Meet & Greet Author:  #255

Jeff Probst

 

Your Name: Jeff Probst

Genre(s) of your work: Literary Fiction

Titles/Year of Published Work(s):

When the Moon was White, 2022

Bio:

I am American and have lived in London since 1990 with my South African wife.

Jobs have included selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door in Los Angeles, picking grapefruit on a kibbutz in Israel, and teaching literacy to black domestic workers in Johannesburg.

I have been published in literary magazines, journals, and newspapers in California, South Africa, and London. Besides two novels, I have written a memoir: Teaching Shakespeare to Hairdressers: an American Teacher in London.

Why do you write in the genre that you do?

Self-indulgently, I get to play with the sound and rhythm of words, create stories and focus on some of the smallest things in everyday life.  

How has writing changed/altered your life?

It has given me quiet time alone to have the chance to try to create art.

Who are your favorite authors and why?

Jack Kerouac, for the speed at which the words in his head reach the paper; and his neologisms and lyrical pyrotechnics.

Hermann Hesse, for his gentle, internal meanderings.

Laurie Lee, for the world’s most beautiful English prose.

HD Thoreau, for his directness, honesty, and simplicity.

Do you believe that audiobooks are the wave of the future, more of a passing fad, or somewhere in between and why?

Like the Kindle has been, they are another future wave, affording people an additional way to receive a writer’s words.

What have you found to be a good marketing tool?

Speaking to local groups about my book.

A bad one?

Writing to everyone who I think may have even the slightest interest in my book.

Do you believe writing should be censored – that some topics should remain taboo?

No. I think people can find anything they want, and if they don’t want to read something, they don’t have to.

What is your opinion of Trigger Warnings?

I don’t think they are a good idea. A production of ‘The Sound of Music’ had a warning that some people might find Nazis offensive.

Do you find that you sell better in person (at events) or through social media (like a personal blog, website, or Amazon)?

In person so far, as I have only begun to wade into social media.

Where can people find you and your work?

www.jeffprobst.co.uk

https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Moon-White-Jeff-Probst/dp/1803132361; https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BDZQDF5D/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62986245-when-the-moon-was-white

https://twitter.com/Howard_Lovy/status/1721198691271193084

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWpipdU3r4A