Benjamin R. Foster and Karen Polinger Foster
Authors of Civilizations of Ancient Iraq (Princeton University Press, 978-0-691-13722-3).
When did you start reading, and what did you like to read as a kid?
Karen: In common with many friends and colleagues who are professional archaeologists, I knew early on that this was what I wanted to do. I began drawing and painting at a very young and was taken regularly by my patient mother to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a short train ride from where I grew up. One day, when I was 7, we went to see a special exhibit, which in those days was reached by going through the long galleries of Greek and Roman vases up on the second floor. Something about those rows of pots grabbed my heart and that was it. Over the next decade, I read every book in our public library on the ancient world. My first book report was on a children's version of the Iliad. My parents encouraged my interests, and never were heard to say, "But what are you going to do with this?"
When you were growing up did you have books in your home?
Ben: I was an early and voracious reader. I grew up in a home with thousands of books and was blessed with very literate parents.
How do you write?
Karen: In pen on scrap paper. I really cannot think on the screen. Civilizations of Ancient Iraq was written in the quiet of a walled garden deep in the French countryside. It was truly a collaborative venture with my co-author. We have different prose styles, which we worked into a single voice.
Ben: I followed a research academic career, which, at its best, implies writing. I write with a pen and paper, not a computer. I wrote the first draft of this book in the very early morning, sitting on a quiet stone terrace in the French countryside, away from any research materials.
What some good advice that you've received concerning writing? What's some advice that you could offer young writers?
Ben: I recommend trying to write an entire book through without endlessly looking things up, then going back and doing the looking-up later. The Belgian historian Henri Pirenne wrote his most famous work, Muhammad and Charlemagne, in a Herman prison camp, and you will find other historians who suggest writing away from work and sources and notes. My only advice to younger historians is to sit down and do it, rather than imagining that most of the task is research and the writing is a detail at the end.
Karen: I would pass on some advice given to me years ago by the head of the American Philosophical Society, who read all the grant proposals submitted to the APS. He said, "Write for an old man sitting by the fire."
How did you find the publisher for this book? What has your experience as a publisher been like?
Ben: Princeton is the dream academic press, with superb editing, a high level of responsiveness to authors' concerns, and efficient production and marketing. I found working with them a genuine pleasure. The contact came about because a press editor contacted me just at the right time, and even though PUP is not known as a publisher for the ancient Near East, was enthusiastic about the idea of this book.
Karen: Our editor at Princeton Press wrote that he was coming to New Haven to scout for books and would like to meet with us. As luck would have it, that very day the New York Times had an Op-Ed on Iraq and the antiquities trade, which he read on the train on the way up. We were delighted and honored to have PUP publish our book, which they did with style, speed, and great care.
