Anthony Doerr | Cloud Cuckoo Land

Recorded October 19, 2021
In conversation with John Freeman

Anthony Doerr won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for All the Light We Cannot See, “a beautiful, daring, heartbreaking, oddly joyous novel” (Seattle Times) about a blind French girl and a German boy navigating the carnage of World War II. Also the winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and a National Book Award finalist, it spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list. Doerr’s other work includes the novel About Grace, two story collections, and a memoir, for which he has earned five O. Henry Prizes, the Story Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors. A novel of the interconnected tapestry of human experience, Cloud Cuckoo Land weaves together the lives of a fifteenth century orphan, an octogenarian in present-day Idaho, and a girl on an interstellar spacecraft decades from today.

John Freeman was the editor of Granta until 2013. His books include Dictionary of the Undoing, How to Read a Novelist, Tales of Two Americas, and Tales of Two Planets. His poetry includes the collections Maps, The Park, and the forthcoming Wind, Trees. In 2021, he edited the anthologies There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love with Tracy K. Smith, and The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story. An Executive Editor at Knopf, he teaches writing and literature classes at NYU.

[sarangonly]

I came here after reading the outstanding book.Thank you for writing this❤.

[bobwiegers]

Doerr + Overstory + The Secret Life of Trees = my happy place! thanks so much.

[billenglish]

Brilliant conversation between two very enlightened fellows. The thing I loved best about Clould Cuckoo Land was the joy Tony took in its creation. He loves his work and this always shines through.

[Naturalborntillers]

ohhhh SO enjoyed Cloud Cuckoo Land. THANK YOU THANK YOU <3

[brettrandol]

What an amazing book! Thank you so much. Can’t pick a favorite story line. just when I want to go with Zeno, I’m drawn to anna, and then over the wall to Omeir. One for the ages.

[pollyglowatz]

Such a great interview, Anthony has a delightful way with words... and an awesome explanation of interdependency... I love that he explains being a parent as decentering oneself. The build the wall issue came just as the Constantinople came down which was timely.

[dianebell]

Love this discussion - has given me many recommendations I’m looking forward to reading!

[Safo]

please include your diagram to the book! It would have prevented me from 5 times going back to the beginning !!

[dianemilligan]

Loved the characters and the book and appreciated the clever way it was constructed. Right, how I heard Trump’s message was that it was about fixing, cleaning or taking care of our own back yard before we tackle the problems of others.

[RoxanneM-]

Only one class of history in school? What kind of education are people getting now? I had to take years of history! Started in 4 grade primary school with a book that looked for adults because it was so huge and the letters so small. Then, can’t remember, at least three more years deepening it, and a year of Art History. No wonder ... 🤯 How can we compete with China and Russia, and the rest of the world?

[loveredwarrior]

Anthony Doerr impressed me; the interviewer not so much