An Interview with James Magruder
by Kathy Flann
“But really it’s about what it’s like to be young and foolishly in love and you go after it without any perspective. These characters are very self-conscious. They’re always looking in the mirror.”
“But really it’s about what it’s like to be young and foolishly in love and you go after it without any perspective. These characters are very self-conscious. They’re always looking in the mirror.”
“I think this is the true defining literary tradition of the Midwest: all the things we don’t say”: Kali VanBaale chats with Donald Quist about her new novel from Midwestern Gothic Press, The Good Divide.
“I think it takes a greater creative leap to attempt to throw yourself into a stranger and try to make sense of him or her in a way that often makes sense of yourself too”: Michelle Hoover and Allison Amend discuss their latest novels and the difficulties of writing fiction based on historical fact.
“People tell me I can only say I accidentally wrote a YA novel once”: Kristen-Paige Madonia chats with Sharon Harrigan about YA lit and her new novel, Invisible Fault Lines.
“I definitely find myself drawn to stories. Short stories have such an impact and I love that this can result from one deftly delivered blow or from creating a cacophony”: Celeste Ng chats with Hasanthika Sirisena about her debut collection, The Other One.
“Is unlikeable also unsympathetic? I don’t think so”: Paula Whyman chats with Melissa Scholes Young about her debut collection, You May See a Stranger.
“It is as if I’m standing right there with them listening and watching their stories evolve”: Dixon Hearne talks with David Armand about his academic background, his writing process, and his new collection, Delta Flats.
“With these folks, the trouble stews in the heart”: Jodi Paloni talks with Philip Graham about her debut story collection, They Could Live with Themselves (Press 53).
“I think when I look at culture I’m trying to look beyond two opposing worlds. I’m looking at the smaller works at play. Family culture. Work culture. In many of the stories in the collection some of these come in conflict with one another.”
“You know how questions can be hydras—you think you’ve solved one, and then two more sprout. I’m sure the desert will continue to baffle me in the future, but I’m excited to say my next book has more stamps in its passport.”
“The delicious narrative freedom of being in charge of the universe, and then the universe we’ve created takes over”: Ellen Prentiss Campbell talks with Susan Scarf Merrell about her path to writing and her forthcoming novel, The Bowl with Gold Seams.
“I think of all the recent research that shows us that our notion of conscious decision-making is a post hoc rationalization of something that’s happening in the non-verbal portion of our brain, which is way more powerful than our conscious portion, or how limited our ability to be congnitive is.”
