We know him as the wise and funny author of 10 splendid novels including Walking Across Egypt, The Floatplane Notebooks and Where Trouble Sleeps. But Clyde Edgerton’s biggest fans call him Papadaddy.
At a time when most guys break out their parenting skills once or twice a year with the grandkids, Edgerton, 68, is in full “this is the last time I’m going to say it: turn off the screen, brush your teeth, get to bed” mode. Good times with bundles of joy aged 9, 7 and 6.
Fatherhood is all-encompassing and ineffably wonderful; for writers it is also fodderhood. Clyde has mined his second go-round with his wife Kristina (he has a 30-year daughter from a previous marriage) in his new book Pappadaddy’s Book for New Fathers: Advice to Fathers of All Ages. Drawing on 30-years of experience (and counting!), the Durham, N.C. native uses his sharp, witty style to offer hard-earned advice (don’t mimic children, start reading to them as early as possible) and humorous stories, including the time he spent four days assembling a crib only to find it wouldn’t fit through the door. (Been there, done that, Godspeed, Clyde).
- Read an excerpt from Papadaddy’s Book.
- Read an interview with Clyde.
- Read another interview.
Clyde Edgerton’s Top Ten List
1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1600).
2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605, 1615).
3. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1380s?).
4. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884).
5. Light in August by William Faulkner (1932).
6. The stories of Flannery O’Connor (1925–64).
7. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1930).
8. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (1949).
9. The stories of Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961).
10, Candide by Voltaire (1759).
