Oriana Fallaci was a bold, provocative journalist on par with Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters. She was a master of the Q&A, so here is my Q&A—with myself.
Q: Why did you write a novel about Oriana Fallaci?
A: She was confident, defiant, brave, brilliant, glamorous—basically all the things I want to be. She made an important contribution to journalism—she revolutionized the art of the interview—and I wanted to tell that story.
Q: Who was Oriana Fallaci?
A: A girl who was born poor in Florence, raised during wartime, and forced to drop out of university. Yet she rose to fame as the greatest interview of her time, best reporter in the world, a legend. She was born in 1929, when journalism was all-male, so she was a maverick and trailblazer.
Q: Why isn’t Fallaci better known?
A: In Europe, she’s a household name. In America, who knows; we have short memories. She lived in Manhattan for decades and became famous in America in 1973 when she interviewed Henry Kissinger, which he called his worst conversation with any member of the press. She’s an untold story.
Q: Was Oriana as bold and kick-ass in her private life as she was in her professional?
A: Nope. She was fragile, sensitive, soft. That’s why I wrote the line Every woman is two women. I find it poignant, that she could reach the pinnacle of her profession yet suffer setbacks in her personal life and remain unfulfilled.
Q: Oriana wrote about sexism, reproductive choice, and work/life balance. Has anything changed for women since the 1970s?
A: Somewhat. Slowly. And…no.
Q: Why historical fiction?
A: I love movies and books “based on a true story,” or in other words being entertained while learning. The English call this genre biographical fiction, which is more precise.
Q: Oriana is also a love story?
A: Yes, a tragic love story, my favorite kind. Aristotle wrote about our attraction to “tragic pleasure.” I thought I was the only weird one who enjoys that kind of sadness.
Q: The novel is described as sexy—why?
A: Older woman/younger man: Oriana was 44 and Alexander was 34 when they fell in love. He turned her on to the pleasures in life, both physical but also taking a break from her workaholic ways by swimming in the Aegean or dining outdoors under a full moon.
Q: Did your Greek background play a role in your interest in this story?
A: Definitely. I learned my own Greek history by researching Oriana and her love affair with Alexander Panagoulis. He was imprisoned and tortured for five years by Greece’s dictatorship of 1967-1974. I didn’t know a thing about the military junta that took over my parents’ birthplace. Alexander made a huge sacrifice for his country. There’s a statue of him erected in Athens, but during his lifetime he endured many trials and was misunderstood.
Q: How did you research Oriana?
A: The most fun was going to Boston University and studying her archives housed there. Putting on the white gloves and handling original manuscripts, letters, newspaper and magazine articles, even a Christmas card. They have her original interview cassettes, and listening to her smoker’s voice while questioning e.g. Walter Cronkite brought her crashing to life. Of course, I read all her books, and I watched her being interviewed on Dick Cavett and Charlie Rose on YouTube.
Q: What are some of your favorite lines from Oriana the character in the novel?
A: The only thing to do when you’re scared is act. I’m stubborn, I never give in. I’ve had to work twice as hard as a man but I’m glad; it’s made me better.
Q: And some of Fallaci’s real-life zingers to world figures?
A: My favorite is “You must be joking,” to a dictator who lied in answer to her question—and there were armed guards in the room! She said to Kissinger, “Unless I’m mistaken, you’re a very cold man, Dr. Kissinger.” She prodded Gaddafi, “You don’t remember? You should” and then said, “I want to understand why everyone dislikes you so much.” Honestly, the list goes on. Christiane Amanpour has said Fallaci’s interviews should be required reading for all journalists, and I agree.
Q: Where did Oriana get her courage?
A: She grew up fighting with her father in the Italian Resistance against Hitler and Mussolini, and it toughened her. At age fourteen, she was forced to surmount her fear while delivering a grenade or carrying secret messages in her braids past German checkpoints. Later, when she had to interview a world figure in the White House or a palace, it didn’t compare to her early risk-taking, and she was not intimidated.
Q: Describe your road to publishing.
A: Sisyphus pushing a rock uphill. It took eleven years, two agents, two freelance editors, carpal tunnel, a new eyeglass prescription, and finally I sold it myself to Delphinium. I am what they call “unagented,” which sounds a bit suspect, doesn’t it?
Q: Do you have another novel in the works?
A: Yes, halfway done. But I don’t know if I’ll have time to finish before AI finishes it for me.