Claire Vaye Watkins won two major literary prizesfor her 2012 debut Battleborn, a collection of short stories rich with details of desert life in her home state of Nevada. She followed it up in 2015 with Gold Fame Citrus, a dystopian novel set in a near-future California where climate change has caused both a drought and encroaching sands that threaten to choke the Golden State.
In this interview, she talks about her inspiration behind the novel, as well as parallels between her writing and Southern literature, her favorite Southern authors, how her childhood listening to members of Alcoholics Anonymous tell stories has influenced her own storytelling sensibilities, and more.
Watkins will be in Chattanooga on April 21 as part of the Southern Lit Alliance's South Bound Distinguished Lectures Series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNL_JtOS3UY