Simon Van Booy
Simon Van Booy
Simon Van Booy is a British-American writer who lives in the United States. He grew up in rural Wales, but has lived in Kentucky, Paris, Athens, New York City and the Hamptons. Love Begins in Winter won the 2009 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
genuinely people trying
The most frustrating part of trying to direct everything is not that it alienates you from people who genuinely want to help, but that it's actually impossible.
art dedicate ensuring life longevity museums public save surgeons themselves trying works york
Like surgeons trying to save a life, the conservators and preservers at New York City museums dedicate themselves to ensuring the longevity of works of art for public view.
alone hotel locked room travel trying worst
If you travel too often, you actually come face-to-face with what you're trying to escape. I feel like when I travel alone, sometimes it's like being locked in a hotel room with my own worst enemy.
grief trying body
In the end I didn't know who I was crying for, but it was something my body wanted to do, as though trying to digest grief.
imperfection trying shadow
But those who seek only reassurance from life will never be more than tourists—seeing everything and trying to possess what can only be felt. Beauty is the shadow of imperfection.
mistake trying rooms
When somebody leaves this plane—or, if you like, goes into another room—those left behind sometimes try and stop loving—but this is a mistake, because even if you have loved only once in your life, you’re ruined.
hard work
When I'm doing something, I do work hard at it.
supportive
Both my parents were very supportive of me in whatever I wanted to do.
death eventually love simply taken value
Everything that we love will, at some point, be taken away from us. If I think about everyone I love eventually being taken away from me by death, or simply by getting lost from each other in the world, it makes me value them much more now.
bit fill
When you give something up, you need to fill the space where it used to be, and you understand the landscape in yourself a bit more.
expressed fails life needs
There are times in life when language fails us, when everything that needs to be said can be expressed only by saying nothing at all.
scribbling
I was always a writer, by which I mean I was always scribbling away, doing something with pen and paper.
ageing blessing body change feet generally natural neutral regarded self-esteem size won
Shoes are a neutral blessing for us because feet generally aren't regarded as a place where the battle for self-esteem is won or lost. Feet don't change size when the body does through the natural ageing process.
acceptance ancient characters countless examples greatest greeks held romans source strength tragic view whose wisdom
In world mythology, there are countless examples of tragic characters whose greatest strength is also the source of their undoing. But the ancient Greeks and Romans also held the view that acceptance is the beginning of wisdom.