Hanya Yanagihara, the best-selling author of The People in the Trees and A Little Life, visited Butler University this past September as a Vivian S. Delbrook visiting writer. She spent two days discussing her work and craft with students.
Yanagihara was introduced by a Butler student who said, “Yanagihara tackles ideas extremely dark and troubling and makes it personal and meaningful by blanketing the horror in gorgeous prose…. She gets in your head, and more dangerously, in your heart.” In her presentation, Yanagihara discussed both the dark themes of her work and the importance of seeking a reader’s heart.
Typically, visiting writers present a reading followed by a brief question and answer, but Yanagihara opted for a conversation format led by English Professor Ania Spyra. She encouraged the Indianapolis community and Butler student body across disciplines to continue reading, even uncomfortable subjects. “Be brave,” she said. “Enter a new world.” The event was covered in detail by WTHR.
The day following her public presentation, Yanagihara met with a small group of Butler students for an intimate discussion focused on writing. All who had the pleasure to meet her agreed she was warm and helpful. Second year MFA student Stephanie Anderson said, “She is a master writer and a master sweetheart!”
Yanagihara shared writing tips like the best time to write, handling rejection, and even her own checklist for how to successfully write complex characters. She encouraged writing “cross-difference”; that is, to write characters different from the author’s background. “If a character is a symbol of difference, he is not a character…. Know 1000 things about him besides the difference,” she said. “Be prepared for people not liking it. Don’t be defensive.”
She told writers not to focus on perfection. “The ultimate compliment is that it is strange,” she said of her work. “It’s messy and involves your involvement and rewards you with a question.”
The next Vivian S. Delbrook visiting writer is the award-winning poet, Robert Wrigley. His reading is on Tuesday, October 25 at 7:30 PM in the Atherton Union Reilly Room.