Episode 24 - Hanya Yanagihara: The People in Trees - Part 3

In the final part of my Yanagihara trilogy from 2014, we continue to discuss her astonishing, unnerving debut The People in the Trees. Yanagihara begins by answering my question about whether her fiction sets out to astonish or unnerve. She continues by addressing at least some of the following:

• asking questions in art that she can't answer in life
• her (former) day job at Conde Nast Traveler
• about the advantages of a work-writing balance
• about the research needed to write The People in the Trees
• science and animal research
• Yanagihara's father and the evolution of science
• immigration and American science
• reactions from family and colleagues to The People in Trees
• 'I dont love the book either...'
• a preview of her next book, A Little Life

The interview ends with me gushing and the sounds of a hotel preparing for lunch. A new four part podcast about A Little Life will be released later this month.