Interview

Namwali Serpell: “I almost always find my errors productive.”

By Mary Wang January 21, 2020

Using archival photos, excerpts from language courses, and eBay finds, the author and critic explains how she mines mistakes for discoveries.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Carmen Maria Machado: “I speak into the Silence”

By Marissa Korbel December 18, 2019

The writer on intimate partner violence and the forces that made it a hard story to tell.

Family & Relationships Gender Lit World

Interview

Lilly Dancyger: There Are So Many Different Ways to Be Angry

By Jane Ratcliffe December 3, 2019

The editor of Burn It Down talks about the stabilizing benefits of women’s anger, the slow pace of change, and why it’s important to take up space on the subway.

Gender Lit World

Interview

Robert Gipe: A Cure for Despair

By Graham Oliver November 25, 2019

The author and activist on gallows humor, the need to tell stories, and helping communities thrive.

Arts & Culture Class USA

Interview

Shannon Pufahl: Queering the Western

By Mickie Meinhardt November 21, 2019

A slow-burning epic, On Swift Horses paints a new picture of our American mythology.

Gender Lit World

Interview

Rene Denfeld: What Happens After the Trauma

By Jane Ratcliffe November 18, 2019

The novelist on writing as activism, mislabeling monsters, and the healing power of imagination.

Family & Relationships Justice

Interview

Ben Fama: “Life begins once its valorization ends.”

By KrisAnne Madaus November 15, 2019

The poet talks about his latest book, the economic forces at work behind social media, and the stuffed animals in his life.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Diana Marie Delgado: The Germ of Someone

By Nicole Treska November 12, 2019

The poet on growing up around storytellers, understanding the charming trickster, and acknowledging women’s trauma.

Bodies & Nature Family & Relationships

Interview

Dina Nayeri: The Craft of Writing the Truth about Refugees

By Jessica Goudeau November 5, 2019

The writer discusses the complexity of migrants' lives in a world that demands their simplicity.

Class Conflict Politics

Interview

Mira Ptacin: What Does It Feel Like to Have a Ghost in the Room?

By Sarah Kasbeer October 28, 2019

In her new book, Ptacin goes deep with mediums and clairvoyants, and embraces the unknown.

Bodies & Nature Religion

Interview

Kimberly King Parsons: Humor is an Antidote to Dread

By Robert Lopez October 23, 2019

Parsons' short fiction debut Black Light isn’t afraid of the dark.

Interview

Back Draft: John Murillo

By Ben Purkert and John Murillo October 21, 2019

The poet discusses chasing butterflies, and the perpetual relevance of political verse.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

Four Storytellers Tackle Climate Change

By Amy Brady October 15, 2019

Experts in art, writing, journalism, and policy discuss why climate change is the biggest story of our time.

Climate & Environment

Interview

Victor LaValle: Imagine Downton Abbey, but with Smells

By Tobias Carroll October 11, 2019

The award-winning writer on editing his first anthology, horror versus sci-fi, and the American tradition of voter suppression.

Lit World

Interview

Wendy S. Walters: There Is No Neutral Body

By Amy Wright September 25, 2019

Loneliness, anti-blackness, and the need to tell new stories on the 400th anniversary of the first ship carrying enslaved Africans to the New World

Bodies & Nature Race

Interview

Susan Choi: The Limitation of Perspective

By Christopher M. Hood August 23, 2019

The author of “Trust Exercise” on her evolving narrative preoccupations and the radical contradictions of adolescence.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Aya de Leon: Fiction of Empathy and Escapism

By Ilana Masad August 13, 2019

The author of the Justice Hustlers series talks about writing at the nexus of consciousness raising and commercial fiction.

Americas Sex

Interview

Back Draft: Martín Espada

By Ben Purkert, Martín Espada, and Donald Hall August 12, 2019

The poet discusses his relationship with the late Donald Hall and the power of art, incarnate.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

Plumbing the Silences Between Mothers and Children

By Madhushree Ghosh August 9, 2019

Michele Filgate, Nayomi Munaweera, and Sari Botton on a new anthology, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About.

Family & Relationships

Interview

Alex Kotlowitz: Violence and Resilience in Chicago

By DJ Cashmere July 26, 2019

“To label this kind of trauma as ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ is perhaps a little dangerous, because there's nothing ‘post’ about it.”

Conflict

Interview

Helen Phillips: “Living with the awareness of the abyss is probably a good thing.”

By Mary Wang July 19, 2019

The writer discusses why motherhood lends itself perfectly for speculative fiction—and the album that helped her during writing and labor.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Catherine Chung: The Vast and the Intricate

By Steph Cha July 11, 2019

The author discusses the limits of identity, the power of ownership, and the narrative beauty of math.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Ayesha Harruna Attah: “I Write to Find out Who I Am”

By Arvind Dilawar July 5, 2019

How the discovery of an ancestor named only “the slave” inspired the Ghanaian author’s latest novel

Africa Lit World

Interview

Kristen Arnett: It Starts With An Image

By Victoria Brown July 3, 2019

The writer on depicting experienced sex scenes, finding humor in the absurd, and the exciting possibilities of the gross.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Wayne Koestenbaum: “I use obscene as a term of praise.” 

By Mirene Arsanios July 2, 2019

Critic, essayist, and poet Wayne Koestenbaum talks about the reissue of his only novel to date, Circus, while offering a glimpse of his art works, unpublished writings, and family archive.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Becoming a Map for Survival: Interview with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

By Lisa Factora-Borchers June 18, 2019

The writer on resisting racist ableist erasure in her latest essay collection about disability justice.

Arts & Culture Bodies & Nature

Interview

Viet Thanh Nguyen: Writing to Re-member

By Helen Scott June 17, 2019

The author discusses the refugee crisis, US foreign policy, and the problem of ‘narrative scarcity’ for marginalized and minority populations.

Lit World Politics

Interview

Terese Svoboda: Writing the Desert

By Amy Brady May 14, 2019

The author and translator on the changing American region that shaped her thinking.

Climate & Environment

Interview

Binnie Kirshenbaum: “If you think you shouldn’t say something, say it.”

By Mary Wang May 13, 2019

Writer Binnie Kirshenbaum shares the drafts of her latest novel, Rabbits for Food, and talks to us about writing unreasonable characters.

Miscellaneous Files

Interview

Sheila Heti: “All of Living is Thinking”

By Kelley Deane McKinney May 7, 2019

The author discusses Judaism, visual art, and “the annoying, circular thinking that happens alongside living.”

Lit World

Interview

Laila Lalami: Home Is An In-Between World

By Anjali Enjeti May 1, 2019

The writer on migration, bigotry, and the inheritance of loss.

Lit World

Interview

Fernando A. Flores: “The oldest stories of this land were fantastical in essence”

By KrisAnne Madaus April 26, 2019

An emerging voice in fiction discusses writing as performance, translating rhythm into narrative, and writing the “anti-research” novel.

Americas Arts & Culture Lit World

Interview

Hilary Hahn: Entering the Sublime

By Emily Fragos April 25, 2019

The renowned violinist on the joys and intensities of creative life.

Arts & Culture

Interview

David Shields: Men Should Acknowledge Their Brokenness

By Cathy Alter April 16, 2019

The author discusses marriage, #MeToo, and how we are all vectors on a vast grid of animal drives.

Family & Relationships Lit World

Interview

Leanne Shapton: “The mix of proof, shock, and totally crappy images.”

By Mary Wang April 12, 2019

Writer and illustrator Leanne Shapton gives us a tour through her studio and shows us her mock layouts, her collection of ghost stories, and the pile of scrapbooks she found on Etsy.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Sam Lipsyte: “I Depend on Not Knowing”

By Leah Dworkin April 9, 2019

The celebrated novelist on “mental archery,” writing while parenting, and searching for deep focus in a culture of corporatized wellness

Interview

Sarah Blake: A Biblical Woman Gets a Modern Voice

By Mickie Meinhardt April 9, 2019

The author of the stunning debut novel Naamah on reimagining the story of the ark to be feminist and surreal, with a healthy dose of agnosticism.

Gender Religion

Interview

Back Draft: Edward Hirsch

By Ben Purkert and Edward Hirsch April 5, 2019

The poet discusses insomnia, civility (or the lack thereof) in cities, and losing his sight.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

David Means’s New Collection of Stories is Unstuck in Time

By Sam Schieren March 26, 2019

“I like stories that helix on themselves and twist,” says the author of Instructions for a Funeral.

Interview

Morgan Parker: “In the back of my mind I’m on a slave ship, yet I’m also here just telling you how it is.”

By Sasha Bonét March 22, 2019

Poet Morgan Parker shares a collection of screenshots that feed her audacity and fuel her despair.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Sandra Newman: “We need to reclaim utopianism”

By Alan Scherstuhl March 21, 2019

The author on being broke, inventing one’s own language, and being “good” at Twitter.

Lit World

Interview

David Wallace-Wells: “We Will Need to Learn How to Navigate a New World with New Rules”

By Amy Brady March 8, 2019

The provocative journalist on why we should stop speculating about the “threshold of catastrophe,” and instead ask ourselves “How bad are we going to let it get?”

Climate & Environment

Interview

Reema Zaman: “Once I saw how it all connected, I became free”

By Gerri Ravyn Stanfield March 7, 2019

The writer on how to rise from trauma and heal collective wounds.

Gender Lit World

Interview

Back Draft: Natasha Trethewey

By Ben Purkert and Natasha Trethewey February 26, 2019

The acclaimed poet discusses a devastating fire, and the painterly in poetry.

Back Draft Arts & Culture Lit World

Interview

Valeria Luiselli: “There are always fingerprints of the archive in my books.”

By Mary Wang February 12, 2019

The writer opens her archives to reveal maps, recordings, and questionnaires that have fueled her work—including photos that didn’t make it into her new novel.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Heather Widdows: The Ugly Side of Beauty

By Regan Penaluna January 30, 2019

The philosopher on how our appearance intolerance hinders ideas and human flourishing

Bodies & Nature Gender

Interview

Joyce Carol Oates: Failure is Just Preparation

By Alan Scherstuhl January 22, 2019

The author on her career, Shirley Jackson, and why we should all be more like cats.

Interview

Anelise Chen: “Then I changed it to third-person clam, and that was exactly how it was meant to be.”

By Mary Wang January 18, 2019

The writer shares a collection of digital fragments that have shaped her practice, including an image depicting cycling exercises, a photo of Kafka’s diaries, and a video of her mother’s first time seeing snow.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Natasha Trethewey: Finding Her Calling in a Wound That Never Heals

By Chet’la Sebree January 9, 2019

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet on her recently released collection, the connections between personal and historical violence, and how she received her calling.

Lit World

Interview

Kiese Laymon: “I Didn’t Want to Be a Silent Survivor of Moral Failure Anymore”

By Lacy M. Johnson December 19, 2018

The writer on his memoir, Heavy, and the role of truth-telling and loneliness in artmaking.

Family & Relationships Lit World Race

Interview

Miscellaneous Files: Jabari Asim

By Mary Wang December 10, 2018

The writer Jabari Asim on stories as instruments of power, how he places himself in the lineage of African American literature, and how writers of color should navigate an onerous publishing landscape.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Helen Schulman’s Many Worlds

By Phineas Lambert December 7, 2018

The best-selling author on invasive technology, her new novel, and the craft of writing.

Lit World

Interview

Tyrese Coleman: Writing the Truth, Unbound by Genre

By Sarah Kasbeer December 5, 2018

The author of How to Sit discusses her mixed genre, multi-generational essays about black girlhood, womanhood, trauma, and triumph.

Bodies & Nature Race Sex

Interview

Back Draft: Catherine Barnett

By Ben Purkert and Catherine Barnett November 27, 2018

The poet discusses the separation of mind and body—literally and figuratively—the transformation of influence, and imagining an audience.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

A.J. Jacobs: Gratitude and the Global Supply Chain

By Phineas Lambert November 20, 2018

A writer's quest to thank everyone involved in the production of his morning coffee took him on a journey through the benefits of mental positivity and the complexities of global commerce.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Marie Brenner: Public Stories and Private Wars

By Matthew Miles Goodrich November 8, 2018

The investigative journalist discusses her outspoken father, a notorious encounter with Donald Trump, and the legacy of an impassioned late colleague

Conflict Politics

Interview

Idra Novey: Silence Is Complicity

By Mickie Meinhardt November 7, 2018

The novelist, poet, and translator on the responsibilities we hold, the consequences of silence, and writing cross-genre.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Miscellaneous Files: Ottessa Moshfegh

By Mary Wang November 6, 2018

The writer Ottessa Moshfegh on the line between sensitivity and sentimentality, the universal experience of sadness, and the influence of Nirvana.

Miscellaneous Files Lit World

Interview

Heather Havrilesky: Digging for Something Real

By Mickie Meinhardt November 1, 2018

The author of “What If This Were Enough?” on honest writing, raising kids with social media, and the growing pains of a constantly-wired culture.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Meghan Brown: Ecology, Storytelling, and The White Deer Terroir Project

By Jeff VanderMeer October 31, 2018

Author Jeff VanderMeer interviews biology professor Dr. Meghan Brown about her use of The Wonderbook in her science class.

Climate & Environment

Interview

Lacy M. Johnson: Moving the Conversation Toward Justice

By Kelly Thompson October 17, 2018

The author on her new book of essays about activism, the failure to reckon, and extracting power from pain.

Lit World

Interview

Miscellaneous Files: Olivia Laing

By Mary Wang October 4, 2018

In the first installment of our multimedia interview series, Olivia Laing uses screenshots to explain how the secretarial parts of writing can be both pleasurable and productive.

Miscellaneous Files Arts & Culture Lit World

Interview

Merve Emre: Portals to Self Discovery

By Regan Penaluna October 2, 2018

The author, scholar, and critic on her new book about personality testing, and the importance of holding women writers to high standards.

Lit World

Interview

Back Draft: Cedar Sigo

By Cedar Sigo and Ben Purkert September 28, 2018

The poet on escaping the confines of academia, striving for imperfection, and moving back home.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

Saadia Faruqi: Writing a Muslim Protagonist for Young Readers

By Ilana Masad September 27, 2018

The Pakistani-American author and activist on the burden of representation, the hunger for perfection, and the most important things about writing for kids.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Back Draft: Cynthia Cruz

By Ben Purkert and Cynthia Cruz August 23, 2018

The poet on perfectionism, surrendering control, and a poetry that reflects the practical realities of American life today.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

The Messy and the Vulnerable: Catherine Lacey

By Eric Farwell August 8, 2018

The author on her new collection of short stories, finding joy in the writing process, dating creative people, and the role of nonliterary influences in her life.

Interview

Ada Limón: Connected to the Universe

By Diana Delgado July 24, 2018

The critically acclaimed poet on taking risks, accepting grace, and holding the world’s pain.

Arts & Culture

Interview

John Fanning: Questioning is Political

By Amanda Dennis July 19, 2018

The writer on resistance history in French Occitanie, dropping out to drop in, and cultivating spiritual presence as an artist.

Lit World

Interview

Brian Turner: A Music That Suits Our Time on the Planet

By Rick Moody July 17, 2018

The poet on his debut album—a tribute to and collaboration with his late wife, by The Interplanetary Acoustic Team—and the role of music in literary practice.

Arts & Culture Lit World

Interview

The American Bourgeoisie Are the Revolutionaries

By Ryan Chapman July 13, 2018

The writer on contemporary political fiction, his favorite court decision, and why he values ethics over empathy.

Lit World

Interview

Back Draft: Heather Christle

By Ben Purkert and Heather Christle July 11, 2018

The poet discusses the spark of life in a poem and the intersection of the imaginative and the political.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

Roy Scranton: Some New Future Will Emerge

By Amy Brady July 10, 2018

The author and Army veteran on climate change, war, and "the radical transformation of the basic structures of our existence."

Climate & Environment Conflict

Interview

Kelly Sundberg: The Most Painful Things Anyone’s Ever Said To You

By Marissa Korbel June 20, 2018

The writer on her new memoir about abuse, insidious forms of control, and the gendered expectations of forgiveness.

Family & Relationships

Interview

Robert Fieseler: Speaking Their Names

By Regan Penaluna June 15, 2018

The author of "Tinderbox" on the untold story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire, which until the Orlando shooting was the worst mass killing of gays in history.

Family & Relationships USA

Interview

Porochista Khakpour: Bodily Chaos

By Hillary Brenhouse June 13, 2018

The author on her new memoir, SICK; searching for home; and her struggle to be heard by the medical establishment.

Bodies & Nature Gender Health

Interview

Back Draft: Victoria Chang

By Victoria Chang and Ben Purkert June 6, 2018

The poet on her revision process and coping with grief.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

Lisa Wells: Tapering of Extremes

By Michael Juliani May 22, 2018

The writer reflects on the beef between poets, enjoying every day miracles, and practicing selfless listening.

Lit World

Interview

Dorothy Allison: Tender to the Bone

By Amy Wright May 16, 2018

The acclaimed author on working-class anger and the glory in literature.

Class Lit World

Interview

Lotte Geeven: Crowdsourcing the Songs of Sand

By Jennifer Gersten May 7, 2018

The Dutch artist has enlisted helpers from around the globe to help her reproduce the unique sounds of the world’s singing deserts.

Deserts Arts & Culture

Interview

Francisco Cantú and Lauren Markham: Border Patrol

By John Washington May 7, 2018

The journalists discuss their debut books, writing about borderlands, and the people who cross over.

Deserts Americas Conflict Government

Interview

Karen Washington: It’s Not a Food Desert, It’s Food Apartheid

By Anna Brones May 7, 2018

The community activist pushes the food justice movement beyond raised beds, food pantries, new supermarkets, and white leadership.

Deserts Americas Economy Race

Interview

Sonam Wangchuk: An Ice Fountain Brings Water to the Himalayan Desert

By Teresa Krug May 7, 2018

Will this engineer’s “ice stupa” come to symbolize climate change adaptation?

Deserts Asia & Oceania Climate & Environment

Interview

Back Draft: Carl Phillips

By Carl Phillips and Ben Purkert May 3, 2018

The inaugural installment of a new series about the revision process in poetry. First up: Carl Phillips.

Back Draft Arts & Culture Lit World

Interview

James Sherry: Leadership is Magnetic as Power is Aphrodisiacal

By Ben Tripp April 27, 2018

The poet on reviving Machiavelli for our times.

Lit World

Interview

Striving for Purpose

By Phineas Lambert April 19, 2018

Meg Wolitzer discusses politics and process in the context of her new novel, The Female Persuasion.

Lit World

Interview

Storytelling in the Age of Populism

By Kenneth Goldsmith and Mikkel Rosengaard March 28, 2018

Kenneth Goldsmith and Mikkel Rosengaard in conversation.

Lit World

Interview

Kimberlé Crenshaw: Up in Arms, a Conversation About Women and Weapons

By Nimmi Gowrinathan March 28, 2018

Female Fighters series: The activist-scholar talks about black women and militancy, and whether guns have a place in struggles for liberation.

Female Fighters Gender Justice Race

Interview

Leslie Jamison: Storytelling and Sobriety

By Rachel Veroff March 27, 2018

The acclaimed writer talks recovery, responsibility, and reforming the culture by which we treat addiction.

Lit World

Interview

Terese Mailhot: Truth Is My Aesthetic

By Kelly Thompson March 21, 2018

The author on leaving the reservation, breaking silence, and embracing complicated cross-cultural love.

Americas Family & Relationships

Interview

Eileen Myles: When Dogs and Mothers Die

By Carlie Fishgold March 14, 2018

Publishers wanted Myles to write another book that was “alcoholic, lesbian, and wild.” Instead, the poet wrote about the death of their beloved dog.

Lit World

Interview

Elizabeth Catte: Appalachia Isn’t Trump Country

By Regan Penaluna March 7, 2018

The historian on J.D. Vance, colonial logic, and the end of coal in the region that outsiders love to imagine but can’t seem to understand.

Class Politics USA

Interview

Back Draft

By Ben Purkert March 2, 2018

An exploration of the revision process in poetry.

Back Draft Lit World

Interview

Carmen Maria Machado’s Beautiful Bad Dreams

By Emma Copley Eisenberg February 19, 2018

The author of Her Body and Other Parties talks about queerness, writing good sex scenes, and what scares her the most.

Arts & Culture Bodies & Nature

Interview

Rachel Lyon on the Amoral Artist

By Matthew Daddona February 15, 2018

The novelist on her new book, Self-Portrait with Boy, the nature of photography, and the ethics of creating.

Lit World

Interview

Kate Manne: The Shock Collar That Is Misogyny

By Regan Penaluna February 7, 2018

A philosopher rethinks what’s keeping women down.

Gender Politics

Interview

Theater for a Now Audience: A Roundtable

By Carla Stockton January 17, 2018

Today's playwrights and directors weigh in on politics in theater and the state of the stage in a time of upheaval.

Arts & Culture

Interview

Eli Valley: Let the Horror Speak for Itself

By Matthew Miles Goodrich January 4, 2018

The cartoonist on taking back Judaism and the role of satire in America today.

Arts & Culture Politics

Interview

Jonas Bendiksen: Among the Messiahs

By Brook Wilensky-Lanford December 29, 2017

Around the world, men claim to be the Second Coming of Christ. The photographer recounts the years he spent documenting—and befriending—six of them.

Arts & Culture Religion

Interview

Gui Stampur: Reform Is Long Overdue

By Phineas Lambert December 17, 2017

The lawyer and activist on helping unaccompanied immigrant children navigate immigration court.

Justice