Hanna Komar
In August 2020, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians marched in a peaceful protest against dictatorship and were met with immense violence. I found myself actively involved in the resistance and in the women’s movement: at the peaceful protest, in solidarity groups, and ultimately, in jail. For months and months, the personal stopped existing for me,…
Keep readingFull Fadom Five
The ending to Full Fadom Five came to me on a long drive. I dictated an outline for the final pages as my wife took notes in the passenger seat. Many of the details eventually changed, but many didn’t; and, crucially, until I changed them they were an impetus while I wrote the latter stages…
Keep readingSend Me Into The Woods Alone
You see all of these gorgeous pregnant celebrities posing naked or appearing in public looking the same as they always did but with a cute baby bump. The vibe is very much empowerment, beauty, womanhood. There is this goddess-like presentation that implies that if you ‘take care of yourself’ while pregnant, you’ll thrive. I knew…
Keep readingShashi Bhat
For my characters, though, their ethnicity is a part of their identity…it’s rarely the story’s main conflict or focus. With my first book, I was basically told to make it “more Indian.” At festivals I’ve been put in the immigrant literature category, though neither I nor my protagonists are immigrants. During Q&As, I often get…
Keep readingGrant Us Tomorrow
I am a risk-averse emergency room doctor who is not much fun in Vegas. In deciding to write this book, I was in a terrifying place. I felt compelled to share something with the world. Still, I knew it would require me to move away from the emotional, personal, and professional safety I had fiercely…
Keep readingIt Is What Is, What Is It
Movement and growth are, thematically, a huge part of my writing. The idea of hopefully “getting better” takes a ton of twists and turns as we look deep within ourselves. These poems crawling up the page like vines are a good representation of both the drive to keep reaching for better days and clinging to…
Keep readingJames Vescovi on Radical Editing
In his 1955 Paris Review interview, William Faulkner claimed that a great writer must be ruthless. With fiction, everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness. I’d suggest nothing as draconian as making life miserable for yourself or loved ones for the sake of fiction. Rather, ruthlessness should be exercised on the written…
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