Most writers labor years without even getting published but a local presenter at the Sanibel Island Writer’s Conference this weekend has hit the jackpot with his psycho-drama.
Naples writer Nathan Hill’s first book The Nix is not only selling globally with translations in 22 languages, but he said Warner Brother’s Television has picked it up and Oscar Winner Meryl Streep is producing and starring in the film.
“The screenplay still needs to be done. The distributer needs to be found but we have the agreement in place and I couldn’t be more excited about it,” said Hill.
“Honestly when I heard that Hollywood was getting interested in it I felt a little worried. I didn’t want the material to be wrecked by a bad adaptation. And then I discovered that Meryl Streep, JJ Abrams and John Logan were interesting and I was like Oh, thank God. There’s some serious talent and they’re going to treat it really, really well.”
The Iowa born writer moved to Naples in 2003 and taught writing at Florida Gulf Coast University from 2006 to 2012. Since then he’s become a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis but when he became a published author in 2015 he took a leave of absence from teaching.
The Nix is especially popular overseas. Hill travels to Oslo, Germany and Holland this month but returns to Naples immediately after.
He’ll be at the Lee County Alliance for the Arts on December 6.