Literary Birthday – 12 August – Chris Bohjalian

Happy Birthday, Chris Bohjalian, born on 12 August 1962.

Chris Bohjalian Quotes

1. On a regular basis, if you’re trying to produce something, I think you should work every day and set achievable goals.
2. My personal opinion is that, if you’re a professional writer, you do have quotas. So every day I do try to write 800-1,200 words. I don’t always achieve it, and the reality is a lot of the words I write will end up on the cutting-room floor.
3. I think the most important lesson isn’t necessarily to try and write a different book every time, or to try and brand yourself and write one specific kind of book, but to write the kind of books you love to read.
4. I need complete silence when I write.
5. People seem to read so much more nonfiction than fiction, and so it always gives me great pleasure to introduce a friend or family member to a novel I believe they’ll cherish but might not otherwise have thought to pick up and read.
6. What is most important to me is that my narrator’s voice is believable, and that, though it is clearly an absolute fiction, it has the emotional resonance of memoir.

Read: 10 Tips To Help Aspiring Writers Stretch Their Fiction

Chris Bohjalian is an American novelist, born on 12 August 1962, who writes literary fiction, historical fiction, thrillers, and, on occasion, ghost stories. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 26 books, including Midwives, The Sandcastle Girls, The Red Lotus, and The Flight Attendant. His work has been translated into 35 languages and adapted for film and television. His 26th book, The Amateur, was published in 2026, and he has also written for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Cosmopolitan. Bohjalian is also a playwright and screenwriter. Visit his website: chrisbohjalian.com and follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.

Source for image: via author’s publishers, credit: Victoria Blewer

Source for quotes

by Amanda Patterson
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