'Write what you see; what you hear'

 

“I simply write what I find to be the way people are. . . I just let my characters go, the way I let life go.” – Carolyn Chute 

 

Born in Maine on this date in 1947, Chute is an award-winning writer (both a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Thornton Wilder Award) who writes by hand, lives off the grid (no electricity or running water in her home), and raises much of her own food.

  

 She started writing as a part-time newspaper correspondent, then taught creative writing while finishing her first novel The Beans of Egypt, Maine, also made into a well-received movie.

 

Now the author of half-dozen books and numerous short stories, she is a frequent speaker about class issues in America, strongly identified with the culture of poor, rural western Maine although her works speak to other similar regions in the U.S.  

  

Write what you see and hear, Chute says.   “All I want to do is explore. I want to see what people would do.  I say, 'What would this person do in this situation?' and I write it down.”