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John Domini has been writing novels since age 11. He moved about the country for various writing and teaching jobs and finally decided to settle in Des Moines for love. Domini is a freelance writer teaching at Des Moines Area Community College and a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Modern Language Association Delegate Committee. In fall 2007, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his first book in a three-novel series, “Earth Quake I.D.”

Have you always lived in Iowa?

No, I was born in New York City and raised in and around New York. You could call it an Italian-American upbringing. I went to Boston for my education and began my career there. I got a job offer in Corvallis, Ore. I did not like it; my then wife especially did not like it. I moved to Portland, where I was doing literary and teaching stuff. That marriage fell apart, and I started searching for jobs, found another great job at Northwestern (University in Evanston, Ill.). It was a four-year visiting writer position. Then I took a visiting writer job at Drake (University) and I met and fell in love with a woman (Lettie Prell) here. I took one more visiting writer job in Oklahoma City as an artist in residence and came back. Between Chicago and settling in Des Moines, I seriously investigated living in Naples, Italy, where my family is from.

What did you do in Portland?

I did a fair amount of writing for money. I did advertising. I did journalism. I wrote state reports. I did a lot of that kind of writing, and I did it in order to make a living. You learn what your essential skill is. “Gosh I really can do this quicker and better than somebody else.” Now, I am in a period when I concentrate more exclusively on the writing that I love.

Had you traveled to Naples before?

I have been over there many times. I first went over with my family when I was 11; we lived there for a year while my father tried to run a food business from that end of the Atlantic. That is where I started writing; I wrote a juvenile adventure novel like those I was reading. I just started doing it one day and I have been doing it ever since.

When did you first develop your love for writing?

I would say my love for writing keeps getting reinvigorated every several years. Some kind of love for writing came alive when I was 11 in Italy. There are all these things that bring it back to you. You are constantly renewed so long as the mind holds out and the fingers function; you encounter what makes life worthwhile.

How did you get into teaching?

I studied English at Boston University and (received a master’s in fine arts) at Johns Hopkins University. My mother was an elementary school teacher. By the time I left Hopkins, I knew that if they would have me, I would be a teacher.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Read and write, of course. All those arts things I love. My daughter is a rock ‘n’ roller. I like all that stuff. I used to jam with people on the guitar. (My wife and I) love traveling, to go back to New York and Naples. We go dancing; we go to movies. We like to cook.

How has your Italian-American heritage influenced you?

A lot. Back in the old country, one strain of my family was musical and another strain of my family was monks and priests. It’s in the name, Domini, which means “of the Lord.” I think those two come together pretty well in making my writing as beautiful as I can. And right now I am writing a lot about Naples.

Do you think arts are on the rise in Des Moines?

I do think (the arts) are getting bigger. People are thinking, “Why can’t we develop an artistic scene here?” There really isn’t a reason. We could have a tremendous renaissance in Des Moines. Many of the essential elements are here. For me, Des Moines has been a very fruitful place. I have finished two novels here and many essays. It’s partly internal and partly because of Des Moines; it must be.