Before Allan Gurganus’s debut novel, "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," (Vintage/1984) spent eight months on the New York Times bestseller list, he was a kid from Rocky Mount who wanted to be a painter.
He studied art at The University of Pennsylvania, but while serving on a naval ship during the Vietnam War, he started to write. His talent for narrative took him to the famed Iowa Writers Workshop and early success in The New Yorker before his debut novel put him on the map in 1984. Allan Gurganus joins host Frank Stasio in the studio today to talk about his life and work.