117: What Matters Most in Historical Fiction? – A Conversation with Ron Nyren

In this episode, we speak with novelist Ron Nyren about finding the optimal balance of fact and myth in historical fiction, the importance of patience for the not-yet-published author, and why small presses are awesome. Ron is the author of The Book of Lost Light, a novel set during the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, published by Black Lawrence Press in 2020, and a co-author, along with his wife, Sarah Stone, of Deepening Fiction: A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Writers. His stories have appeared in The North American Review, The Paris Review, The Mississippi Review, The Missouri Review, and elsewhere, and he’s received a Major Hopwood Award, the Farrar Prize in Playwriting, the Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship, and others. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and teaches for Stanford Continuing Studies.