The Woodland Hills High School Library was honored to welcome Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon on Monday for the latest edition of the Woodland Hills Interaction Series.
Chabon's first two novels - "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and "Wonder Boys" - were influenced by his time living in Pittsburgh and attending both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" was written for his masters' thesis while he was at the University of California Irvine, while "Wonder Boys" was written in the aftermath of a five-year attempt at writing a different book.
Chabon spoke with the students about the process and emotions of writing both of those books. He shared how his own experiences influenced characters and moments in the novels, and explained some of the risks of using friends, family, and coworkers as the basis for fictional characters.
The students in Mr. Thomas Maloney's and Ms. Erin Wall's classes spent time reading and analyzing "Wonder Boys" to prepare for Chabon's visit. They were able to ask questions about the novel, some of the choices Chabon made, and his overall writing process. He also reflected on the experience of seeing "Wonder Boys" become a successful film featuring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, and Robert Downey, Jr.
While Monday's visit was focused on his Pittsburgh-influenced novels, Chabon's later works are also highly decorated. His 2000 historical fiction novel "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" earned the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, among other awards. "The Yiddish Policeman's Union" won the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award for best science fiction novel and landed on the New York Times Bestseller List. "Moonglow," published in 2016, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Recently, Chabon co-created the science fiction television series "Star Trek: Picard." Chabon developed the show alongside Akiva Goldsman, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman, and he ended up writing eight episodes in the series.
Following his conversation with the students, Chabon signed personalized copies of his books for them.
This visit was made possible through the Interaction Series' partnership with Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures. Woodland Hills would like to extend its sincere gratitude to Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures for continuing to provide these opportunities to our students, and to Michael Chabon for being a gracious and engaging guest.