The famous author in Thomas Wolfe's novel "You Can't Go Home Again" exposed the home folks' flaws to the world, and they didn't exactly love him for it when he returned.
Chances are New York-based writer and editor Anne Stameshkin will get a warmer reception on her home turf as a featured speaker at the Lancaster Book Festival.
After all, Stameshkin isn't famous — yet — so the world hasn't yet read her account of local foibles. But Lancastrians have reason to worry: She just published a short story in a literary magazine and secured an agent to market her first novel and short-story collection.
The Hempfield High School graduate is one of the emerging writers invited to share the spotlight with well-established authors at the festival, set for 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 12, on the Lancaster campus of HACC.
Those in Stameshkin's new hometown may have more to fear about exposure than Lancastrians.
"I love writing about New York, and lately Brooklyn, and the way people interact here in the city, where we all live on top of each other" Stameshkin said in an e-mail interview.
"I've always been fascinated by near-misses and connections among people in all kinds of relationships. I don't think friendship gets written about enough, so a lot of my work focuses on the intense bonds we develop (and sometimes lose) with people we love platonically."
Stameshkin concentrates on creating "voice-driven, genre-bending literary fiction," inspired by contemporary writers Michael Chabon, Susanna Clarke, Edward P. Jones, Kelly Link, Lorrie Moore, Salman Rushdie and Ann Patchett.
"I think the best stories center around questions that don't have easy or 'right' answers, ones that keep us up at night. I don't force such questions into my stories, but they're always there, under the surface. ... For instance: Why do people take such pleasure in others' misfortunes, those of celebrities, rivals, and even loved ones?"
Guiding her is what she calls "one of the oldest rules in fiction ... that your characters have to have desires — they have to want something. Often what my characters want is to be able to make a choice or transition. I don't like neat and tidy endings, but I do like small and meaningful changes, ones that leave readers or characters with something to hope for or dread."
Stameshkin's interest in storytelling has shaped her life.
"Even before I could write or read, I used to make up alternative stories based on the illustrations in picture books," she recalled.
"I kept poetry journals for years and wrote plays for my sister and cousins to perform. ... But honestly, I didn't feel like I could call myself a real writer until I had something accepted for publication, which was very recently."
Her story, "Recognition," appears in the spring 2008 issue of the Chattahoochee Review. She also just signed with Brick House Literary Agency, and her agent "e-mails me at least once a week to tell me I need to finish my novel," she said.
Stameshkin is the daughter of David Stameshkin, a Franklin & Marshall College dean, and Colleen Stameshkin, a Millersville University philosophy professor.
In high school, she wrote for the literary magazine and "had some amazing teachers, among them Connie Kondravy, who invited me to read at this festival," she noted
Majoring in English at Connecticut College, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan, where she also taught writing.
She works now as a freelancer, sometimes editing fiction manuscripts but also writing grants and book reviews.
"Most of my income is earned at McGraw-Hill, where I edit college English textbooks," she explained. "I work closely with authors at every stage of the process, from shaping content to fine-tuning prose to shepherding the book through design."
She admitted that "it's hard sometimes to edit another author's language all day and then do the same for my own work."
But working with other writers must appeal to her: "What I really want to do eventually is teach full time," she said.
Other emerging writers featured at the festival are HACC students who will read from their contributions to Voices, the college literary journal. They include: Kendra Schweitzer, Alex Egbert, and Voices Editor Julia Boyer.
Local Scholastic Writing Award winners may also read, according to Kondravy, the now-retired HHS English teacher who now teaches at HACC and served as a judge for the awards.
Jo-Ann Greene is editor of the Books section. Her e-mail address is jgreene@lnpnews.com.
