A girl, a fax machine, a dog, another planet. This is how Marie-Helene Bertino explains the focus of her new novel, Beautyland, which came out last week with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Like all of Bertino’s writing, Beautyland teeters on the knife’s edge of fantasy. The book follows an alien’s […]
An Interview | Diana Reid on Relationships, Morality, and How to Write a Contemporary Novel
Diana Reid dared herself to write a novel. She loved reading, so why not try? If she couldn’t write one during the pandemic, then she figured she probably never would. Unlike most of us who resolved to finish In Search of Lost Time or master the sourdough starter, Diana was […]
“I was still just some guy at a party:” Andrew Martin on Success, First Novels, and the Role of Revisions
There’s a moment in the short story “No Cops” where the heroine of the story Leslie is hanging with her closest friend as she closes up a patron-less bookstore in Missoula, Montana. Leslie holds a “waifish” book of contemporary poetry as she spaces out and contemplates the merits of intention […]
An Interview | Saborna Roychowdhury on Class, Muslim Stereotypes, and her new novel, Everything Here Belongs To You
Saborna Roychowdhury’s novel, Everything Here Belongs to You, written in the aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent backlash against Muslims, takes on the ambitious task of addressing the vast gulf of prejudice across nations, religions, and classes by brilliantly bringing together under one roof all the characters who embody different positions in this geopolitical conflict that spans nations, from the US to Afghanistan and India.
An Interview | Jonathan Garfinkel on Georgian Theater, the Duplicity of the Soviet Union, and his debut novel
“No one is who they say they are, not even myself,” reflects performance artist Tamar Tumanishvili halfway through Jonathan Garfinkel’s funny and wild debut novel, In a Land without Dogs the Cats Learn to Bark. Tamar is about to begin a three-day bus ride from Istanbul to Tbilisi in order to investigate the mysterious past of her mentor, academic Rachel Grabinsky, whose recent death has led Tamar to reassess both Rachel’s identity and her own.
An Interview | Mai Nardone on Thai Identity, Class, and His First Story Collection
“Only you farang are so easy to come and and leave,” yells Nam to her American husband, Rick, in “Easy,” a story that sits at the emotional and temporal core of Welcome Me to the Kingdom, Mai Nardone’s debut collection of short fiction. The reason why Nam is upset is that their family has just moved from their high-rise condo back to their old townhouse. It’s 1997 and Rick—like so many others in Thailand, foreign and local—has seen his fortunes reverse due to the Asian financial crisis. This reversal puts strain on a relationship already on shaky ground.
An Interview | Finding a Speaking Voice: Colm Tóibín’s “Vinegar Hill”
Irish politics, gay saunas, Expressionist painting, and the influence of Ashbery, Binchy, and Bishop on Tóibín’s captivating new book from Beacon Press, Vinegar Hill.
An interview | Robert Jones Jr. on Black Love, Community, and Resistance in The Prophets
Robert Jones, Jr. is the author of The New York Times Bestselling novel, The Prophets, which was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction and has been translated into nineteen languages. He was born and raised in New York City and received his BFA in creative writing […]
An Interview | Beth Morgan on Jake Gyllenhaal, Mushrooms, and the Perils of Pursuing Self-Actualization
A Touch of Jen, written by Brooklyn College MFA alum Beth Morgan, centers Alicia and Remy, two codependent Brooklynites miserable in their coupledom but bonded by a shared infatuation with the titular Jen—a breezy influencer with freckled boobs and adult braces whose appeal is equated to that of a “hot […]
An Interview | Joshua Henkin on Time, Memory, and Revision in Morningside Heights
Joshua Henkin doesn’t like to think about themes—at least, not while writing. At Brooklyn College, where he directs the MFA program in fiction (and where the magazine is based), Henkin tells students that themes, as abstractions, can draw writers away from the specifics of a narrative, resulting in distortions of […]
An Interview | John Keene on the Power of Narrative From 1613 to Today
John Keene is a Distinguished Professor of English and African-American and African Studies at Rutgers-Newark, where he has served as the chair of the African-American and African Studies department since 2015. In his own words, he says, “I’m a writer, a translator, an artist, an editor, and a mentor.” He […]
An Interview | Emily Neuberger on the Golden Age of Musical Theater
Growing up between Lake Forest, Illinois, and Long Island, New York, debut novelist Emily Neuberger dreamt of the Broadway stage. She began voice lessons early, at age twelve, and, throughout her adolescence, starred in numerous community and regional productions. She went on to study musical theater at NYU, along with […]
An Interview | Patty Gone on Understanding Gender Poles Through Danielle Steel
Patty Gone makes art about popular things. They have a strong curiosity for what makes people obsessed with Kim Kardashian or why people want to dress in all Gucci. Their work often focuses on different poles in culture and gender in the attempt to draw people toward some kind of […]
An Interview | Pema Tseden on Folktales, Films, and Creativity
Award-winning Tibetan writer and filmmaker, Pema Tseden, makes a stop in NYC along his US tour to discuss his English-language debut, Enticement: Stories of Tibet.
An Interview | Karan Mahajan on Cricket, Distance, and Histories of the Present
Karan Mahajan is the author of two novels, Family Planning and The Association of Small Bombs. His second novel drew me into his work through its unusual structure, in which the story radiated from the center and expanded outwards just like a bomb. When I read a novel and think […]
“Materials for Love” | An Interview with Madeleine Barnes and Michelle Maher
With both their debut volumes of poetry appearing this year, the mother and daughter discuss collaboration, pronouns, and the imperative not to look away. Madeleine Barnes and Michelle Maher embody an ode to the family. In the era of viral elegy, in a winter where World War III is trending, […]
An Interview | Susan Choi on Adolescence, Memory, and the World of Arts Education
Susan Choi’s new novel Trust Exercise, a National Book Award Finalist, is a brilliant, inventive, and deeply thought-provoking exploration of the ways in which we tell our stories and the inherent tensions between individual and collective experience.
Now/here Fast: An Interview with Chris Campanioni
The hybrid writer discusses his latest book, the Internet is for real, and new horizons for identity in the digital age. Chris Campanioni wants to know if I think his newest book, the Internet is for real, is productively excessive. The request surprises me—not for its candor, but for the […]
An Interview | Danniel Schoonebeek
Over the past few years, I’ve seen Danniel Schoonebeek read three times, mostly from poems that appeared in his book Trébuchet. At every reading, I got the kind of spiritual and political catharsis that I’m always looking for in great writing. In both American Barricade (YesYes Books, 2014) and Trébuchet […]