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Author Revealed

Allegra Huston
Photo Credit: Jeff Rayner

Allegra Huston

ALLEGRA HUSTON was born in London and raised in Ireland, Long Island, and Los Angeles. She has worked with Chatto & Windus publishers in London and Weidenfeld & Nicolson, where she was Editorial Director from 1990 to 1994. A freelance writer... Read full bio

Author Revealed:
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. Rise above it
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Allegra Huston Revealed
About Allegra Huston
  • What is your birthdate?:
    8/26
  • Previous occupations:
    book publisher. acquisition/development consultant for film production and distribution company
  • Favorite job:
    office manager of Los Rios River Runners, New Mexico's oldest, largest rafting company
  • High school and/or college:
    Marymount High School, LA; Hertford College, Oxford, England
  • Name of your favorite composer or music artist?:
    Bach; Debussy; Puccini
  • Favorite movie:
    Harold & Maude; The Year of Living Dangerously; Night of the Hunter; Point Break
  • Favorite television show:
    American Idol; Project Runway; EPL, Champions League & World Cup football
Revealing Questions
Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
A. Happy, riverine, unplanned, panoramic, sunlit, small-town, cosmopolitan
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. Rise above it
Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
A. hearing my son laugh
Q. What’s your greatest fear?
A. losing my son
Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
A. right here in my house in Taos, New Mexico. If not here, on a remote beach in Mexico.
Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
A. I don't identify with other people. I've never been able to answer this question.
Q. Which living person do you most admire?
A. Jane Goodall. I edited one of her books. She has the remarkable gift of knowing what's truly important to her, and wasting no energy on what's not important.
Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
A. Bloody hell. Um. Come on, Rafa!
Q. What do you regret most?
A. Not much, really. I used to say I'd get my pilot's license by the age of thirty, and I didn't.
Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
A. Singing.
Q. What is your greatest achievement?
A. It's a bit early to answer that, but I hope it will be a happy, active son.
Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
A. Laziness, both physical and mental. Also I swear too much.
Q. What’s your best quality?
A. I'm a loyal friend.
Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
A. An English oak tree.
Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
A. Good: helpfulness; bad: impatience.
Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
A. This changes. Right now, Camille Desmoulins in Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety.
Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
A. Ahab, if he's a villain.
Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
A. Shakespeare: "Was it fun?  Was it you?  Why did you stop?"

Nelson Mandela: "How is it that anger seems not even to touch you?"
Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
A. Hypocritical politicians. People who leave lights on in unoccupied rooms. That the Taos Youth and Family Center is closed on public holidays.
Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
A. Whitewater rafting. Messing with the decor of my house. English crossword puzzles.
Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
A. Interior designer.
Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
A. Loyalty; sense of humor; enthusiasm.
Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
A. French Meadow Bakery hemp bread, toasted, with Enchanted Valley sorrel spread made in Alamosa, CO.
Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
A. "I Second That Emotion" - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. "Tumbling Dice" - Rolling Stones. "We Belong Together" - Rickie Lee Jones. "Love and Happiness" - Al Green. "Cancion Mixteca" - Harry Dean Stanton.
On Books and Writing
Q. Who are your favorite authors?
A. Melville, Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens

current: Kazuo Ishiguro, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan, Jared Diamond, Brian Greene, Steven Pinker
Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
A. Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford

Guns, Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond

Harold & the Purple Crayon - Crockett Johnson

Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
A. Moby-Dick
Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
A. it's a first draft, it's not supposed to be good.
Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
A. "There's so much in your book that connects to my own life - and I was really surprised."