DILLON BANERJEE served as an agroforestry volunteer in the Peace Corps from 1994 to 1996 in Belo, Cameroon. He currently works as a U.S. diplomat in Lisbon, Portugal, where he is the director of the American Embassy's International Trade program.
THE AUTHOR SCOOP
Read any good books lately?
I was on a roll a while back with books like Blindness, Bel Canto, Life of Pi, Perfume, and The Road. I just started The Friends of the Earth by T.C. Boyle and am hopeful.
What was the hardest thing about writing a book?
Having it edited. After laboring for endless hours over the manuscript, my initial reaction to recommended changes was usually denial. Nothing could be changed because it was so obviously perfect. Between my wife and the top-notch editors at Ten Speed, however, I came to accept that too many cooks can't spoil the broth when it comes to polishing a book manuscript. Revisions usually translate to improvements.
What's the first concert you ever attended?
Tenth grade, Siouxsie and the Banshees at Warner Theater in Washington, DC. I had my black jeans, black sneakers, and black concert-T on, but felt like a preppie as I watched grown men in ballroom gowns scaling the stage speakers and jumping into the crowd below.
Know any good jokes?
My five-year-old son loves to tell this knock-knock joke:
Knock knock
Who's there?
Nobody.
Nobody who?
…(silence)…
Don't know why, but it still kind of cracks me up.
What's the farthest you've ever traveled?
My second assignment in the Foreign Service was to Moscow, Russia, where I served as a Commercial Officer at the Embassy for two years. About halfway through my tour, I was asked to lead a business delegation to the capital city in Siberia – Novosibirsk. Russia is an enormous country with 11 time zones; it's shorter to fly from Moscow to Boston than Moscow to Vladivostok (in the far east). My flight to Novosibirsk carried me over vast expanses of nothingness, and when I landed, I spammed friends and family in the States with SMS's just to tell them that I was in Siberia. In truth, Novosibirsk is a nice town with over a million people, replete with a metro system, opera house, cafes, university, and a huge manmade lake (the Ob Sea). Still, it felt way off the beaten path.
