There were 10 years between my completion of the MFA and the time I sold my first book. There seems to be a great deal of discussion about the usefulness of MFA Programs. I took a year off, went to Japan, and then began my MFA program. After college, I thought about law school for maybe 15 minutes (laughs). I published my first short story while in college and that’s where my heart was.

I think I thought I would be a lawyer, like you. When you left Harvard what did you think you were going to do? She is casual and relaxed, yet beneath a thin layer of bubbly is a serious, professorial writer who firms her back the moment I click the “record” button. Her infectious laughter and Memphis drawl seep out while we trade “do you know” stories. After greeting me with a warm hug, she squeezes her long legs beneath the small booth where I have placed my notes, my copies of her books and my recorder. Her broad left shoulder is showcased as the slippery strap of a weaved tank hugs her at mid-bicep.

Large, dark-rimmed glasses frame her narrow face her hair is an updated and sophisticated version of an '80s mohawk. Perkins-Valdez, nearly 6 feet tall, has an artist’s sartorial flair. The interview took place in a noisy, dark, American-themed restaurant where we dined on French fries and sandwiches. I talked with Perkins-Valdez one early summer afternoon over lunch. Her ability to transform well-researched slivers of a country’s pained history into rich, impassioned stories of loss, triumph and community makes her a powerhouse within the sub-genre of historical fiction. A Harvard graduate, she loves the quest, the probing, almost as much as the writing. Perkins-Valdez is an academic’s academic. Since that time she has written the foreword to Solomon Northup’s 'Twelve Years a Slave,' the wrenching story of a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery, and her second novel, 'Balm,' the tale of three people, post-Civil War, searching for healing, has just been released.

'Wench,' her debut novel, hit the New York Times Bestsellers List in the winter of 2011 to the drumbeat of both spectacular reviews and the savvy use of what were then fledgling marketing tools, Twitter and Facebook. It has been five years since the introduction of Dolen Perkins-Valdez to the literary world.

Wench dolen perkins valdez summary