Small Talk: Curtis Sittenfeld

“I observe the world and I get paid for it”, says Curtis Sittenfeld. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1975, and after graduating in creative writing from Stanford University, California, she worked as a journalist before enrolling at the University of Iowa’s writers’ workshop. In Sittenfeld’s first novel, Prep, a coming of age story set in a boarding school, Sittenfeld draws on her own experiences. American Wife, her third novel, is the fictional tale of a first lady, loosely based on Laura Bush. Sittenfeld is married and lives in St Louis, Missouri.

What stimulates the writer in you?

A combination of curiosity and confusion about the way other people act.

What book changed your life?

Monkeys by Susan Minot, which I read when I was 15. It’s a book of short stories about a big New England family and it showed me that a writer could write about families and children and their lives without having to relate dramatic events such as going into outer space or to war.

What is the last thing you read that made you laugh out loud?

Satirical talk show host Stephen Colbert’s book I Am America (And So Can You!).

Who is your perfect reader?

Someone who appreciates language and structure and isn’t looking for a super fast-paced plot full of murders and betrayals.

Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with?

Alice Munro. I worship her.

What are you scared of?

McCain being elected president.

What would you change about yourself?

I’d be less neurotic.

What would you do if you gave up writing?

I’d be a high school English teacher. I’ve done this part-time and sometimes I think I enjoy it more than writing. Schools are very fun, energetic places to be.

What book do you wish you’d written?

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. It’s the perfect book.

What would a novel about your life be called?

I think it would be: Asleep by 9.30pm, No Matter Where I Am. It would be a pretty boring novel.

What are you most proud of writing?

I’m proud of having finished three books, but of them American Wife was very ambitious. It was an experiment and I pulled it off to my own satisfaction.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest novel is ‘American Wife’ (Random House)