December 16, 2014 - Northfield native Siri Hustvedt's latest novel "The Blazing World" examines the life and works of a maverick artist who goes to extreme lengths to gain the recognition she believes she deserves. It's turning up on many best books of 2014 lists. It also examines the overwhelming power of public perception in the art world.
April 11, 2003 - Northfield native Siri Hustvedt says her new book called "What I Loved," began with a single image. An naked, obese woman's corpse lying on a bed. The image doesn't appear in the novel. But Hustvedt says it launched the process of writing and re-writing which lasted several years. The image morphed into a series of portraits by an artist. One of them attracts the attention of an art historian. These two are the book's central characters. The men become friends, and the novel follows their lives. We learn how their families are changed by their loves and losses over a period of thirty years.
October 13, 1996 - It's a mystery, a love story and just a plain eerie tale. Siri Hustvedt's new book "The Enchantment of Lily Dahl" is set in Webster, Minnesota, a town that appears to be ordinary. Siri Hustvedt and her title character Lily Dahl share many things in common, both spent time as waitresses and both have lived in small Minnesota towns. Siri Hustvedt says her hometown of Northfield, Minnesota served as a model for the fictional town of Webster.