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AUTHOR OAKLEY HALL DIES; HELPED LAUNCH CHABON
Saturday, May 16, 2008, 11:45 PM ET
Source: Los Angeles Times

Oakley Hall, an author and professor at UC Irvine who helped launch Michael Chabon's career, died Monday. He was 87.

Chabon, who earned an MFA in creative writing from UC Irvine in 1987, studied under Hall. Chabon told the Los Angeles Times that Hall was admired and feared.

"Oakley would stay on a piece of writing, get into it on a molecular level," Chabon said. "He wasn't harsh [in his critiques], but he didn't pull any punches. He didn't worry if what he said would be easy to hear.

"He had a classic gruff exterior, but you knew he was a warm and affectionate man who was really trying to help. That made the criticism easier to take."

Chabon wrote Mysteries of Pittsburgh as his master's thesis during his time at Irvine. It was a different professor, MacDonald Harris (Don Heiney), who secretly sent the manuscript to an agent and truly put Chabon on the map.


CHABON VISITS NEW YORK
Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 11:45 PM ET
Source: Exclusive

This may shock some of my regular readers, but despite the fact that my Web site will celebrate its fifth year anniversary in six weeks, tonight was actually the first time I've ever actually met Michael Chabon or been to one of his readings. And so, for once, I get to give you the news first hand on what happened.

More than 150 people turned out to hear Chabon read from The Yiddish Policemen's Union at a Barnes & Noble. The reading was part of a national tour promoting the paperback version of the hit novel about the frozen chosen.

Never having been to one of these before, it was interesting to see what people brought with them for signatures. I spied a guy with a mint condition copy of Untold Tales of Kavalier & Clay ready for Chabon's John Hancock, and to my right and left were people who lugged every one of Chabon's books with them. (As for me, I just brought a copy of -- what else -- Kavalier & Clay.)

A Q&A followed. Among the highlights:

On Who Is He Reading: Kelly Link. "Two great collections," he said.

On People Who Call Yiddish Policemen's Union Anti-Semetic: "I'm just such a philo-semite that it's hard to get my mind around."

On Advice for Young Writers: "Take it easy on yourself," he says. "When you're 20, 21, 22 and you think you want to become a writer and you are writing, you also have a tendency to feel guilty when you don't write." He was only 22 when he wrote Mysteries of Pittsburgh, he noted. "I probably could have had a lot more fun and still gotten going on the novel."

On The Coen Brothers Directing the Yiddish Policemen Adaptation: "That sucks," he said (sarcastically of course).


CHABON APPROVES OF IRON MAN
Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 12:10 AM ET
Source: BlackBook

Apparently this weekend's opening of Iron Man won one notable fan.

"I love Robert Downey Jr.! He was the perfect choice for Iron Man," Michael Chabon said Monday, according to BlackBook.

Chabon was speaking at a press conference for the opening of the costume exhibit "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.


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