What Are You Working On?
Writers on their works in progress

Catherine Brady

fiction writer and biographer

Catherine Brady is the author of two short story collections: Curled in the Bed of Love -- winner of the 2002 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction -- and The End of the Class War, a finalist for the Western States Book Award in Fiction. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories 2004 and in little magazines including Other Voices, The Missouri Review, and Kenyon Review. She is is working on a biography of molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, forthcoming from MIT Press.

 
I am just completing a biography of molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn. Blackburn first sequenced telomeres, the specialized DNA at the end of chromosomes that preserves their integrity, and discovered telomerase, the enzyme that adds to telomeres. Telomeres and telomerase play a role in aging and in cancer, so this discovery has led to a thriving field of biomedical research. Blackburn also served on President Bush's bioethics council, protested repeated misrepresentation of scientific information in council reports, and was dismissed, which provoked protest from bioethicists and scientists across the country.

 
How did you decide to work on a biography for the first time?

This is an entirely new step for me, since I've only written fiction up till now. I was led to this project because Blackburn approached me. She had been asked to write an autobiography or authorize a biography with a science writer, and she felt that might result in a very dry book, so she asked if I would try to write the book.

I wanted to write this story for several reasons: first, Blackburn came of age as a scientist when women were a tiny minority of research scientists and faced enormous discrimination, so her story illuminates that history and also underscores the difficulties women continue to face. The field of research she founded is one of the very few scientific fields in which there is gender parity, and it's worth asking why in order to see how changes in other fields of science might produce the same equity. Second, I think biology is beautiful and was captured by the idea of trying to write about a research scientist's intellectual life and creativity, which for me has parallels with artistic creativity. So many books about science lock out the lay reader, and I wanted to write a book that would not be buried in jargon and could describe scientific processes accurately and in an engaging way. Third, Blackburn's dismissal from the bioethics council raises important questions about the relationship between public policy and scientific advice, and the politicization of science threatens the welfare of every person in the country.

 
What's been challenging about this project?

It was enormously difficult just to learn the science necessary to write this book, but this was also exciting -- just to discover I could learn. The parameters for nonfiction are more confining than those for fiction, and this was another challenge -- focusing intently on accuracy and on describing technical processes precisely and clearly. I was also concerned not merely to get facts but to get the subtext of science and of scientific thinking, and so I had to revise and revise to try to present this in a more sophisticated and precise way.

One thing that really amazed me is that I made such discoveries -- and discoveries about character -- in the process of doing the writing, something that is part of my practice as a fiction writer but that I did not know would also happen in nonfiction writing. The actual writing led me to make discoveries about character and narrative arc that were exciting and surprising to me. And this, in the end, is always about finding the right words -- the phrasing that attempst to articulate the most complex notion possible in the fewest possible words.

Discovering a narrative arc -- translating information and facts into a story that has dramatic peaks and valleys and crisis moments -- was also an intriguing part of writing a nonfiction book for the first time. At times I had to mistrust my own instincts as a fiction writer -- the inclination to go for "the better story" rather than feel restrained to be more cautious about accuracy.

 
What has been the most rewarding part of working on this project?

I feel it has been really important to tell the story of this remarkable woman, who is a hero in many ways. She is a scientist of exceptional integrity, and she is one of the top scientists in the world (she has been nominated for a Nobel and won many, many scientific awards) but has not adopted a ruthless model of competitive behavior. As an idealist, a generous mentor and collaborator, and a rigorous thinker, she represents the best of scientific culture and is a powerful role model for younger people considering pursuing this demanding career.

 
When do you expect (or hope) to finish, and what's next for the project? Do you have a book contract, or prospects?

I am just finishing this draft and expect to do further revisions once I have heard back from the editor. The book has been sold to MIT Press. The tentative title is No Lone Hero: Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres. It should come out in spring 2007.

Links

Biologist Elizabeth Blackburn's bio on the UCSF website

USA Today, Mar. 19, 2004: Scientists Rally Round Stem Cell Advocate Fired by Bush

See more What Are You Working On? interviews.

published 27 Mar 06 on Too Beautiful. email copyright 2006 Mark Pritchard, Bernal Heights, San Francisco