GBF Author Q&A with... Poet Linda Pastan

This is the first in a series of Q&As with authors that will be featured at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 21.

Name: Linda Pastan
Books: 13 volumes of poetry, most recently "Traveling Light."

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Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere / Anywhere

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Read!!!!

What are you reading right now?
Though I am always reading poetry, I also read about a novel a week. In between more serious books, I read good mysteries -- they are like eating sorbet between courses to cleanse the palette. At the moment I am reading "Silence Of The Grave" by Arnaldur Indridason.

What's your favorite opening line from a book? "There is a certain shade of red brick -- a dark, almost melodious red, sombre and riddled with blue -- that is my childhood in St. Louis." -- From "First Love and Other Sorrows" by Harold Brodkey (Before I became a serious poet, I wrote short stories and loved Brodkey's -- almost knew them by heart!)

Read more about Linda Pastan on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website or poets.org.

So there you have it. A sneak peak into what inspires and appeals to a former Poet Laureate of Maryland.

Stay tuned for more Q&As from other featured authors.