“I loved researching this book, finding out about chronophotography, pictorialism, the 1906 earthquake, and the artists of the time.” Ron Nyren talks with Margot Livesey about his debut novel, The Book of Lost Light.
“I wrote out of a kind of homesickness, I guess, and out of a sickness of spirit over what was happening at the border, the dehumanization of children.” Melanie Bishop interviews Beth Alvarado about her new collection, Jillian in the Borderlands, out this week from Black Lawrence Press.
“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.
“I don’t believe that you can totally shed your old self (sorry, family from my first novel), but neither do I believe that identity is perfectly portable”: Bryan Furuness talks with Philip Graham about his new novel, Do Not Go On, books that are “suspenseful and insightful,” and more.
“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.
Travis Kurowski talks to Jen Michalski about writing in every form, from comic book poetry to the novel (and back again).
“Here’s a theory: To be a kid with a live mind is to be deluded and self-involved, but also curious and evolving at hyperspeed. To be insightful in surprising ways, totally off base in other ways, but never afraid to make sweeping pronouncements, like a little de Tocqueville in the Land of Adults.” Philip Graham talks with Bryan Furuness about his novel The Lost Episodes of Revie Bryson.
Daniel Chacón’s Hudson Prize-winning collection, Unending Rooms, is smart and charming, fascinating and frustrating by turns. Like that of Borges, Chacón’s fiction springs from a powerful intellect at play, but in the latter’s case that rich intelligence sometimes elevates concept over character.
