Carthage alumnus celebrates release of third novel

Tony D'Souza, '95, discovered his passion for writing while attending Carthage. Now his latest novel, Mule, has been optioned for a feature film

Tony D'Souza, '95, has an attraction to adventure. He started his career at Carthage as a political science major. In fact, he was one of the first Carthage students to hold an internship in Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis. Shortly into his freshman year, however, he entered a Carthage short story contest. His story, drawn from his experiences bicycling alone through Alaska the summer before coming to Carthage, placed third in the contest and drew the attention of the writer-in-residence.

"She told me I could be a real writer if I wanted to be," said Mr. D'Souza. "I started doing independent studies in fiction with her and quickly found my life's calling."

He went on to graduate with a degree in English.

His first published work was a poem that he submitted to the Carthage creative writing magazine Centrique. Since then, he has contributed to magazines such as The New Yorker, Playboy, Esquire, Outside and others.

Novel optioned for feature film

In 2011, Mr. D'Souza celebrated the release of his third novel, Mule, which follows a couple who turn to drug trafficking in order to survive the recession. The novel was recently optioned for a feature film by Hunting Lane Films. Previous Hunting Lane films include Half Nelson and Blue Valentine.

His first novel, Whiteman, was published in 2006 and received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His second novel, The Konkans, was published in 2008 and was named one of the "best novels of the year" by The Washington Post.

"I was then, and still am, immensely proud whenever I see my work in print," said Mr. D'Souza. "I enjoyed seeing my byline in [Carthage’s student newspaper] The Current as much as in The Washington Post. Every story starts with a blank page. I've always tried to do my best."

He credits his travel experiences and his time in Tau Sigma Phi fraternity for providing two invaluable resources: something to write about, and an introduction to storytelling.

"The guys in the frat were always telling stories, always up to some sort of trouble, and me along with them," he explained. "Some of the situations during pledging — having to walk out to a farm in the middle of the night and have our pictures taken with cows, all that ridiculous singing — gave me a good sense of the absurd. It wasn't a stretch to connect those stories to the great ones I was being taught in Lentz Hall, 'The Miller's Tale' from The Canterbury Tales, for example."

Seeking out stories through travel — and the Caf

His travel experience is varied and extensive. While attending Carthage, he spent a summer interning in Washington, D.C, and a J-Term studying Apache pictograms in Big Bend National Park in Texas. After graduating, Mr. D'Souza spent three years in the Peace Corps traveling around West Africa as a rural AIDS educator. While there, he witnessed the outbreak of the civil war in the Ivory Coast.

In 2006, between writing his first and second novels, Mr. D'Souza drove down to Nicaragua where he spent seven months covering a murder trial for Outside magazine, which eventually led to appearances on The Today Show and Dateline. The following year he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and spent six months studying aboriginal Ainu storytelling on the island of Hokkaido, Japan.

Mr. D'Souza with Sean Penn at the L.A. Times Book Awards.

Mr. D'Souza's first big story happened while he was still a student at Carthage working for the school newspaper.

"I was part of the reporting team that broke the 'Rats in the Cafeteria' story on the front page during Parents' Weekend," Mr. D'Souza reminisced. "Few other scoops have been as satisfying. Mysteriously, all the copies of that week's paper disappeared before the parents arrived on campus."

In addition to the journalistic experience that he had during his time at Carthage, Mr. D'Souza had the opportunity to meet writers who would go on to influence his life.

"I was blessed to be exposed to major writers such as Chinua Achebe, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Tim O'Brien," said Mr. D'Souza. "I did my graduate work at the University of Notre Dame and wasn't able to meet such accomplished writers there. But at Carthage, I had lunch with them."

Mr. D'Souza expressed that he and his wife went on to name their daughter after Gwendolyn Brooks and that Chinua Achebe was his inspiration to join the Peace Corps.

Remembering professors who had an impact

Mr. D'Souza credits his Carthage professors for teaching him the importance of perseverance and having faith in oneself.

"It's unfair to pick just one," he said when asked who his favorite professor was at Carthage. "David Steege was my thesis advisor, and taught me Hemingway and Faulkner. Mabel and Travis DuPriest gave me a foundation in English literature. They essentially handed me the 'keys to the kingdom.' Ed Kalke taught me to take pride in being an artist. Jim Lochtefeld taught me that it's extremely cool to have a passion, and to always have a sense of humor."

Mr. D'Souza is no stranger to praise and award, but he knows that his success hasn't come without a fight.

"I submitted my first story to The New Yorker as a senior at Carthage," he said. "Ten years and 30 rejections later, I was published in it."

He said he is most proud of his Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Arts-Fiction, which he received in 2008. "It came early in my career and has given me confidence," he said about receiving the honor.

"I'm nearly as proud of the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters," he received. "I received the award from Lorrie Moore, and got to sit on stage in New York with the very best writers alive today. I was Annie Proulx's escort up the stage steps. She thought I was an usher. I sat between Amy Hempel and C. K. Williams.

"I felt like all the quiet nights of writing really meant something."

Elizabeth Reinhardt, ’12, of Appleton, Wis., is a student writer for the Carthage Web Development Office. She is majoring in public relations and Spanish.

About Mule

Tony D'Souza's third novel, Mule, was published in September 2011. It tells the story of a couple, James and Kate, who turn to drug trafficking to survive the recession.

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"For D'Souza's characters, 'Drive fast, and swerve a lot' is a recurring catchphrase, the drug mule's equivalent of the actor's 'Break a leg.' But the phrase does not apply to D'Souza's writing; he is an excellent driver, and, though he provides a fast, exhilarating ride, he hardly ever veers off course."
— The Seattle Times

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"Crime fiction from a criminal's point of view that is as chilling, compelling and engaging as Tony D'Souza's Mule: A Novel of Moving Weight is downright rare."
— St. Petersburg Times

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"His authorial voice is sharp and crisp, eschewing flowery prose for a hard-hitting narrative style that perfectly suits the page-turning, drug-fueled tale."
— Peace Corps Worldwide

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"Moving at the pace of Jack Kerouac's prose and plotted with the intensity of a Michael Mann film, Tony D'Souza's Mule provides a harrowing, timely excursion into life in our recessionary times."
— San Francisco Chronicle

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"The book's smooth-sailing pace and eye for detail make it read almost like nonfiction."
— L.A. Weekly

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"In Mule, an acutely detailed page-turner, D'Souza depicts the moral free fall of a decent — albeit weak-willed — man so believably, readers may start buying James' brand of hazy moral justification."
— Entertainment Weekly

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"D’Souza’s concise dialogue and crystal clear character made it hard to remember that James is not flesh and blood."
— Mt. Shasta News

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"Mule is Scarface for readers of The New Yorker: It plots all the emotional points on a man's rise and downfall, while explaining everything you need to know to avoid getting caught while driving $50,000 worth of marijuana from California to Tennessee."
— The Outlet