Diane Hammond biography

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Diane Hammond
Delaney Andrews

Diane Hammond

Diane Hammond Biography

Diane Hammond is the author of critically acclaimed novels including Going to Bend and Homesick Creek. A Bend resident, she is the recipient of an Oregon Arts Commission literary fellowship and served as a spokesperson for the Free Willy Keiko Foundation and the Oregon Coast Aquarium.



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Interview

First time novelist, Diane Hammond, explains why the weather takes on the aspect of a character in Going To Bend, why she chose to write about a small town community when she was brought up in New York herself and whether she has plans for a sequel.

Going to Bend is your first novel. Is there a story behind your writing it?
I think of the first half of this book as my graduate school thesis. I wrote it in 1994 and 1995, agonizing over its technical aspects and devices as well as its characters and story line. Craft issues have always loomed large for me. Are the character voices clear enough, consistent enough, revealing enough? How much of the story should I stage, and how much can I just allude to in internal monologues? Is it moving along smoothly? Experienced writers make hundreds of critical decisions by instinct, but most less-experienced writers don’t have that luxury. It can be exhausting. In fact, by the exact midway point in the book, I was so worn out from the technical choices and decisions I was making that I was losing my way in the story. This, plus the fact that I had a young child, multiple sclerosis, and a demanding day job, convinced me to put the manuscript down. In fact, I didn’t look at it again until 2001, when I was uninspired by whatever work was at hand and instead hauled out the manuscript. By then, thanks to my appallingly bad memory, I had forgotten more about ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Diane Hammond at BookBrowse
Homesick Creek jacket Going To Bend jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Diane Hammond but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Maeve Binchy

    Maeve Binchy

    Maeve Binchy was born in a small village outside Dublin. She spent her childhood in Dalkey, an experience she draws on today when creating the rural villages usually at the heart of her novels. After receiving her B... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Going To Bend

    Try:
    Tara Road
    by Maeve Binchy

  • Barbara Delinsky

    Barbara Delinsky

    In her own words: "I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother's death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Going To Bend

    Try:
    Lake News
    by Barbara Delinsky

We recommend 4 similar authors

View all 4 Read-Alikes

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