Alix Ohlin’s new novel, Inside and her story collection were both just published. Dean Bakopoulos talks to the double author about taking risks, writing while teaching, and hoarding like a magpie.

Novelist William Gay, who died late last month at the age of seventy, was the topic of several conversations I had at AWP this year. Most of the talks centered on Gay’s work, which was sublime, or his soul, which was sweet; we fond remember-ers would all have a sip of beer and nod somberly. [...]

Last week we featured My American Unhappiness as our Book-of-the-Week title, and we’re pleased to announce the winners. Congratulations to:

Editura Litera (@edituralitera)
Aubre Andrus (@aubreandrus)
Naughti Literati (@NaughtiLiterati)

To claim your signed copy of this collection, please email us at the following address:
winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com
If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter [...]

This week’s featured title is My American Unhappiness, by Dean Bakopoulos. Bakopoulos was born and raised in metro Detroit, which is the setting of his first novel, Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon (Harcourt, 2005), a New York Times Notable Book. He has lectured at Michigan, Cornell, UW-Madison, and other universities about the economic [...]

These notes were originally written as a preface to my forthcoming novel, My American Unhappiness. It has been deleted from the final manuscript. The pages appear here in an exclusive essay for Fiction Writers Review. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.