In this acrobatic and virtuosic collection, Paul Auster traces the compulsion to make literature. In a selection of interviews, as well as in the essay'The Red Notebook' itself, Auster reflects upon his own work, on the need to break down the boundary between living and writing, and on the use of certain genre conventions to penetrate matters of memory and identity.The Red Notebook both illuminates and undermines our accepted notions about literature, and guides us towards a finer understanding of the dangerously high stakes involved in writing. It also includes Paul Auster's impassioned essay'A Prayer for Salman Rushdie', as well as a set of striking and bittersweet reminiscences collected under the apposite title,'Why Write?'

Paul Auster (1947-2024) was the bestselling author of The New York Trilogy, Sunset Park, The Book of Illusions, Moon Palace and 4 3 2 1, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Among his many international honours were the Prix Medicis Étranger, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and the Carlos Fuentes Prize, given in recognition of his body of work. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He lived in Brooklyn, New York.