Skype Interview of David ARENSTAM, American author. By Louise.

On February 28, our class had a Skype interview with novel author David Arenstam. This American writer started by introducing himself to us. David Arenstam is a Massachusetts-born author, he started off his professional life by creating his own data processing company, but soon abandoned that job for something he had dreamed of for years: teaching English literature and writing. This quick presentation was followed by getting to know more about his book than we knew from the extract we had read. Homecoming is a novel that tackles the complicated subject of the Vietnam War, and from what we read, Mr Arenstam handled it very well. The idea came to him at an event celebrating a local Vietnam War hero. This novel started off as a simple short story, but after receiving advice from his instructor and mentor, he decided to turn it into a full-fledged novel. After summing up the book and answering the questions some students asked, David Arenstam decided to read another excerpt of the book to us. The book changes points of view, and, in that chapter, we were following the backstory of one of the two narrators. The detailed way of writing had us all captivated! The experience was very interesting and I am looking forward to working with M. Arenstam.
By Louise (10th grade OIB student).