SoSara

Adventures and dreams inspire author’s works

(Editor’s note: Masha Hamilton’s events at East Line Books were snowed out in February and will now be held on March 27.)

CLIFTON PARK (Feb. 24) — When she was little, Masha Hamilton had 2 goals: to be a writer and to have a lot of adventures.

So far she has managed to do both — and she’s not done yet.

Hamilton spent years as a foreign correspondent, including stints in the Middle East, Moscow and Afghanistan. She covered the intefadeh and the collapse of the Soviet Union. But then the dreams began. Vivid nighttime stories in her head. At the time, she was both reporting on the Kremlin and nursing a baby — too busy to think about writing fiction — but the omens continued.

Author Masha Hamilton will be leading a fiction-writing workshop at East Line Books. She will also be talking about her novels at East Line and the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library.

“I felt like I was being shown a fork in the road,” she said. She talked to her husband, and he agreed that it was time for her to write more than just 800-word dispatches from around the world. Still, she was nervous.

“I couldn’t even say the N-word. I couldn’t bring myself to say I was working on a novel,” she said. “A novel seemed impossible.”

Now Hamilton no longer worries. Her four novels have won critics’ praise and spots on “books of the year” lists. “The Camel Bookmobile” has been optioned to be a movie. The Washington Post named her most recent novel, “31 Hours,” one of 2009′s best novels.

She called “31 Hours” a “love song to the New York subway.” It’s the story of a 21-year-old convert to Islam who is considering an act of violence on the subway system. It’s also the story of his mother, who loves and worries about him.

On Saturday, Feb. 27, Hamilton will be leading a fiction-writing workshop at East Line Books from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. following by a book reading and signing from 1-2. Then on Friday, March 5, she will discuss “31 Hours” at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, where she will also sign copies of her books.

Hamilton teaches at the Gotham Writers’ Workshop and founded the Afghan Women’s Writing Project, in which American authors help Afghani women tell their stories. She said she enjoys helping others work on their writing.

“It’s fun,” she said. “You get to meet lots of writers.”

And what advice would Hamilton give to anyone who dreams of being a writer?

“To read and to write — and to trust in the process,” she said. “It’s a long-distance run; it’s not a sprint.”