I have a lot of affection for him! He's really my favorite character in that book.

I felt like I got him and like I had lots to say about him and lots of things I wanted to happen to him. (Not that my being interested in a character means everyone else will be or should be.) Seating Arrangements exists only because I had a lot of chemistry with the character of Winn Van Meter. It's really interesting! I don't think about likeability when I'm writing I think more about if I'm interested in the character. Maggie Shipstead Thanks, Elyse! You know, one thing I've learned since publishing Seating Arrangements is that readers will perceive your characters in all kinds of un …more Thanks, Elyse! You know, one thing I've learned since publishing Seating Arrangements is that readers will perceive your characters in all kinds of unexpected ways. In 20, she was a National Magazine Award finalist for fiction.

Her writing has appeared in many places, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Travel + Leisure, Departures, Condé Nast Traveler, Outside, The Best American Short Stories, and The Best American Sports Writing. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford, and the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A third novel, Great Circle, will be published in May 2021. In 20, she was a National Magazine Award fin Maggie Shipstead is the New York Times-bestselling author of the novels Astonish Me and Seating Arrangements, winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and the L.A. Maggie Shipstead is the New York Times-bestselling author of the novels Astonish Me and Seating Arrangements, winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize and the L.A.

Book the great circle