Brook Trout and the Writing Life by Craig Nova

You say that “ writing a book is not a matter of what the writer does to the book, but what the book does to the writer”. On their sides, however, they are marked differently: The color of the back gives way to a silvery brown and then to a satinlike and dark silver which is spotted with circles of brown and light brown, which circles have the aspect of cut and polished hardwood, oak, chestnut oak, walnut, cherry, or very old woods of a lighter color which have been handled and waxed and rubbed into darkness… They are dark, either brown or bluish brown on the back and they are almost impossible to see from above unless there are shadows. It is the coloring though, which distinquishes them. There are delicate rays in the tails as well, ridges that are fine and symmetrical. They are streamlined and quick moving, having tails that are the color of hickory bark and the texture of wet silk. You will also never look at brook trout again on your dinner plate without thinking of Craig Nova’s description of them: Brook trout are the most beautiful of fish. He’s led an interesting life, and there is even a clift-hanger in the book involving an attempt by an unknown person to extort money from him. As Ann Beattie writes in the foreword: “ Brook Trout and the Writing Life is three books in one – a beautifully tied, totally convincing fly of a book, woven from several strands: marriage and fatherhood being a writer being a fisherman”. He reveals his love of family, worries, hopes, and stress and those life-changing moments of a naturalist living and teaching his children how to live a full life. Don’t get fooled by the title, it’s not just about fishing (although fishing is a big part of Mr. He has also written a memoir called Brook Trout and the Writing Life.

Nova was a judge on the fiction panel of the 2006 National Book Awards. In 2005 he was named Class of 1949 Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Nova also received an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1997. His short story, “ The Prince,” won an O.Henry Award. He is an award-winning author of twelve novels, such as The Good Son, and his most recent novel – The Informer. Craig Nova‘s writing has appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine among other publications.

Brook Trout and the Writing Life by Craig Nova