Though I stepped down as editor of The Sound about a year ago, I’m still writing for what is, in my humble-and-totally-unbiased-opinion, the Seacoast’s best arts and culture publication. It’s been nice to focus on one of my passions: writing about books. Since wrapping up grad school five years go, I don’t always have the time to talk shop with other writers, and so interviewing local and touring authors has really scratched one of my writing itches.

One of the highlights: interviewing Brad Gooch, whose new biography of Rumi is pretty great. Brad was one of my professors way back during my undergrad years at William Paterson University in New Jersey; I took three or four classes with him, during which, in his dryly humorous way, he knocked out some of my adolescent arrogance. Also fun: talking with Michael Finkel about his new book, The Stranger in the Woods. We had a great conversation about solitude, books, religion, and the ethics of telling stories. It’s a book I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.