"In hindsight, novelist Paul Harding’s path to publication is every writer’s dream.  After years of rejection, his first novel, “Tinkers,” finally found a small literary press willing to publish the unusual story about the hallucinations of a dying Massachusetts clock repairer during his final eight days of life."

This recent aricle in Wicked Local Orleans describes Paul Harding's surprisingly atypical process from the studying at the Iowa Writers' Workshop to winning the Pulitzer Prize. Harding studied with Maryilynne Robinson at the workshop in 2000, keenly aware "that she modeled a life of the mind that he aspired to." 

“Tinkers” began as a 15 page short story and slowly grew into the prize-winning novel as Harding expanded it over time. "Harding took the original short story and grew it from the inside out.  The first five pages of the short story are the first five pages of the novel."

Read the full article here: From desk drawer to Pulitzer - - Wicked Local Orleans