Tom Franklin was raised in a “hamlet” in Alabama. In this On the Fly interview, recorded in November 2010, Franklin discusses his mixed feeling about being characterized as a “Southern writer.”
He also discusses his “very strange religious background,” which led, among other things, to the burning of his collection of Tarzan books. He discusses the ways in which he was injured by religion, the “rich material” he knows could be mined from his experiences, and why writing isn’t a spiritual activity for him.
Franklin was in Iowa City to read from his novel Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter at Prairie Lights. The book won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Crime Writers’ Association’s Gold Dagger Award.
In addition to Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Franklin is the author of the short story collection Poachers, as well as the novels Hell at the Breech and Smonk. His most recent novel, The Tilted World, was written in collaboration with his wife, poet Beth Ann Fennelly.
