Hanya Yanagihara on To Paradise, SWF 2022
On Friday 20 May 2022, the City Recital Hall at Sydney’s Angel Place was buzzing. When acclaimed, much loved New York novelist Hanya Yanagihara finally appeared, the crowd exploded.
Yanagihara and SBS journalist Anton Enus have been in conversation together before, so their talk was easy, cheeky, brilliant. First they complimented each other’s clothes: her black dress and sparkly silver slippers, his gold and red shirt. Enus reminded us that Yanagihara is not just the author of bestselling sensation A Little Life (2015) – and now To Paradise (2022) – but also has a big day job, as editor of T, the New York Times Style Magazine.
When Enus opened by asking Yanagihara about her choice to write such challenging novels, she calmly replied, Readers should be made to work. It’s a great act of vulnerability to open the book and go where the writer tells you.
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