Interview: Author and Artist Rich Chiappone

We picked up Rich Chiappone’s new Opening Days: A Fly Fisherman Writes (Barclay Press, June 2010, 210 pages) just last month, and it turns out to be a fine collection of essays, stories and poems that collectively makes a very engaging read.

Chiappone, whose works have been published or produced by Playboy, the Sun,Gray’s Sporting Journal and BBC Radio, has this to say about his writing: “I recommend that new writers decide what they want from their writing. I wanted to publish fiction desperately. But I’m pretty neurotic and I was trying to make up for flunking out of college when I was younger. I needed the validation of a professional editor willing to pay me for my work.” Naomi Klouda interviews Chiappone for theHomer Tribune.