Interviews | Page 11

Write Like a Shark: an Interview with Lauren Groff

September 6, 2015 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews LAUREN GROFF

Lauren Groff is the New York Times bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton and Arcadia, as well as the enviably acclaimed short story collection Delicate Edible Birds. Her forthcoming novel Fates and Furies will be published by in September by Riverhead. Lauren and S. Tremaine Nelson connected over Skype for a few minutes, inexplicably without sound, communicating with primitive hand gestures and unrecognizable symbols, until they agreed to give up on that futuristic technology and connect the old-fashioned way, over the phone. They spoke for about an hour, covering a variety of topics like tailgating, running, reading, and, of course, writing.

Outer Space as Utopia: Wendy S. Walters on the American Real and Surreal

September 5, 2015 Interviews

MELODY NIXON interviews WENDY S. WALTERS

Wendy S. Walters’ work blends poetry, nonfiction cultural commentary, and playful lyric essay to excavate deeply rooted themes of race, identity, and belonging in America. She has published two books of poems: Troy, Michigan (2014) and Longer I Wait, More You Love Me (2009), and a chapbook, Birds of Los Angeles (2005). Walters is active in the literary world, as a founder of the First Person Plural Reading Series in Harlem, New York, a contributing editor at The Iowa Review, and an Associate Professor of creative writing and literature at the Eugene Lang College of The New School University in the city of New York.

Ask a Local: Elizabeth Enslin, Wallowa County, OR

September 3, 2015 Interviews

With ELIZABETH ENSLIN

Your name: Elizabeth Enslin

Current town: I live in Wallowa County, Oregon, five miles from the near ghost town of Flora and 45 miles from a town with amenities: Enterprise.

How long have you lived here: I’m a fourth generation Oregonian and have lived full-time in this northeastern corner of the state for about two years now.

August Reads: Ask a Local: Kent Wascom, Covington, LA

August 27, 2015 Interviews

With KENT WASCOM

For the month of August we are revisiting some of our favorite content from the past year. Publication of new work will resume September 1.

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Your name: Kent Wascom

Current city or town: Covington, Louisiana.

How long have you lived here? My parents grew up here: I drew my first breath across the lake in New Orleans and spent my first six years down the interstate in Slidell before spending the majority of my youth in Pensacola, Florida. So in many ways Covington and the area have existed for me as a sort of imaginative heritage for all my life. Boots on the ground, though, 1.4 years.

August Reads: If You Open a Window and Make Love to the World: An Interview with A.L. Kennedy

August 22, 2015 Interviews

MARNI BERGER interviews A.L. KENNEDY

For the month of August we are revisiting some of our favorite content from the past year. Publication of new work will resume on September 1.

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A.L. Kennedy was born in Dundee, Scotland. She is the author of 15 books: six novels, six short story collections, and three works of nonfiction. She is a fellow of both theRoyal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Literature. She writes for publications in the UK and overseas and has a blog with The Guardian Online. In addition to author, she is a dramatist for the stage, radio, TV, and film, and a standup comedian. Her All The Rage—a collection of short stories—was published by Little A Books in spring 2014. Marni Berger and A.L. spoke about the culture of humor, constructing the landscapes of characters’ minds, and what it means to “write to please.”

View from Up High: An Interview with Jacquelyn Pope

August 2, 2015 Interviews

MARNI BERGER interviews JACQUELYN POPE

Jacquelyn Pope is the author of the poetry collection Watermark (Marsh Hawk Press, 2005). Her next book, Hungerpots—translations of the Dutch poet Hester Knibbe—is due out in October from Eyewear Publishing in the UK. Jacquelyn is the recipient of a 2015 National Endowment of the Arts Translation Fellowship and a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant. She has received awards from the Academy of American Poets and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Ask a Local: Jaquira Díaz, Miami Beach, FL

July 30, 2015 Interviews

With JAQUIRA DÍAZ

Your name: Jaquira Díaz

Current city or town: Miami Beach, FL

How long have you lived here? I grew up in South Beach, and I’ve been back here (in North Beach) for about a year. But most of my immediate family lives in Miami, and I’ve been leaving and coming back since I was 19.

Putting the War in Plain Sight: An Interview with Sara Nović

July 7, 2015 Interviews

S. TREMAINE NELSON interviews SARA NOVIĆ

Sara Nović’s first book, Girl at War, was published by Random House earlier this year and was immediately well received: described by critics as “outstanding,” “intimate and immense,” The New York Times concluded it is “a brutal novel, but a beautiful one.” American-Croatian Nović recently graduated from the MFA program at Columbia University, where she studied fiction and literary translation. She is the fiction editor at Blunderbuss Magazine and the founder of ReDeafined, as well as an advocate for the Deaf community. S. Tremaine Nelson spoke with Nović in June while she was on a book tour in London.

Ask a Local: Liam Callanan, Milwaukee, WI

June 25, 2015 Interviews

With LIAM CALLANAN

Your name: Liam Callanan

Current city or town: Milwaukee

How long have you lived here? 10 years

Human Paradox: an Interview with Stephen O’Connor

June 16, 2015 Interviews

MELODY NIXON interviews STEPHEN O’CONNOR

Stephen O’Connor is a writer of fiction and nonfiction, the author of four books, a professor of creative writing at Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College, and a husband and father. His short stories “Con” and “Double Life” appear in Issues 07 and 03 respectively of The Common. His new novel, Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings, is forthcoming from Viking-Penguin. Melody Nixon talked with O’Connor this month while she was in Norway and he in London. They both endured the rainiest of European springs and the crackling of Skype to talk dreams, the unconscious, and the right/ability of white writers to write across identity lines.

All posts tagged: Interviews

Write Like a Shark: an Interview with Lauren Groff

Outer Space as Utopia: Wendy S. Walters on the American Real and Surreal

Ask a Local: Elizabeth Enslin, Wallowa County, OR

August Reads: Ask a Local: Kent Wascom, Covington, LA

August Reads: If You Open a Window and Make Love to the World: An Interview with A.L. Kennedy

View from Up High: An Interview with Jacquelyn Pope

Ask a Local: Jaquira Díaz, Miami Beach, FL

Putting the War in Plain Sight: An Interview with Sara Nović

Ask a Local: Liam Callanan, Milwaukee, WI

Human Paradox: an Interview with Stephen O’Connor

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