Tommy Orange interview: ‘I didn’t fall in love with reading until my mid-20s'

The inspirations behind my Booker-longlisted book 

At first I was writing a straightforward sequel to There There. And then I was at a museum in Sweden where I stumbled across this history of boarding schools, starting at a prison-castle in Florida. Half the prisoners there were from my tribe. I wanted to connect this history to the sequel somehow. Doing research, I found out one of the actual prisoners at the prison-castle’s name was Bear Shield, and that’s the name of one of the central families from There There, so I found the link and realised the book could be a generational saga.  

The book that made me fall in love with reading 

I didn’t read as a child or teenager. I grew up in an Evangelical Christian Church. A lot of the time I was reading the Bible, the book of Revelations because I was wanting to know what to look out for when the world began to end. I didn’t fall in love with reading until my mid-20s, after graduating with my undergrad in sound engineering. I was working at a used bookstore. Two novels that made me fall in love with reading then were Confederacy of Dunces and The Bell Jar.  

The book that made me want to become a writer 

There were a few writers and books that did this for me when I first started reading in my 20s. Jorge Luis Borges’ Labyrinths and Dreamtigers, Clarice Lispector’s Hour of the Star, and Robert Walsers’ Selected Short Stories. Reading those was the first time I remember thinking, oh, I didn’t know you could do this. I want to do this.   

The book that impressed me the most

I don’t mean to repeat myself but Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon to me is the perfect novel. It tells an amazing story while also addressing social issues and is full of ideas and incredible scenes and even a search for buried treasure of a sort. Also, the language, as in all of Toni’s work is doing so much. It is full of so much beauty and wisdom and wit. I would also say her novel Love is close to perfect as well. And if I had to pick another I’d say Louise Erdrich’s Round House for similar reasons.

The book I’m reading at the moment

I just finished Glory Days by Simon Rich. It’s absolutely hilarious and singular. I think he’s one of the funniest writers out there but also a master of the comedic premise in short story form.  

The Booker-nominated book everyone should read 

Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings.