Author's Interview with Jack Donahu.

First, before we move forward with our Author's Interview, I would like to start with an introduction. 

1. Could you please introduce yourself to us? 

I am a 79 year old poet, playwright, short story writer and novelist. Many poems and short stories have been published in literary journals throughout North & South America, U.K., Europe, Cyprus, India, and New Zealand. My work has appeared in print alongside Nobel laureates Margaret Atwood, Pablo Neruda, and other literary luminaries - Tennessee Willams, Robert Graves, Paul Bowles and others. Several plays and a musical 'Birthday Boy' have been staged Off Broadway and in regional theaters around the USA. I am married to Carol with a blended family of three children, their spouses and six grandchildren. My first wife Betty died of brain cancer in 2004. I have a Masters of Divinity degree from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey.

2. Congratulations on your book. So what inspired you to write this book?

I was inspired by the life of my father whom I met only four times. He died of alcoholism and tuberculosis in the Bowery, Skid Row in NYC. My mother was a psychiatric patient at Bronx State Psychiatric Institution who committed suicide was age 51. She had heroically tried raising my sister and I, so we were placed in three different orphanages at a young age. I hated my father because he wasn't present but as I matured my hatred turned to love. I decided that his life was worthy of dignity and respect. LOST ON CHERRY STREET is dedicated to him. 

3. What is the book all about? 

The novel is a saga of three generations of an Irish family that emigrated to America in the 1840's during the Great Hunger (potato famine) and settled in lower Manhattan, involved in the tenement building industry, dominated by corrupt politicians. The story is about their struggles to survive and thrive in America during a time when the Irish were considered the lowest class. 

4. Why did you choose this genre for your book? 

Historical fiction was meaningful for the story I wanted to tell because I wanted to explore the various emotional, psychological and spiritual forces possessed by ancestors that significantly form the current generation. 

5. How much time did it take to complete this book?

The book took four years from start to finish. The first year was devoted totally to research, including a trip to Ireland, visiting actual sites used in the story.

6. What makes your Book Special? 

The book is written ia a literary style, yet includes gritty, colloquial dialogue that make the characters authentic, both good and bad. Also, there is ample mystery and surprising plot twists that keep the reader involved.

7. When is your second book coming?

A second novel is being published next year by Guernica World Editions in Ontario, Canada. They accepted my second novel before I received the contract with Willow River Press.

8. While writing did you get any writer's block? What is the Tip that you will give others who are facing writer's block?

I did not experience writer's block this time. As a matter of fact, I would frequently wake up in the middle of the night with an idea for a scene, or a snatch of dialogue and I'd turn on the light and write it down. The story simply flowed throughout.

9. What are your other hobbies besides being a talented author?

I love to swim in natural waters, oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, as opposed to a pool. I saw and chop logs for firewood. Travel to various countries and engage with not only the sites but with the native people. Classical musical concerts with symphony orchestras inspire a lot of my poetry.

10. Last but not the least, How did you feel, while giving this interview? 

Donahue I feel that the questions were poignant and hope they are sufficient for your purposes.

Book Review