CASEY WALKER speaks to EMILY EVERETT about his story “Islands,” which appears in The Common’s fall issue. Set at an old lake house rife with unresolved family tensions, the story explores the dynamics between three orphaned brothers, and between the narrator and his pregnant wife. Casey discusses how the piece evolved over more than a decade, and how he always hopes a story will take on a life of its own during the writing process. Also discussed is his forthcoming novel Mexicali, set in the US-Mexico borderlands during the first half of the 20th century.
He’s calling my name. About time. He’s been holed up in the bathroom for nearly an hour while my mother and I’ve busied ourselves elsewhere, pretending not to notice. Now as I wedge my way in, I find him seated on the rim of the tub like he’s waiting for an appointment.
Sickness has sallowed his skin and bruised the pouches around his eyes. His pale blue summer pajamas hang from his shrunken frame, and uncombed hair turbines around his head in a wild white corona. Yet my father sits up straight. He still manages to look irresistibly dashing in the way that Ray Milland might have, if he’d lived to ninety-five, had terminal cancer, and been half Chinese.
Translator’s Note:
In translating Cavafy I was most absorbed and, at times, confused by his irony. People make ironic points—no confusion. But some of Cavafy’s irony does not come to a sharp point. I call this unresolved irony, which adds to but doesn’t settle the semantic and emotional atmosphere. The experience of reacting to the irony in the context of its poem can be frustrating. Instead of crystalizing our understanding, or, as a kind of compass, leading us to the author’s side, the irony works within a poem to help create an experience of widening awareness, giving us a touch of wisdom.
Art and politics took center stage at our 11th annual LitFest! From February 26th to March 1st, the community flocked to Amherst College for talks by Jamaica Kincaid, Pete Buttigieg, and more. Students competed in the Spoken Word Slam, and filled seminar rooms for craft classes with Jamaica Kincaid, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Evie Shockley, and Dan Chiasson.
Read on for a gallery of selected images and videos from LitFest 2025, and view all the event recordings here before they expire.
Medicine Lake (Sáttítla Highlands National Monument)
The highway is nearly empty;
the mid-June air still crisp.
There is snow on the roadside,
to the west are fire scars.
If I slowed the car, I might relax into
Applications for The Common Young Writers Program, a fully virtual summer writing class for high school students (rising 9-12), are now open! Over the span of two weeks, students will be introduced to the building blocks of fiction, learn to closely read a text the way a writer would, and leave having written and edited a short story of their own. Taught by the editors and editorial assistants of Amherst College’s literary magazine, the two summer courses (Level I and Level II) run Monday-Friday and are open to all aspiring writers in grades 9-12. The program starts on July 20 and ends with a celebration of student work on the 31st. Applications close May 18 at midnight.
Level I is for beginners and anyone excited to try their hand at fiction. Level II is for returning TCYWP participants or students who have already completed a creative writing class or workshop.
Full and partial need-based tuition waivers are available for both levels; we hope that no student will let financial difficulty prevent them from applying. Tuition waivers will be awarded to students with strong applications who cannot attend the program without financial assistance. In the application, students will have the opportunity to briefly describe their financial circumstances and state the amount they could afford to pay, if any, if accepted into the program. No tax returns or other documentation is required.
Allison Pitinii Davis (left) and Rosanna Young Oh (right)
ALLISON PITINII DAVIS and ROSANNA YOUNG OH explore how Davis’ personal connection to Youngstown, Ohio and scholarly interest in labor inspired her debut novella, Business. They discuss representing the Rust Belt in literature, their identities as eldest daughters who worked for their family businesses, and the dignity and ethos of the working-class communities that raised them. Allison Pitinii Davis is the author of the poetry collection Line Study of a Motel Clerk , Poppy Seeds, and Business, a novella in Agency 3: Novellas . She serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Poetry at Ohio State University.
Writing the Rust Belt: Rosanna Young Oh Interviews Allison Pitinii Davis
