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.”
“And what a fun read this is”: Ellen Prentiss Campbell on Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut novel about family and money, The Nest.
“Indeed, the Keatings’ struggles take on a historical and even mythic dimension that gives them significance beyond the merely personal”: Mary Stewart Atwell on Ausbel’s latest novel, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty.
“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.
“Amend does a remarkable job making Frances’s story feels less like a novel and more like a real life”: Tyler McMahon on Allison Amend’s new novel, Enchanted Islands.
“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.
“Perhaps the greatest benefit of writing about kidhood from a kid’s point of view is the dramatic possibilities of trapping a protagonist or narrator in his/her present, in his/her right now, without reference to the broader, more reflective environs of adulthood.”
“Thank you, Louise Erdrich, for heartbreak mitigation”: Ellen Prentiss Campbell on Erdrich’s latest novel, LaRose.
“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.