Lotsa interesting buzz on California writers around the web…

• P&W has a Q&A with Chris Albani, the Nigerian novelist and poet who now calls California home.

• Adrienne Crew at LAist interviews Michele Markel about about Dream Town, her new children’s book about Southern California landmarks and architecture. [via LAObserved]

• AP catches up with Thomas Steinbeck, who talks about his first novel in progress (”1,059 pages and rising”) and his next project, a memoir about his father. “Since I can’t write the greatest American novel,” he quips, ” I’m going to write the longest American novel.”

• The LAT recently featured Ruben Martinez’ return to the border with his upcoming book, Burning Sand. He writes, “I tell myself I did the right thing. I tell myself I did the wrong thing. I tell myself that every decision on the line is like that, somewhere in between.”

• Congratulations to poet Keren Taylor and WriteGirls, which has just published a fifth anthology, Untangled. The group pairs professional writers with inner city high school kids.

• Caroline Paul revels in the Grotto Life.

• Writer’s block loves company. Just ask Wil Wheaton.

• Carolyn See offers advice for aspiring writers: “Don’t embarrass your children by telling other people that you’re a writer or that you want to be. Just keep mum about the whole thing, and then everybody will thank you for it in the long run.”