Interview

Lily Tuck discusses The News From Paraguay - winner of the National Book Award.

You've never been to Paraguay but you spent your childhood in Peru and Uruguay and you spoke three different languages by the time you were ten years old. Can you talk about the effect South America had on you? Has living in other countries given you a perspective that perhaps staying in one place for a lifetime, which many great writers do, would not have given you?
My childhood, although not unhappy, was a solitary one. I was an only child and my parents had to move a lot - first from Germany, then France, then South America - to escape the war and persecution. This also meant that I had to change schools several times and learn different languages. The result of this, I think, is that I had to rely on my imagination for company and entertainment. It also forced me to read a lot.

I was very young when I lived in South America so my memories are quite vague and mostly associated with family events. However, I do remember the lushness and the bright colors in our garden - the color red especially stays in my head.

I feel certain that living in other countries has given me a different perspective as a writer. It has heightened my sense of dislocation and rootlessness. One of my favorite quotes is from the poet, ...