Grant Ginder

Grant Ginder is the author of The People We Hate at the Wedding and Honestly, We Meant Well. He received his MFA from NYU, where he teaches writing. He lives in Brooklyn.

Twitter: @GrantGinder

Instagram: @GrantGinder

Favorite non-reading activity?

Playing with my puppy, Frankie. He's in his prime puppy stage, which means he's a little bit of an asshole (he's eaten four of my shoes and, like, twice as many socks), but I couldn't love him more.

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

Are you kidding? Every single day of my life. I feel it when I'm writing (obviously), but also when I'm teaching, grading, cooking, brushing my teeth...

Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?

I don't. My mother is an incredible artist, and I desperately wish I'd inherited her ability to draw. Alas, I've never progressed beyond stick figures (and really bad stick figures, at that).

If you could create a museum exhibition, what would be the theme?

This is a great question. I read an article this morning about how some curators are beginning to think about they might try to document the present pandemic, and I thought that was a fascinating (and daunting) idea. I have no idea what this would look like, but once we're out of this mess and we have some hindsight, I'd love to see an exhibit that tries to make sense of it.

What piece of clothing tells the most interesting story about your life?

This one's easy. I've got this black beanie that I've worn on every cold day for the past six years. I originally bought it for this backpacking trip I was taking in Sweden, where I was going to be in the wilderness for, like, two straight weeks, and it was so warm that it's just become my winter hat. It's become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point, but I swear that every good writing idea I've had has come to me when I've been wearing this hat. I walk outside a lot when I'm thinking about a book, so that probably has something to do with it, but still--it's like it's literally my thinking cap. I came up with the entire plot of The People We Hate at the Wedding with it pulled down to my eyebrows.