As a writer, Larry O'Connor divides time in his mind between his home in Brooklyn and his hometown of Owen Sound, Ontario.
It was Cesare Pavese who believed, and Larry strongly concurs, that personality is formed at the beginning of consciousness, that the only landscape to ever have a symbolic value is the landscape of childhood.
Tip of the Iceberg says it best: “As a boy I’d scale a towering snowback near the elm in front of the house. Here I’d sit, covered head to toe in nylon, wool and rubber. The coat’s tie, pulled taut, was wet and fraying between my teeth . . . I was drawn to the floating mountain of ice. Ten times the size of the Titanic, the iceberg loomed beneath the ocean surface, its dark mass going off the page. The tip of the iceberg shuddered with the weight of what lay beneath.”
Larry’s life revolves around his work and his wife Mary Morris and daughter Kate. The three of them love to be at home – and on the road. His longtime friend from childhood, the actor Greg Dunham, once sent him the following note that he keeps at his desk: “Ahead of me are adventures with other far madder angles, and dangers though I can’t foresee, I’m determined” – Jack Kerouac.
Larry has more books to come. But good work takes time.
“It was dark now. Dad pulled into the rest stop and before I knew it, he was fast asleep. A knack he’d never lost . . . Me, I wandered into the parking lot under the night sky. It was quiet. So quiet that when I did slip into the seat beside my dad to rest I thought if I were lucky I’d even remember my dreams.” – The Penalty Box