When I graduated from high school, my parents bought me a typewriter with a cartridge that could be inserted when I wanted to white-out a mistake. The typewriter seemed extraordinary. No more erasable paper for me! Today, with the help of Nikki Leigh, I created a blog. I decided to call my blog Pentimento, with a nod to Lillian Hellman and her wonderful novel of the same name. I think it is a fitting title for my blog, as well as a meaningful introduction to The Sinner's Guide to Confession. In some ways, all of our lives are shaped by layers of experience ane secrets these experiences generate. Pentimento, the process by which painters often use the same canvas for drafts is an analagous concept. The original painting is exposed when the top layer becomes translucent with age. Perhaps we all become more "translucent" with age, our secrets push to the surface, demanding to be heard, needing to be understood. It makes sense, then, that we choose our confessors even before we are ready to confess.
The Sinner's Guide to Confession
Willing Spirits
About Me
- Phyllis Schieber
- The first great irony of my life was that I was born in a Catholic hospital. My parents, survivors of the Holocaust, had settled in the South Bronx among other new immigrants. In the mid-fifties, my family moved to Washington Heights. The area offered scenic views of the Hudson River and the Palisades, as well as access to Fort Tryon Park and the mysteries of the Cloisters. I graduated from George Washington High School. I graduated from high school at sixteen, went on to Bronx Community College, transferred to and graduated from Herbert H. Lehman College with a B.A. in English and a New York State license to teach English. I earned my M.A. in Literature from New York University and later my M.S. as a developmental specialist from Yeshiva University. I have worked as a high school English teacher and as a learning disabilties specialist . My first novel , Strictly Personal, for young adults, was published by Fawcett-Juniper. Willing Spirits was published by William Morrow. My most recent novel, The Sinner’s Guide to Confession, was released by Berkley Putnam on July 1, 2008. In March 2008, Berkley Putnam will issue the first paperback publication of Willing Spirits.
Interview with Nikki Leigh on THE SINNER'S GUIDE TO CONFESSION
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