Robert Olen Butler

This week The Village Voice profiles Butler and his new story collection Had a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards, in which each story is inspired by a vintage postcard from Butler's personal collection. ("The One In White" appeared in the July issue of The Atlantic, which I read and enjoyed quite a bit; "The Grotto" was in the Spring 2004 issue of Ploughshares. Neither story has found its way online yet.)

Perhaps great minds do think alike. I'm currently working on a similar concept--a collection of stories based on classic photographs commissioned by the Farm Security Administration during the Depression. (Photographers included Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, among many others.) I have four stories finished so far, with a goal of twenty. I'm not sure if this will ever see the light of day, due not only to the usual artistic and publisher roadblocks, but also that there might be copyright issues involved in reproducing the photos for the prospective book. But I'm getting way ahead of myself in worrying about copyrights. Let's get the thing written first.