Sex, love, loss, longing, midlife crises, and midnight runs to Kum & Go: a steamy summer in Grinnell, Iowa is the setting for the new novel Summerlong. For his third novel, Dean Bakopoulos, writer-in-residence at Grinnell College, wrote a story that hits close to home.
"I’m a fiction writer but I’m a fiction writer who really mines my personal life for material. [...] My imagination is borne from the anxious mess of personal demons. When you're that type of writer, you really do have to write about where you’re at, at that moment."
The novel follows Claire and Don Lowry through a summer that changes their marriage, their perspectives, and their lives. Its been called Bakopoulos's break-through novel and goes on sale today.
In this Talk of Iowa interview, host Charity Nebbe talks with Bakopoulos about his inspiration, his writing process, and his community's reaction to Summerlong.