Community Corner
Hoagland, 80, Finishes 23rd Book
Set in Africa, Edward Hoagland's novel "Children are Diamonds" is expected to be published in June, said the Edgartown author. It is his 23rd book since 1955 and the third new work he has completed in the past three years, he said.
An Edgartown author who recently passed his 80th birthday — as observed by Garrison Keillor in the famed broadcaster's "Writer's Almanac" — now has something else to celebrate.
Edward "Ted" Hoagland has finished working on his 23rd book, a novel titled Children are Diamonds that is set in Africa and will be published in June, he said.
It's his third new work in as many years, added Hoagland, who published the memoir Alaskan Travels in 2012 and Sex and the River Styx, a collection of new essays, in 2011.
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"I don't know any other writers who have had new books out at 78, 79 and 80," Hoagland said during a visit to the Edgartown Public Library in February.
Held as a master of his craft by peers incuding John Updike, Philip Roth and Edward Abbey, Hoagland is a contributor to magazines including Harper's and National Geographic, often writing about nature and travel.
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He published his first book at 23, just two years out of Harvard. Cat Man, a novel informed by his summer job as a circus hand for Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey, came out in 1955.
"I slept with it under my pillow," Hoagland recalled, smiling.
Click here for a list of Hoagland's books.
Have you read any of Hoagland's books or magazine articles? Or do you know him from Edgartown? Tell us in the comments.
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