A finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, award-winning author Lydia Millet enjoys writing outdoors among Tucson wildlife and cacti.
Bill Finley Special to the Arizona Daily Star To understand where Lydia Millet is coming from as a writer, it helps to see where she is coming from as she writes, which is the porch of a small house near her own in the Sonoran Desert west of Tucson.
Her latest, “Dinosaurs,” was released last week by W.W. Norton & Co. It is her first novel since “A Children’s Bible,” a bestselling finalist for the National Book Award in 2020. Millet’s move to Arizona may have surprised some of her Manhattan neighbors. She was a city girl, raised in Toronto and educated at the University of North Carolina. Less well-known was the fact Millet had spent four months in the graduate writing program at the University of Arizona. Her mentor there was UA professor and National Book Award finalist Joy Williams. It was Williams who suggested Millet get to know her beloved desert.
Who knows who might stop by to say hi. Deer, coyotes, foxes and javelinas are regular visitors to Millet’s outdoor writing studio. Birds play a starring role her new novel. She mentions a different bird in every chapter, and sprinkles in scientific tidbits about them throughout. The book’s very title comes from the fact birds are descended from dinosaurs.
In “Dinosaurs,” her protagonist and narrator is Gil, a wealthy loner looking for connection and meaning. The story is set in a prosperous suburb of Phoenix, which is Millet’s first clue that she will be playing with us some. Gil learns to love his birds.
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