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The Digital Age
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The Royal Banner
Fairview High School
Vol. 51 No.7
Friday, February 18, 2011
Fairview’s own Benjamin Hale, a 2001 graduate and the son of the infamous history teacher Leigh Campbell-Hale, recently published his debut novel, “The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore.” It is the story of a precocious chimp who learns to speak in English and falls in love with a human female primatologist. Narrated in the protagonist chimp’s own voice, “Bruno Littlemore” is his magnificent transformation from a zoo animal into a nearly-human, highly intellectual lover of the arts. The novel thoroughly examines his scrimmage to balance the human and animal components of his life, all while making the audience more aware of what it means to be human. Ben attended graduate school at the world-renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His highly developed voice and style has led to widespread critical acclaim, and he is being hailed as one of the most exhilarating new novelists in the nation. In fact, “Bruno Littlemore” was recently selected for discussion in the New Yorker book club. Ben will be making a stop in his hometown at the Boulder Bookstore located on Pearl Street on Friday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. Don’t miss it! Earlier this month, I asked him a few questions about his novel and what it’s like to be an author. Here’s what he had to say: Sam Rock: How long did it take you to write “The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore?” At first, did you write the novel intending to publish it, or was it a personal project? Benjamin Hale: From first beginning to write it to hashing out the final-final-final draft with my editor, it was about four years. Though it took me three years to finish a draft I was happy with by myself, before I went out and showed it to any agents or editors, etc. That's actually a relatively short period of time for writing a novel. It honestly did start as just something I was writing for my own amusement, just for the hell of it, but then it very quickly blossomed into something I started taking much more seriously. The whole time I was writing it, I was, publication-wise, utterly unsuccessful (I just never had any god damn luck with placing stories in journals or magazines or anything of the sort), so yeah, I guess I certainly hoped to publish it one day, but that seemed like such a distant fantasy that I ISBN 0-446-57157-1 really wasn't thinking much about it at the time.
The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore: Q&A with author Benjamin Hale
By SAM ROCK
1515 Greenbriar Blvd. Boulder, CO 80305
e usiv l c x E w! e i v r Inte
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Diversity feature: One woman band, sophomore Grace-e Kerber By JANET CHEN
RB: Which instrument is your favorite? GK: The piccolo, because it’s unique. RB: How much time do you spend on music? GK: Half an hour of each instrument a day.
Royal Banner: What makes you diverse? Grace-e Kerber: I play a variety of instruments. RB: Which instruments do you play? GK: I play the viola, the flute, the piccolo, a little bit of piano, and I also sing. RB: How did you get into music? GK: In 3rd grade, when I watched the 5th graders’ play, I instantly knew that I wanted to become involved in music.
Kerber practices outside the band hallway. (STAN WHITCOMB).
RB: Many students give up music by the time that they get to high school. How have you managed to maintain it for so long? GK: It’s really a great experience with all of the people you meet. My friends in band have really helped to keep me maintaining it.