Contributor Spotlight: Robert Boucheron
Robert Boucheron’s essay “Labyrinth” is part of Issue 76 of Bellingham Review. Subscribe or purchase a single issue through our Submittable page here.
What would you like to share with our readers about the work you contributed to the Bellingham Review?
My essay “Labyrinth” is one of several on places real and imaginary, and their connections to literature.
Tell us about your writing life.
I’ve been writing now and then since age sixteen, with publications in high school and college literary magazines, and more regularly for the past ten years. Many of my stories and essays are set in small-town Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. Research informs both fiction and nonfiction. I try to capture the way people here talk, as well as their preoccupations with history, family, race, and religion.
Which non-writing aspect(s) of your life most influences your writing?
For almost forty years, I worked as an architect in New York and Virginia. Dealing with homeowners, contractors, and building officials has taught me many practical lessons.
What writing advice has stayed with you?
Try for a style that is simple and clear, a style that the reader does not notice.
What is your favorite book (or essay, poem, short story)? Favorite writer(s)?
My reading for the past few years has mainly been short stories and essays, especially by twentieth century writers. W. Somerset Maugham’s fiction is a favorite.
What are you reading right now?
This Quiet Dust, essays by William Styron.
What project(s) are you working on now, or next?
I’m revising short stories, putting them together in collections, and submitting the manuscripts to annual prizes for small press publication.
Anything else our readers might want to know about you?
I sang tenor for many years in church choirs, with some solo work. Before that, I played clarinet in bands and orchestras, including amateur musical show productions, often with solos.
Where can our readers connect with you online?
ROBERT BOUCHERON grew up in Syracuse and Schenectady, New York. From 1978 to 2016, he worked as an architect in New York City and Charlottesville, Virginia. His short stories and essays appear in Fiction International, London Journal of Fiction, New Haven Review, Poydras Review, The Short Story, and other magazines.
Featured Image: “Fall Road Trip” by JayRodman