William
Hazelgrove was born in Richmond, Virginia
but has also lived in Baltimore and Chicago. He attended
Western Illinois University where he received his Master of Arts
in history. He settled in Chicago and began writing full time.
His first novel, RIPPLES, was 
published
in 1992 and awarded "Editor's Choice" by the American
Library Association. He is also the author of TOBACCO STICKS.
MICA HIGHWAYS, his third and latest novel
was written in the most novel of settings, the attic of the Hemingway
Birthplace Home.
"In the South,
tomorow may, as Scarlett O'Hara says, be 
another day, but yesterday
never really goes away. William Elliott Hazelgrove rides that
fact of Southern life into central Virginia's painful past, and
the secrets of the 1960's becomes the driving force of Mica Highways."
USA Today
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Page ONE
"Tell us a little
about your new novel MICA HIGHWAYS."
W. Hazelgrove
"Mica Highways is the story of
a man who goes back to stay with his grandfather who is a dyed
in the wool confederate in the old South. Charlie has lost his
job and his marriage and wants to find out what happened to his
mother in 1968 in Richmond Virginia. What he finds is she was
killed for being with a black man. I wrote this novel soon after
my grandfather died and I wanted to capture the passing of his
generation--the end of another era of the old south."
Page ONE
"Have you always wanted to be a novelist? What do you
think you would be doing right now for a living if your writing
career had never got off the ground?"
W. Hazelgrove
"I didn't start writing my first novel
until after college. When I started writing I realized this was
my calling. Now, what would I be doing if I wasn't writing--I
really don't know. I think writers are ill equipped for other
professions--the independent nature of the mind of the
writer makes a lousy employee."
Page ONE
"Tell us about writing in Hemingway's attic. How long
did you stay up there and what was your motivation? How many
different stories/essays did you write there?Any strange voices
or noises late at night?"
W. Hazelgrove
"I'm still writing in Hemingway's attic. It's a great
office. The energy level is very intense. No strange 
noises,
except squirrels who lose their way. I wrote Mica Highways up
in the attic and now am at work on a novel
called Jackpine. I ended up in the attic simply because I live
in Oak Park and needed a place to write. We have a two year old
and I was walking by the Hemingway house and had the strange
urge to ask if I could write there. The rest is history."
Page ONE
"History and fictional literature go
hand in hand. What are your thoughts on this unique relationship?"
W. Hazelgrove
"I agree. I have a masters in history
and it has come in handy quite a bit. I agree with F. Scott Fitzgerald
who said writers are like men in a room of old clocks--I am fascinated
by what went before. All those dead people had the same thoughts,
desires, dreams, and here I am thinking about them and what can
I learn from them--and then when you weave in story it's quite
amazing."
Page ONE
"What do hope to accomplish in your
novels? How would you like to be remembered as a writer?"
W. Hazelgrove
"I hope I never bore anyone. I hope the novels last.
When I was a kid I used to go up on the
roof our house in Baltimore Maryland to read in the evenings
and grab a smoke. Maybe some kid somewhere will pick up one of
my novels and go out on the shingles and read it--some sense
of continuity there. Of course I hope he doesn't smoke staying
in the PC vein."
Page ONE
"Looking back on your career, before
you were a published novelist. What two things do you now know
about the business do you wish you hand known then?"
W. Hazelgrove
"I could say I with I understood the
market better--but then that would have affected my novels--my
first three Ripples, Tobacco Sticks,
and Mica Highways were all written from the heart in the furnace
of a no name unpublished, tormented, writer and they were written
for no market. Those books will last if only because they belong
to no time or market. I hope so anyway."
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