“Everything started from a lunchtime conversation with my parents, randomly talking about our old building in Ukraine”: Maria Reva talks with Isaac Yuen about her debut collection, Good Citizens Need Not Fear, which takes place in the pre- and post-fall USSR.
“You might love, hate, or feel conflicted about these characters—but the main thing is that you believe in them and feel compelled to follow them wherever they go”: Mimi Lok and Eric McDowell talk process, empathy, and Lok’s debut collection, Last of Her Name, out now from Kaya Press.
“I think that feeling of uncertainty and yearning is important to live with.” Rob Roensch answers George McCormick’s questions about his new novel, The World and the Zoo, out now from Outpost19.
“I get worried each time I see a review that talks about just how angry the stories are—well, yeah, but they’re also really funny.” Amber Sparks chats with Barrett Bowlin about her new collection of stories, And I Do Not Forgive You, out tomorrow from Liveright.
“The writing process is so much more uplifting, more fun, when I feel such affection for my characters.” N. West Moss interviews Philip Cioffari about his new novel, If Anyone Asks, Say I Died from the Heartbreaking Blues, out this month from the University of West Alabama’s Livingston Press.
Jennifer Marie Donahue talks with Liz Breazeale about her debut collection, Extinction Events, writing obsessions, story structure, trusting in your individual strangeness, and the powerful feminist and contemporary issues Breazeale explores in her work.
Danielle LaVaque-Manty talks with Nick Scorza about lakes vs. oceans, genre, and the work of plotting and publishing his debut novel, People of the Lake.
“I didn’t know what I’d find. I went where I was led.” Kim Church interviews Patricia Henley about writing place, the business of publishing, and Haywire Books’ twentieth-anniversary reissue of her debut novel Hummingbird House.
“I want you to connect and empathize with those people. I want you to understand that you are capable of horrible things even if you’re a good person.” Saul Lemerond interviews Leigh Camacho Rourks about Grit Lit, writing the body, unlikeable characters, and more.
“A linked collection has the luxury of telling a story that doesn’t quite hold together or go anywhere.” Marjorie Celona interviews Jason Brown, whose linked collection, A Faithful but Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed, is out now from Missouri Review Books.
Sofie Verraest talks with Lydia Davis about her new book, Essays One, as well as the difference between writing essays and stories, the role of “coherence” in each genre, the climate crisis and the role of writers, and more.
“It’s as if I hadn’t really read the work until I wrote the essay.” Benjamin Woodard interviews Douglas Glover about the art of the craft essay and his recent collection of them, The Erotics of Restraint, out now from Biblioasis.
