Magnolia City — The Interview

I first met Duncan Alderson when I signed up for a fiction writing course at the Rabbit Hill Writer’s Studio. Duncan started my writing career by giving me a place to learn the art, and explore the craft. He also jump-started my social life as a newly-minted Lancastrian where I attended parties at the house Duncan shared with his wife, Isabelle, mixing it up with other writers, and their eclectic friends, and drinking Isabelle’s famous Sangria (hands down best ever!). We’d sit under the trees on the patio adjacent to a pasture where sheep grazed on the Amish farm next to their house, a little slice of paradise right there in Central Pennsylvania, talking about writing and life. Duncan sometimes brought in outside writers to teach at the studio and I learned the art of screenwriting at Rabbit Hill. Over the years, he influenced an entire group of writers, me among them, giving us a “safe house” and I know I am not the only writer to be grateful for his stewardship and tutelage. A former Waldorf school teacher, Duncan cannot resist the pull of teaching, and many of us write today because of Duncan’s wisdom and generosity of spirit. So it’s exceptionally gratifying that he’s finally given himself permission to set his teaching persona aside and pursue his own writing interests. Alderson realized one of his life-long dreams with the publication of Magnolia City, and as a former student, I am ecstatic for him. Please enjoy this interview with my friend and mentor, Duncan Alderson.   Read more here…