Category: Interviews & Excerpts

“Love, Loss, and Nazis in Norway”: Gay Degani Interviews Johanna Robinson

Johanna Robinson’s flash novella, Homing, is a revelation not only in its form—flash chapters pinpointing specific moments in time in fewer than 800 words—but also because it highlights a World War II event that is less explored than the Invasion of Poland, the Blitz in England, or the capitulation of France. Robinson focuses on the takeover…
An Excerpt from South Side Venus, Mary Ann Cain’s biography of activist, curator, and artist Margaret Burroughs

The extraordinarily productive life of curator, artist, and activist Margaret Burroughs was largely rooted in her work to establish and sustain two significant institutions in Chicago: the South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC), founded in 1940, and the DuSable Museum of African American History, founded in her living room in 1961. As Mary Ann Cain’s South…
“You Are What You Read”: An Interview with John Madera about the 10th Anniversary of the Big Other Literary Journal

John Madera’s fiction may be found in Conjunctions, Opium Magazine, The &Now Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing, and many other journals. His criticism may be found in American Book Review, Bookforum, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Rain Taxi: Review of Books, The Believer, The Brooklyn Rail, and many other venues. Recipient of an MFA…
“We’re a Creepy Bunch”: Hillary Leftwich Talks to Sarah Read, Author of the Story Collection Out of Water

Sarah Read is a force in the horror genre and has a long-standing history of publications in numerous top tier journals. She’s the author of a new collection, Out of Water (published by Trepidatio Publishing), and one I’ve been anticipating with excitement for months now. Sarah chatted with me over email communication over a week…
“Don’t Think About the Elephant”: An Interview with Andrew Farkas, Author of The Big Red Herring

Andrew Farkas is the author of a novel: The Big Red Herring (KERNPUNKT Press), and two short fiction collections: Sunsphere (BlazeVOX [books]) and Self-Titled Debut (Subito Press). His work has appeared in The Iowa Review, North American Review, The Cincinnati Review, The Florida Review, Western Humanities Review, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. He has been thrice…
“Dissonance, Shock, and the Inevitable Truth”: Gay Degani Chats with Sandra Arnold

Both the title of Soul Etchings (Retreat West Books, 2019) by Sandra Arnold, the cover with its crackled baby-doll faces, and the uncapitalized chapter titles throughout, prepare the reader for the unease found in the pages of this collection of very short stories. The author seduces us into her world, subverting expectations, almost always putting the…
“Glorious Fragments”: Andrew Farkas Interviews Ron MacLean, Author of We Might as Well Light Something on Fire

We Might as Well Light Something on Fire, Ron MacLean’s collection, immediately interested me because, in a time when everything must connect (podcast and TV show episodes, movie series, etc.) so it all can be binged more easily, in a time when all narratives must be doggedly followed to their conclusions (leaving the reader or…
Matthew Thorburn & J.G. McClure: A Collaborative Interview between Poets

Matthew Thorburn’s new book of poems, The Grace of Distance, was published by LSU Press in August 2019. He’s also the author of six previous collections, including the book-length poem Dear Almost (LSU Press, 2016), honored with the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry; A Green River in Spring (Autumn House Press, 2015), winner of the Coal Hill Review chapbook…
“Serious Play”: Dana Diehl Interviews Carol Guess & Aimee Parkison

I was first introduced to Carol Guess’s collaborative work while I was editor of Hayden’s Ferry Review and we published her story, “With Animal,” co-written with Kelly Magee. It was the first collaborative work I’d read and profoundly affected my understanding of authorship and the “rules” of fiction, eventually inspiring me to pursue my own…