“The Tyger” is probably the most famous poem in Blake’s classic poetry collection Songs of Innocence and Experience, first printed by Blake himself in 1789. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., she lives in London with her husband and son.Poetry lovers, or really anyone who has taken an introduction to English literature class, will recognize the title of this Tracy Chevalier novel as a line from the William Blake poem “The Tyger”: Tracy Chevalier is the New York Times bestselling author of six previous novels, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, which has been translated into thirty-nine languages and made into an Oscar-nominated film. Since then he’s become a highly respected agent in the UK and I’ve gone along for the ride.' Jonny was just starting as an agent and needed me as much as I needed him. A friend from the MA course had just signed on with him and I sent my manuscript of The Virgin Blue mentioning my friend’s name. I found my agent Jonny Geller through dumb luck and good timing. 'An agent is essential to getting published. I began The Virgin Blue during that year, and continued it once the course was over, juggling writing with freelance editing.

I also finally had an idea I considered ‘big’ enough to fill a novel. For the first time in my life I was expected to write every day, and I found I liked it. My tutors were the English novelists Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. 'I worked as a reference book editor for several years until 1993 when I left my job and did a year-long MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (England). I was thrilled, even though the magazine folded 4 months later. 'Once I took a night class in creative writing, and a story I’d written for it was published in a London-based magazine called Fiction. Sometimes I wrote a story in a couple evenings other times it took me a whole year to complete one. I wrote the odd story in high school, but it was only in my twenties that I started writing ‘real’ stories, at night and on weekends. 'As a kid I’d often said I wanted to be a writer because I loved books and wanted to be associated with them. I intended to stay 6 months I’m still here. After getting a BA in English from Oberlin College (Ohio), I moved to London, England in 1984. 'I was born and grew up in Washington, DC.

Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier