Stephen Markley, author of “Publish This Book,” “Tales of Iceland,” and the national bestseller “Ohio” visited the University of Wyoming for the second time for two events sponsored by UW Libraries, the Honors College, the Department of English and the Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research.
The events were held on Sept. 26 and 27, 2023. This visit comes four years after Markley’s first visit to Laramie in 2019 to promote his best-selling novel “Ohio.”
On Tuesday, Markley hosted a discussion in room 506 of Coe Library, where both students and faculty were invited to attend the discussion and ask Markley questions about the career of screenwriting.
Topics discussed included Markley’s screenwriting, which he states began after an “aborted career in journalism and memoir writing,” which started to take shape during his time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where he eventually met David Milch. He credited Milch, a writer and producer and fellow alum of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, for his insight and guidance, and helped push him to seek work in Hollywood.
From there, Markley spent some time in Los Angeles trying to adjust and figure out the new industry he found himself in and was ‘biding his time’ until his best-selling novel “Ohio” was published.
Markley then began working with Sam Levinson, the creator of “Euphoria,” and was eventually hired by Dan Fogleman, creator of “This Is Us” and the executive producer for “Only Murders In The Building,” which Markley wrote for for two seasons.
According to Markley, he is also working on a new series with Fogleman that was put on hold due to the Writers Guild strike.
For the rest of the event Markley then took questions from those who attended the discussion, which ranged from questions about his experiences with screenwriting, how the process of professional writing works especially with so many people working on one singular project, as well as how much autonomy and decision-making writers are afforded when working on professional productions.
On Wednesday, Markley held a reading and discussion of his newly published book “The Deluge,” which was published in January 2023.
“The Deluge” is a literary fiction novel that over the course of nearly 900 pages, showcases the downslide of society into an apocalyptic nightmare over the course of three decades, as climate-fueled disaster, and political deadlock and incompetence continue to exacerbate the issues that the characters directly contend with.
Just after the reading, a book signing was held and copies of “The Deluge” were made available for purchase at the event.
The Branding Iron reached out to Markley to discuss his new novel, and any potential controversy or criticism he has faced from its publishing.
When asked about whether his newest book’s focus fell on its characters, or the greater narrative around them, Markley stated, “It’s about the characters. I think all great fiction comes from the development of recognizable, empathetic human beings that the reader can latch on to and kind of ride inside their mind.”
When asked whether he had faced any controversy or criticism, particularly from those who might view him as a ‘climate advocate’ or political champion, Markley stated, “My feeling is generally that I wrote a novel about the truth of our situation. Maybe some people want to deny that, they want to tell themselves it’s not happening … but convincing them is not my job … my job was to write the best novel about our situation. Ecologically, environmentally, politically, socially, economically, that I could. And you know, fuck everyone else.”
He further stated that he avoids looking at reviews, critiques or other forms of opinion on himself.
“The way art now enters the world into this sort of phantasmagoric box of bullshit. That is you know, social media, that is the internet … And so, for me, it’s like, okay all I can focus on is doing the best work I possibly can. And it’s what I love, and I’m going to do it no matter what.”
Markley also said that with the Writers’ Guild strike now coming to an end he will hopefully be returning to screenwriting as he has several new ideas for film and television, and is working on a two-book deal, the first being a collection of short stories, and a new novel, which he declined to comment further on.
Markley’s novel “The Deluge” is receiving a paper-back release on November 7, 2023, which he hopes will be a better time for college students to pick a copy up due to their reduced prices.
