Fran Hawthorne
Fran Hawthorne has been writing novels since she was four years old, although she was sidetracked for several decades by journalism. During that award-winning career, she wrote eight nonfiction books, mainly about consumer activism, the drug industry, and the financial world. For instance, Ethical Chic (Beacon Press) was named one of the best business books of 2012 by Library Journal, and Pension Dumping (Bloomberg Press) was a Foreword magazine 2008 Book of the Year. She's also been an editor or regular contributor for The New York Times, Business Week, Fortune, Newsday, and many other publications. But Fran never abandoned her true love: Her debut novel, The Heirs, was published in 2018 by Stephen F. Austin State University Press. With the publication of I Meant to Tell You, and firmly committed to fiction now, Fran is at work on two new novels and also writes book reviews for the New York Journal of Books.
Twitter: @HawthorneWriter
Instagram: @HawthorneWriter
What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
Some years back, when I was giving a talk in Sausalito, CA, about my nonfiction book Inside the FDA, an audience member asked me: “Does your book include the international Nazi conspiracy to poison the food supply?”
Favorite non-reading activity?
Most mornings, I run 8 miles or so. That’s pretty nice, especially on my summer routes along the East River of New York City, where I watch all sorts of boats churn the water while the sunrise paints the sky. Running not only wakes up my body, but it also gives my brain some unstructured time to – maybe – muse over my next book.
But even those beloved routes become boring after too many repetitions. So my truly favorite activity is to go running in a new place, where I can be surprised by whatever is around the bend.
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
Actually, I almost never bail. That’s because I write reviews for The New York Journal of Books: If I’m reviewing a book, I feel obligated to read the entire thing – and I’m glad. A handful of times, I’ve found that the last one-fourth or even the last 20 pages completely upended my negative opinion of all the previous pages. (And honestly, I wouldn’t want impatient readers dropping my novels after 10 or 20 pages. So, fair’s fair.)
Is there another profession you would like to try?
I’ve always looked with some longing at politics and acting (both of which, of course, have a lot in common). I’ve done some amateur acting with local theater groups, and I love giving book talks. Also, some key characters in my newest novel were leaders in the antiwar movement in the Sixties. I suppose all of that is the closest I’ll ever get to my alternative lives.
If you could create a museum exhibition, what would be the theme?
Since my interests tend toward history and political activism more than fine art, I’d love to put together an exhibition about the history of, for instance, labor or consumer activism. Right now, in fact, I’m starting to plot out a novel that involves a small museum. (And no, it’s not a museum focused on either of those topics.)
If I could have a second exhibition? Ever since reading Josephine Tey’s novel The Daughter of Time in seventh grade, I’ve been fascinated by the way history has mistreated King Richard III, who briefly ruled England in the fifteenth century (and, contrary to Shakespeare, was not a hunchback and did not murder his nephews in the Tower of London). It would be great to curate an exhibition showing the truth about his life and reign.
