SOURCE: “A Conversation with Shirley Ann Grau,” in Southern Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2, Winter, 1987, pp. 39-52.

In the following interview, Grau and Canfield discuss the author's handling of Southern setting and theme, as well as exploring ideas about the craft of fiction.

The publication of her first book of short stories in 1955, The Black Prince and Other Stories, launched Shirley Ann Grau's career with great promise. Critical acclaim was abundant—perhaps even hyperbolic—providing a challenge for the young author. Now, more than thirty years after she published her first book of short stories, Grau's credits include five novels, three books of short stories and numerous essays and reviews. To most critics, winning the 1965 Pulitzer prize for fiction for her novel The Keepers of the House ranks as her most impressive accomplishment.

Grau's latest collection of short stories, Nine Women, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in January, 1986.

[Canfield...