Robert Hellenga Honored by Reviewer
From: Gapers Block (Chicago, IL)
Robert Hellenga, author of six novels including his debut national bestseller The Sixteen Pleasures, celebrates his birthday on Aug. 5. Consider this interview a small birthday celebration of this very accomplished Midwesterner. Hellenga teaches English at Knox College…
Q: It seems that your fiction is heavily influenced by your own life. Is this a deliberate or subconscious influence?
A: I don’t know what else to do, though I extend the range of experience through research…Q: The Sixteen Pleasures is so rich with detail and historically correct facts about Florence. What was your research process like for this novel?
A: I was director of the ACM Florence programs, and our whole family (my wife and three daughters) went there for a year in 1982-83… I had to do extensive library research on the flood, book conservation, convent life… Read more…
