Chronicling the Courageous
Stephan Talty ’ ssubjectsare caught up in history , and often changeit WRITTEN BY CINDYSCHWEICHHANDLER
PORTRAIT : COURTESY OFNATHACHA VILCEUS ; COVERS : COURTESY OFSTEPHAN TALTY
Outwardly , Napoleon Bonaparte , the young Dalai Lama and the Somali pirate-beset Captain Phillips would appear to have little in common . Inwardly , though , it ’ s a different story : At some point in their lives , each displayed extraordinary willpower to overcome overwhelming obstacles . Montclair resident , novelist and New York Times best-selling author Stephan Talty has recounted their stories and those of other survivors innumerous narrative nonfiction and ghost-written works . His recent book , “ Under the Same Sky : From Starvation inNorth Korea to Salvation in America ,” garnered Christopher Awards – given to authors whose work “ affirms the highest values of the human spirit ” – for himself and the story ’ shero , Joseph Kim .
WHERE DID YOU FIRST HONE YOUR ABILITY TO FIND GOOD STORIES ? My second job after college was at the Miami Herald ’ s Fort Lauderdale bureau , where I worked as anews clerk and second police reporter . South Florida is a madhouse , and I got to do interesting , crazy stuff . It ’ s every journalist ’ s ambition to have his work appear on page A1 above the fold , and Igot my chancewhen aguy walked along abridge right down the street from the bureau . When the bridgeraised up , he thoughthecould beat it and run to the other side , but he plunged 60 feet and died .
HOW DID YOU SEGUE TO WRITING BOOKS ? I ’ d always been afan of hip-hop , and during the RodneyKing era , so many books were about the disastrous relationship between whites and blacks . But the other side of the story is thatwe borrow from each other . I looked at our interactions in sports , history and religion , and thatwas the genesisof “ Mulatto America : At the Crossroads of Black and White History .”
WHAT DRAWS YOU TOA PARTICULAR STORY ?
I didn ’ t notice till a few books in that I was writing about people who , through their owntalents and stubbornness , playedan outsized partinhistory . In “ EmpireofBlue Water ,” Iwriteabout Henry Morgan , abuccaneerwho changed the Caribbean by fighting the Spanish empire . “ The Illustrious Dead ” is about how typhuspreyedonNapoleon ’ s hugearmies and impacted the invasion of Russia . Itry to combine adventure and ideas , so it ’ s morethoughtful .
WHATSURVIVAL SKILLS SEEMMOSTHELPFUL ?
Before Joseph Kim escaped from North Koreaacross a frozen river to China , his sister was sold into slavery , his motherwas in jail , and his father died in front of his eyes . He had to shut down emotionally , but likemanyof my protagonists , hefound motivation outside himself to keep going . He wants to go back and find his sister . Captain Phillips had to get home for his vulnerable son . Brendan McDonough , the lone survivor of the fire inYarnell , Arizona , speaks to others to make his pain useful . These guys learned to forgive themselves for not being superhuman .
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR PROJECTS ? Ikeep alist while reading the newspaper and the internet , but they ’ re getting harder to find . Iget agreat idea , and Amazon shows thatsomeone wrote about it two years ago . Though an editor I ’ dformerly worked with recommended me for the Captain Phillips project .
WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES UNIQUE TO GHOST-WRITING ? You have to dolots of interviews with theperson and listen to them overand overtoget the voice and the rhythmofthe sentences right .
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO MONTCLAIR ? Three years ago , we were looking forahouse , and we were priced out of Brooklyn . Whenwe looked in Montclair , my sonlovedthe third housewe walked into . Montclair has Brooklyn qualities . ■
HOLIDAY 2016 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE 45