the only way we can really touch each other's shoulders is through fiction. We only have each other." Asked about books on craft that have influenced her writing, she cited War and Peace and The Journals of John Cheever, adding, "These books are not specifically about craft, but they've greatly instructed me in my work." --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines
