Alumna Shari Goldhagen to visit Ohio State with new novel in tow

McKenzie Merriman
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 04:07:57 +0000
Books, Events, barnes and noble, In Some Other World Maybe, Master of Fine Arts, MFA, Shari Goldhagen

Novelist Shari Goldhagen is set to come to the South Campus Gateway Barnes & Noble on Jan. 24 to promote her new book ‘In Some Other World, Maybe.’ Courtesy of Shari Goldhagen

During her time in Ohio State’s Master of Fine Arts program, novelist Shari Goldhagen discovered how important it is to have a community of writers for support and feedback.

“Writing is such a solitary thing,” Goldhagen said. “Sometimes it’s hard to figure out if what you’re writing is any good or if you’re moving in a weird direction … but the great part of going to a program like that is that of course you learn the craft, but you also get to meet other people who are going through the same process.’

Goldhagen released her first novel, “Family and Other Accidents,” in 2006, receiving positive reviews from People magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Entertainment Weekly.

The alumna is set to stop at the South Campus Gateway Barnes & Noble during her book tour for her second novel, “In Some Other World, Maybe.”

“I feel like, ‘Of course I would come back,’” Goldhagen said.

Goldhagen graduated from OSU with her MFA in 2012, and said the school was a place she could break out from that solitary confinement of writers.

“The community of writers I developed with the other students was really amazing,” Goldhagen said. “Some of my best friends are from my MFA class. The most helpful part, for me at least, was the feedback.”

Sh said remembered the closeness of the program that made her a part of the community. She said that she’s “still in contact with several former professors and many of the students, unlike in undergrad,” which she attned

Writer Bill Roorbach was one of Goldhagen’s professors during her time in the MFA program, and remembered her as a “great commentator on the work of her peers.”

Roorbach also said that “(the) program was close knit and one of the reasons was Shari, who always had a plan and a party in mind … The party was about words and sentences, and it was always great to see young writers bonding on that basis.”

During her time as a student, Goldhagen said, “it was always exciting to me to see people who had gone through the program and (see) their books actually came out.”

“In Some Other World, Maybe,” which went on sale Jan. 13, is the culmination of Goldhagen’s OSU thesis project (originally consisting of a series of short stories), and chronicles the lives of three groups of characters over the span of 20 years. Through these three groups, whose stories all intersect in a movie theater in 1992, Goldhagen focuses on what it means to grow up in modern America.

Goldhagen is set to be at the South Campus Gateway Barnes & Noble at 2 p.m. on Saturday.