“I like being in Austin, and going anywhere in my mind.”
—Robert Shapard
A member of the Writers’ League since 2007, Shapard lives in the Austin, TX area.
Scribe: Welcome, writer! Tell us — what do you write?
Robert Shapard: Very short stories and currently a novel.
Scribe: If you could choose one author to blurb your book, who would it be, and what would you want it to say?
RS: A writer named Fred Chappell. It would say: “I can’t believe he wrote this. I didn’t think he could.”
Scribe: You have one book you’re allowed to push onto all of your friends, and they’re forced to read it to remain your friend — which one would you choose?
RS: A Michael Connelly book featuring Harry Bosch, because I want them to remain my friends.
Scribe: Tell us your WLT story.
RS: I heard about WLT from a poet-cousin. I remember attending a week long WLT novel workshop in Alpine (at Sul Ross University) and dining in Marfa.
Scribe: Where do you see your writing taking you (or you taking it) in the future?
RS: I like being in Austin, and going anywhere in my mind. My stories are set in Venezuela, Hawaii, Cape Cod, etc. Currently I’m writing something set in Port Isabel, Texas.
Scribe: Here at the WLT, we love sharing book recommendations. What’s one book that has come out within the past few years that you couldn’t put down? (Bonus points if the book is Texas related!)
RS: The Ocean and the Stars, Mark Helprin.
Scribe: Is there anything else about you that you would like to share with the world? An opportunity for blatant self-promotion!
RS: I co-created and edited many Flash and Sudden Fiction anthologies for W.W. Norton over 30 years, but my FIRST book, as author, not an editor, is Bare Ana and Other Stories. It won the Regal House W.S. Porter Prize for Short Story Collection, to be published in Feb. ’25.
Scribe: Let us know any social media handles you have!
RS: Facebook: robert shapard facebook (keep the spaces).
Website: robertshapard.com