Today, a conversation with Richard Russo, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool, which was adapted into a film starring Paul Newman as Donald "Sully" Sullivan - a quick-witted under-achiever eking out a living in a decaying factory town.
23 years after that novel was published, Russo returns to north bath in his new novel, Everybody's Fool. Ten years have passed in the fictional town - still cursed, and still fixated on catching up with its booming rival - Schuyler Springs. It's Memorial Day weekend. Sully is a little richer, a little slower, and maintains his bar stool at the iron horse. Officer Raymer, previously a minor character, is now chief of police and the novel’s protagonist.
Virginia sat down with Richard Russo in front of a live audience at the Capital Center for the Arts in Concord, New Hampshire to talk about his life, career and the new novel. His visit was sponsored by Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, New Hampshire.