Mark Winegardner’s The Godfather Returns Continues the Greatest Crime Saga of All Time

Mark Winegardner

November 12, 2004 - One of the most highly anticipated literary sequels ever – The Godfather Returns – debuts Tuesday, with Yaddo author Mark Winegardner appearing that morning on NBC’s The Today Show to talk about the extraordinary challenge of continuing Mario Puzo’s great American tale, The Godfather.

Already crowned “the read of the fall” by columnist Liz Smith and “phenomenally entertaining” by Publishers Weekly, Winegardner’s The Godfather Returns shares more than its cast of characters with Puzo’s epic story that forever changed popular culture when it was published 35 years ago. Puzo gave birth to literature’s most famous Mafioso family during a Yaddo residency and Winegardner brought them back to life at Yaddo.

Nearly two years ago, Winegardner won out over a host of other writers in a far reaching search conducted by Random House on behalf of Puzo’s son and literary executor, Tony Puzo, and his literary agent, Neil Olson, to find someone to fill in the years not covered in Puzo’s bestselling book or in Francis Ford Coppola’s classic films. The search for Puzo’s successor made international news, especially after The Today Show began following the story of the search after it was announced that the publishing house was looking for a well-regarded novelist at mid-career who, like Puzo when he began The Godfather, had a yearning to create a larger, more ambitious novel for a broader audience. Each of the writers who wanted the job had to submit a detailed proposal to Random House.

“We wanted an original voice, someone who would bring artistry and vision to the Corleone saga,” said Jonathan Karp, Random House vice president and executive editor, and Puzo’s editor for a decade. “From the dozens of contenders, we unanimously agreed that the best candidate was Mark Winegardner. We know the risks of following in the tradition of a pop classic. I’m not worried. Having edited the novel, I’m certain of its quality and its power. The Corleones have become an American myth, and like all great myths, each retelling brings new meaning and new rewards.”

Winegardner, who lives in Tallahassee, Florida, where he is the director of the creative writing program at Florida State University, is the author of a short story collection, That’s True of Everybody (2002), and two previous novels, Crooked River Burning (2001), substantial portions of which he wrote at Yaddo, and The Veracruz Blues (1996). Winegardner was a guest at Yaddo in 1997, 1998, 2003 and again earlier this year.

A 10-city author tour follows Winegardner’s Tuesday appearances in New York City. For additional information, click here for a direct link to the author’s website.