This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. About Casey Parks’s new book, Diary of a Misfit: When Casey Parks came out as a lesbian in college back in 2002, she assumed her life in the South was over. Her mother shunned her, and her pastor asked God to kill her. But then Parks’s […]
Interviews
Queer Writers in Memoir:
MAYDAY “Editors’ Choice Award” Interview with Winning Micro Chapbook Author Ja’net Danielo
An interview with the winning Micro Chapbook author Ja’net Danielo on the inspiration and process behind This Body I Have Tried to Write: “With these poems, I very much wanted to convey that illness, disability, loss, and grief are not physical and emotional circumstances that happen to a body but are ever-evolving processes held within the body.”
Q&A with Novelist, Memoirist, and Nonfiction Contest Judge
Darin Strauss by Elliott Bueler
“Memoir is not quite a record of a life; it’s a record of your memory about some part or parts of your life.”
Queer Fiction Writers:
Lydia Conklin Interviewed by Raki Kopernik
In this delightful collection of prize-winning stories, queer, gender-nonconforming, and trans characters struggle to find love and forgiveness, despite their sometimes comic, sometimes tragic mistakes. With insight and compassion, debut author Conklin reveals both the dark and lovable sides of their characters, resulting in stories that make you laugh and wince, sometimes at the same time.
Comprehension, If Not Closure: A Conversation with Riley Redgate
by Nathan Winer
Learning to separate your own interests away from those feelings of, “I should be more like this, I should be more like that”—that’s going to be valuable forever. And not just in writing.
Minnesota Women Writers in Short Fiction:
Darci Schummer interviewed by Raki Kopernik
Raw talent is not necessarily a predictor of success. However, engaging regularly in your practice, listening openly to critiques of your work, and not allowing rejection to deter you will all help you succeed.
Underwater Storytelling
an Interview with Kelly Gray and Meredith Johnson
In thinking about privacy, I try to be brave with a small dose of disassociation thrown in for good measure.
A Conversation with Quan Barry
by Nathan Winer
“There’s a… freedom allowed you in poetry. And I trust that, even if I can’t explain it. It bleeds into my fiction, in many ways.”
An interview with Eric Boyd
by Kirk Sever
“I find a lot of comfort in nihilism.” Eric Boyd on David Bowie, black and white films, and the end of the world.
Stories Refresh the American Language:
An Interview with John Freeman
by Cal Shook
I grew up reading short stories by writers from the 1950s and 1960s and loving them: Eudora Welty, James Baldwin, J.D. Salinger.
