Self-doubt is actually part of the process, so I know to just keep going.
The ’70s fascinate me as a critical time for women, social justice, and the environment....
I decided to see how many “told” stories I could fit inside of a single story....
How that poisonous joke with its bitter truths reverberated.
“A book only works when a reader understands it, and that is not always what a writer can judge.” Kate Lemery sits down with Tracy Chevalier to talk about reading, art, process, and her latest novel, A Single Thread, out now from Viking.
“When I critique the Midwest, my intention is to do so with love and some self-awareness about my own character defects. And some humility.” Beth Mayer and Sam Tschida chat about Beth’s new collection, We Will Tell You Otherwise, out now from Black Lawrence Press.
“I try to read every relevant thing I can get my hands on.” Ayşe Papatya Bucak talks with Natalie Rowland about research, setting, and writing the dark side of history for her debut collection, The Trojan War Museum: and Other Stories, out now from W.W. Norton.
“I know the point of fiction is supposed to be to differentiate characters, but one thing you notice about the army is that the experiences one person has are often very similar to the experiences other people have, and I tried to write the novel in a way that speaks to that”: J.A. Bernstein talks with Michael Reid Busk about his debut novel, Rachel’s Tomb.
“Jokes can deliver information in a way that gets through to readers.” Kate Kaplan on the work of “conditional jokes” in Cynthia Ozick, Ana Menéndez, and Paul Beatty.
“Ultimately the novel is—at least to me, privately—as much about the act of making a novel as it is telling a story”: Amanda Golblatt talks with Jennifer Solheim about her debut novel, Hard Mouth.
Carley Moore talks with Eleanor J. Bader about her first novel, The Not Wives, as well as about writing, revision, teaching, disability, and the possibility of progressive activism in Trumpian times.
“If friendship is the shared shore, sometimes you’re standing on solid ground, and sometimes you’re the one at sea:” Elizabeth Ames talks with Natalie Bakopoulos about her debut novel, The Other’s Gold.
“A story never fully feels ‘completed’ to me.” Dallas Woodburn talks with Carand Burnet about memory, coming of age, parenthood, and her debut collection of linked stories, Woman, Running Late, in a Dress.
Stories We Love: “White Angel,” by Michael Cunningham
Stories We Love: Donald Barthelme’s “The School,” In Which is Revealed the Meaning of Life
Stories We Love: "A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver
Stories We Love: "The Fall River Axe Murders," by Angela Carter
Stories We Love: "Incarnations of Burned Children"
