Miscellaneous Files is a series of virtual studio visits that uses screenshots from writers’ digital devices to understand their practice. Conceived by Mary Wang, each interview provides an intimate look into the artistic process.

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

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

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

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


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

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

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.” 

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

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

Jabari Asim: “We tend not to think of those stories as sources of power or value, but narrative can be a form of resistance.”

Ottessa Moshfegh: “There’s a line in my writing between sensitivity and sentimentality. Sentimentality is a curse, and it turns any art into trite entertainment.”

Olivia Laing: “When I was writing Lonely City, I obsessively played Tetris for hours a day. I thought it was ridiculous, but it turned out to be an exercise in structure, in how to assemble objects in empty space.”