Dave Barry will speak about his new comic novel, “Insane City,” 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the Carter Center; the event is free and open to the public; 441 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta; information: 404-865-7100; www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/
Barry will also speak 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 14, to the Atlanta Press Club, at the Commerce Club; $35, $25 for members of the Atlanta Press Club; 191 Peachtree St., NE, Atlanta, Suite 4900; information: 404-577-7377; www.atlantapressclub.org/
In Dave Barry’s new comic novel “Insane City,” one can find a lovelorn orangutan, a pirate ship that fires chicken nuggets, a Burmese albino python, a Bridezilla from hell and a billionaire’s wedding party derailed by pot brownies.
In other words, it’s about a typical day in Miami.
Barry, 65, who speaks Wednesday night at the Carter Center and Thursday morning at the Atlanta Press Club, was a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, and he still writes a few dozen pieces a year for the paper.
In the meantime, he’s written about 30 books, including humorous novels and collections of bad advice. His young adult novel “Peter and the Starcatcher,” part of a series written with Ridley Pearson, was made into a Broadway musical that has won five Tony awards.
Barry spoke recently about his new novel and about his hometown, Miami, which is one of his favorite characters.
Q. Miami plays a big role in this book, doesn’t it?
A. [Novelist] Carl Hiassen says you don’t need an imagination to be a writer here. You just need a subscription to the newspaper.
Q. Speaking of Carl Hiassen, your bumbling bad guys are funnier than his, but his leading women are hotter than yours. Why?
A. Have you ever seen Carl’s wife? I get mistaken for him routinely. I’m at the airport and people come up and say ‘I just have to tell you I really loved “Hoot.”’ … They know I’m a writer from around here, but they don’t know which one.
Q. Miami traffic also plays a role. Is the scene that involves stealing a cop car and cutting through traffic unimpeded kind of a wish fulfillment for you?
A. There are people here who drive that way without stealing police cars. What I’ve always said about Miami traffic is that everyone here is driving according to the law of his or her individual country of origin. No two people view a stop sign quite the same way.
Q. How did you end up making Trevor, the orangutan, such an important character?
A. I fell in love with him… . Trevor was able to get Seth [the groom] in more trouble than Seth could ever get into on his own. Shakespeare did a lot with orangutans as, I believe, did Dostoevsky, toward the end of the “Brothers Karamazov.” Which no one ever reads all the way through. They would have been surprised to find the orangutan element.
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