As his new novel is published, the US author talks about nurturing the next generation of creatives, debating Sam Altman \u2013 and why he writes on a boat in San Francisco Bay<\/p>\n
At Dave Eggers\u2019s suggestion, we\u2019re starting the interview by life drawing together. The novelist dropped out of art school but has been drawing for decades, and his new book is set in the art world. Prudence, our model, stands before us with her palms open, nude but for a pair of black knee-high socks. This, unsurprisingly, is an interview first for me. Eggers shows me how to hold my pencil at arm\u2019s length and use my thumb to measure Prudence\u2019s proportions. Since the pandemic, he\u2019s been organising regular life\u2011drawing sessions in the book-lined offices of McSweeney\u2019s, the publishing house and literary journal he founded in San Francisco in 1998. He loves the element of chance in figure drawing \u2013 you never know which sketch will work out \u2013 and believes it helps cultivate empathy.<\/p>\n
How so, asks Prudence, helpfully interviewing him for me, because I\u2019ve been thrown off my game. \u201cI feel like in three hours of drawing a human, you learn so much about them and there is so much affection that comes from carefully trying to get them right,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/3b9fc4769138d73aa7b244f45bff9447dd9283fb\/440_255_2387_1910\/master\/2387.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5705cdb41aa0d8c2133a4bb75bf73330\" "\\"Dave")
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