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What's Emily Ziff Griffin reading?

 
“Light Years” was Emily Ziff Griffin’s first YA novel.
“Light Years” was Emily Ziff Griffin’s first YA novel.
Published Sept. 20, 2017

Nightstand

Emily Ziff Griffin

Griffin's first YA novel, Light Years, concerns Luisa, a young woman on the brink of a career as a computer coder who finds herself in the middle of stopping a deadly virus. "The seed of this book comes from my own experience seeing my father die of AIDS as a teenager,'' Griffin said. "I wanted to always tell some version of this story, but I felt ultimately telling the literal version of what happened wasn't going to allow me enough freedom and distance. I wanted it to be compelling to people.''

Griffin holds a degree from Brown University in art semiotics, the study of how images make meaning. She lives in Los Angeles and was the co-founder, along with Philip Seymour Hoffman, of Cooper's Town Productions. It produced Capote, for which Hoffman won a best actor Oscar.

What books are on your nightstand?

Sun in Days: Poems by Meghan O'Rourke. She is an old friend. It is a galley. It's new. She also wrote an amazing memoir of losing her mother, The Long Goodbye. Her writing was a real inspiration to me. I also have The Dark Dark: Stories by Samantha Hunt, and Joy Harjo's A Map to the Next World: Poems. I like to keep that with me. It invites me into a certain place. Her writing is beautiful. Here is a (favorite quote): "I remember when there was no urge to cut the land or each other into pieces, when we knew how to think in beautiful."

I also like to have an audio book since I drive so much in L.A. I tried to do George Saunders (Lincoln in Bardo). I revere him so highly, but in audio it was impossible to do because it feels fragmented. I loved it on the page though. It's so historical.

And finally, I have Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art. It's an incredible book. I wish I read it before my book.

Can you explain why?

I'm really happy with the way I used technology, especially as someone not from the tech world. I had to find ways to make it accessible. It was something I had to do even though I'm not a coder. It would have deepened my understanding of technology and the history. I think it would have led to some "ah-ha's."

Contact Piper Castillo at pcastillo@tampabay.com. Follow @Florida_PBJC.