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Knoxville Novelist Shannon Burke

'It's quiet here.' Burke wrote most of both 'Black Flies' and 'Safelight' in Knoxville. 'New York was good for material,' he says, but in Knoxville, he could process what happened.

Photo by David Luttrell, David Luttrell

"It's quiet here." Burke wrote most of both "Black Flies" and "Safelight" in Knoxville. "New York was good for material," he says, but in Knoxville, he could process what happened.

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  • Author Shannon Burke
  • Novelists dream of this: In the space of a 1,400-word review in The New York Times' Book Review, Shannon Burke went from unknown novelist to a recognizable name.
  • More than a job: After he witnessed a murder in 1992, Burke trained to become an EMT. He served two years with a private ambulance service, then earned his certificate as a paramedic and volunteered for the Harlem station of New York's Fire Department.
  • 'It's quiet here.' Burke wrote most of both 'Black Flies' and 'Safelight' in Knoxville. 'New York was good for material,' he says, but in Knoxville, he could process what happened.

The writer and former paramedic has leapt from literary obscurity to the front page of 'The New York Times Book Review.'

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