Award-winning fiction writer Michael Knight will discuss his new novel, The Typist, which chronicles the life of an American typist during World War II at the Thursday, November 4 meeting of the Knoxville Writers’ Guild. Michael will read excerpts from and discuss the processes involved in crafting The Typist.
The meeting, which will be open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Laurel Theater, at the corner of Laurel Avenue and 16th Street (in Fort Sanders). A $1 donation is requested at the door. The building is handicapped accessible.
The Typist is Knight’s fifth book and his second novel. In addition to his newest work, Knight is the author of the novel Divining Rod; two collections of short fiction, Dogfight: and Other Stories and Goodnight, Nobody; and a collection of novellas, The Holiday Season.
Michael is a native of Mobile, Alabama, and his Southern roots shine in his early work. A New York Times review of The Holiday Season (2007) explains how much of Knight’s early work developed from a modest, family-oriented Southern heritage: “Knight’s understated prose presented a quietly volatile world of tight Southern communities and families, a world defined by festering resentments, fumbling relationships, affairs, divorces, sudden furies.” These Southern influences are evident in Knight’s short story and novella collections, as well as his first novel, Divining Rod, which won the Fellowship of Southern Writers New Writing Award and the Dictionary of Literary Biography’s Best First Novel Award.
With The Typist, however, Knight successfully explores new territory, both historically and thematically. The novel’s lyrical tone is similar to his previous work, but the subject matter and setting are significant departures from the understated Southern communities of his early fiction. Even with this divergence, Knight still believes The Typist is his most accomplished work. “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written, by a pretty long shot,” Knight said in an interview with Knoxville’s Metro Pulse. “It may be, in fact, the best thing I’ll ever write, which is a sort of grand and terrifying feeling, you know?”
Michael’s work has also appeared in some of the country’s premier literary publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Story, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Crescent Review and Shenandoah. The Typist is perhaps Knight’s most awaited and acclaimed book, as The Huffington Post named it one of the most anticipated novels of 2010, prior to its release. Upon its release, the novel earned praise from publications such as Publishers Weekly and The Los Angeles Times which remarked, “The Typist is reminiscent of The English Patient – slow, sad, wistful and romantic.”
Knight received an MA from the University of Southern Mississippi and an MFA from the University of Virginia. He currently directs the creative writing program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he teaches and resides.
For his November Guild appearance, Knight will display his writing talent and experience as he reads excerpts from and discusses his second novel, The Typist.

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