Interview: Thomas Farber

Leafbox Podcast

Today I had the pleasure of connecting with fellow surfer and ocean lover Thomas Farber. Thomas Farber is a master in capturing the essence of life’s intimate moments, condensing the most profound into beautiful profound vignettes.

Awarded Guggenheim and, three times, National Endowment fellowships for fiction and creative nonfiction, Thomas Farber has been a Fulbright Scholar, recipient of the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, and Rockefeller Foundation scholar at Bellagio.

An Author of over 20 books of fiction and creative non fiction and has just published two new collections, Acting my Age and Penultimates.

Awarded Guggenheim and, three times, National Endowment fellowships for fiction and creative nonfiction, Thomas Farber has been a Fulbright Scholar, recipient of the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, and Rockefeller Foundation scholar at Bellagio.

Thomas Farber's other recent books include Here and Gone, The End of My Wits, Brief Nudity and The Beholder. Former Visiting Distinguished Writer at the University of Hawai'i, he teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

We connect today about his latest meditations on life, death, writing, the sea, women, Diamond Head and much more. All with humor, humility, gravitas, and wisdom, I’m grateful for his enduring lessons.

Time Stamps

(2:27) Wearing Black, Theatre Playing the “writer”(4:06) Publishing Acting by Age with Manoa Journal(9:33) Growing Older/ Acceptance / Being a Child of the 60s

(11:06) On Spirituality

(15:57 ) The Banayan Tree / Hāmākuapoko Ruins Maui

(17:57) First Trips to Hawaii 1971

(21:56) Collaboration with Wayne Levin

(27:40) On Sailboats / The Book Of Love

(30:18) On Minimalism, Scuba Gear, Surfboards

(32:04) Epigrams

(37:55) The 96 Year Old ‘Carrot’

(39:32) On his novel The Beholder, writing about physical love

(42:27) Doom Scrolling

(44:44) Advice to young writers

(46:32) Making Amends; New Projects

(52:00) Jean Cocteau and the importance of readers

More Info @ https://thomasfarber.org/

Excerpt: Ruins 1999 By Thomas Farber

Headshot Credit: Ugo Corte

Book Cover Photos: Wayne Levin



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