FRESH IDEAS: Are writers shy?

From The Daily Beast:

“Is there something about writing that attracts shy people in particular? Nicholson Baker, Alan Bennett, Joan Didion, David Foster Wallace, J.K. Rowling, and Garrison Keillor are just a few of the contemporary authors who have written or spoken about being shy.

"The British novelist Patrick Gale recently founded the North Cornwall book festival in the UK especially for shy authors. 'Most novelists are at the shy end of the spectrum — sly watchers of life rather than noisy graspers of it,' Gale wrote in the Guardian. 'Many of us have had to overcome that and develop a performative persona behind which the sly watcher can continue to lurk.' To help his fellow introverts he has kept the festival small and intimate, with "a bar and an abundance of homemade cake."

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