BOSTON, MA – In Diane Wald’s sharp and tender novella, “The
Bayrose Files” (May 27, 2025), ambitious young journalist Violet Maris goes
undercover at a prestigious writers’ colony in 1980s Provincetown. Determined
to secure a coveted residency, she fakes her talent, using her friend’s stories
to gain admission. Her intention: to write a captivating exposé based on her
experiences. However, Violet's promising start at the colony takes a dark turn
when tragedy strikes—her friend, the true author of the stories, succumbs to
AIDS. This loss plunges Violet into turmoil, compounded by the weight of the
terrible secret she carries. Compelled to confess, she confides in a member of
the colony's board with whom she has become romantically involved. The
revelation of her deception leaves Violet grappling with disgrace and searching
for a path toward redemption and reconciliation—with herself and those she has
inadvertently hurt.
A short but powerful and provocative read, “The Bayrose
Files” explores art, morality and identity with humor and a gentle heart.
About the author…
DIANE WALD is a poet and novelist who grew up in New Jersey, but lived most of her life in
Massachusetts. She has an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has worked as a library assistant, periodical circulation manager, English professor, academic dean, and in-house writer for a national animal welfare organization. Her novella “Gillyflower” was published in 2019 and won first place awards from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and American Book Fest, among other accolades. “My Famous Brain,” her second novel, won first place in Visionary Fiction from the New York City Big Books Awards, first place in Visionary Fiction, New Adult Fiction, and Speculative Fiction from the Firebird Book Awards, and was a bronze winner in the Foreword INDIES Awards. Diane has also published more than 250 poems in literary magazines. She is the recipient of a two-year fellowship in poetry from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and has been awarded the Grolier Poetry Prize, The Denny Award, The Open Voice Award, and the Anne Halley Award. She also received a state grant from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts. She has published four print chapbooks and won the Green Lake Chapbook Award. Her new novel, “The Bayrose Files,” is forthcoming in May 2025 from Regal House Publishing. Learn more at www.dianewald.org.
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An Interview with
Diane Wald
- What inspired you to write “The
Bayrose Files”? Did you spend time at a writers colony like the one Violet
goes to?
I was in my twenties when
I was accepted for a poetry fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in
Provincetown (FAWC) in 1973, and that was renewed for a second year. The
Bayrose Files is based on my experiences there – although it is totally
fiction. The protagonist is a fiction writer, not a poet, and she cheated to
obtain her residency. The story is set in the 1980s, which allowed me to
explore the topic of AIDS in those days.
2.
Provincetown is an interesting setting. What drew you to
that place?
My parents packed up me
and my younger brother and drove us almost every summer from our home in New
Jersey to one of the towns on the outer Cape for a week or two, and every year
one day was dedicated to visiting Provincetown. I not only got to know the
place; I fell in love, and visited as often as I could when I grew up.
Provincetown as a setting allowed me to explore a wide array of lifestyles,
ages, careers, art forms, and beliefs in order to enhance my book’s themes of
personal ethics, creativity, love, and friendship. I often think of the setting
as a character in my book.
3.
A unique subplot is that Violet can sense items by their
varying temperatures as a “thermopath.” What does this signify for you?
I’m not sure if
“thermopath” is actually a word or if one of my blurbists coined it, but it
does describe this interesting talent of Violet’s. I like to include
extrasensory concepts in my work, and have done so in my previous two novels.
In The Bayrose Files, Violet is forced to pay attention to these
temperature clues all through her various experiences and misadventures as a
sort of grounding device. By the end of the book she’s paying a great deal of
attention to them.
4.
You are also an award-winning poet. Does your poetry
influence your approach to writing fiction?
I was terrified of showing
my fiction to anyone for many years, although I started writing it in my
forties. I didn’t resurrect the idea of publishing it until a few years ago. I
do think my poetry influences my prose writing because I always work with a
piece from the word to the phrase to the sentence to the paragraph. I want all
the words to be the best ones I can come up with, and that’s a lot like writing
poetry. Imagery is tremendously important to me as well, and making sure the
imagery repeats and transforms itself and creates a sensory whole. What I love
about fiction is adding dialogue to the mix.
5.
Since retirement, you’ve been writing more than ever. Do
you find you have more inspiration, more time to focus, or both? What is your
writing process like?
Since I retired four years
ago, I’ve published four books: a volume of poetry, two novels, and now
this book. Plus, I’ve placed quite a few poems, stories, and memoir pieces in
the last few years as well. Some of that is just luck; some of it is having
more time. I have a lovely room to write in and the calmness that develops over
time when you don’t have to worry about all the vicissitudes of your day job.
My last day job, as an in-house writer for a large organization, was especially
stressful, although I don’t regret it because my duties included writing every
day. That keeps your writing muscles strong.
6.
What’s next for you?
I’ve put
together a “collected/selected” poetry manuscript that’s searching for a
publisher. A few people have said they’d love to see a sequel to The Bayrose
Files, so I’m thinking about that. I’m also playing around with ideas
gleaned from my years as a dean in an art college, or my years working in
animal welfare; I think either of those could provide an abundance of odd and
interesting characters and situations, just as the art colony does in The
Bayrose Files.
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