Rosebud in NYC - Harlan Coben
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What childhood experiences shaped Harlan Coben's writing?
D-U-B-E-S-O-R. I'm coming to you backwards and forwards. This is Rosebud. I'm Giles Branforth. Cue the music.
Hello again and welcome to Rosebud. This week I happen to be in New York City. I've come to New York to record episodes of Rosebud, but I've also come because this week coincides with the visit to the United States of America of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. And yesterday I got together at the New York Public Library with Queen Camilla because I happen to be a trustee of a charity called the Queen's Reading Room. This is the charity set up by Queen Camilla to spread the joy of reading. So she was in New York at the New York Public Library and there was a fascinating panel of authors there, distinguished authors. And one of them was Harlan Coburn. who I know has supported the Queen's Reading Room in the past.
He is literally one of the world's best-selling authors. I mean, his books have been translated into 46 languages, sold more than 90 million copies.
How did family influence Harlan Coben's perspective on life?
He's a Sunday Times number one bestseller, a New York Times number one bestseller. He's a big international star on the writing scene, and now his books have been turned into very successful Netflix series. So I thought, you're in New York, I'm in New York, Let me grab you. Let me bring you over to Essex House overlooking Central Park, where we have our Rosebud studio in New York. Let me sit you down and let me discover the plot twists of your life. Who is Harlan Coburn? And I'm thrilled. He said, yes, I'll come. And I learned a great deal about writing and about life from a remarkable writer who I now count as a proper friend. I've only met him two or three times, but I really felt I bonded with him, and I think you will too, as you listen to, I think, a very special Rosebud conversation with one of the world's most successful writers, Harlan Coburn.
Welcome to Rosebud. Cue that music.
So, Harlan Coburn.
What inspired Harlan Coben to become a writer?
Am I pronouncing your names correctly? You are. You're going to explain to me in a moment what the origin of them is. We reveal to people your date of birth. Is that all right? Yes. Born on the 4th of January, 1962. That's correct. Harlan, what is your very first memory?
You know, it's funny. I was just thinking about this the other day because I think I was maybe two and a half, three years old. I went to the New York World's Fair, which is not far from here in Queens. And maybe you've seen this. If you land at JFK Airport, you drive past this, it looks like a giant globe. It's a unisphere.
What is Harlan Coben's writing process and philosophy?
It's a gigantic statue of the planet Earth. And I have a recollection of staring at that and then also the sound of It's a Small World After All, which they played at that World's Fair. In fact, when I was younger, I thought when I first went to Disney World that I had imagined it from that, but no, they had played it there. So my first memory, and it's very, very vague, I was maybe under three years old, was the World's Fair in New York City staring at that unisphere that now all of you drive by if you come in from Kennedy Airport. When you're coming into New York, look on your right, and you will see it by Citi Field where the Mets play. And why would you have been there?
Were you in a car being driven past it?
My parents took me to it when I was like two or three years old. To go to the World's Fair? We went to the World's Fair. Of course, I remember absolutely nothing else about it. My parents are long gone, so I can't really ask them. And being a fiction writer, I think about this a lot. And having just read a memoir, I think of this a lot. I never really know, sure, what is memory and what is fiction.
How does Harlan Coben develop his characters and plots?
It's a very thin line, as you and I both know. So for years, I also had a pennant, what they call like a flag, a pennant, sort of triangle-shaped thing hanging on my wall, felt one, from when we visited that time. So maybe I just imagined that memory from looking at that for most of my childhood on a wall. I don't really know anymore, but that's my oldest memory. I can still see, and when I go by it, I still get hit with that really strong deja vu, and I still see it every once in a while.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What childhood experiences shaped Harlan Coben's writing?
0:00–1:28
2
How did family influence Harlan Coben's perspective on life?
1:28–2:44
3
What inspired Harlan Coben to become a writer?
2:44–3:15
4
What is Harlan Coben's writing process and philosophy?
3:15–4:14
5
How does Harlan Coben develop his characters and plots?
4:14–5:08
6
What challenges did Harlan Coben face in his writing career?
5:08–5:52
7
How did social media impact Harlan Coben's life and work?
5:52–6:22
8
What life lessons has Harlan Coben learned from his experiences?
6:22–1:11:22