Books
Ursula K. Le Guin’s No Time to Spare
By Yvonne C. GarrettWhen Ursula K. Le Guin died earlier this year, some obituaries referred to her as a “leading fantasy” writer, but some were smart enough to simply call her what she was: one of our greatest writers.
Roxane Gay’s Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture
By Matt GrantNot That Bad compiles twenty-nine essays by authors all across the gender and sexuality spectrum who share their own encounters with sexual violence. In almost every one, the writer struggles to come to terms with the fact that what happened to them was, indeed, that bad.
Julián Herbert’s Tomb Song
By Maya ChungAt the hospital bedside of his dying mother, Julián Herbert, the narrator of Tomb Song, oscillates between memories of his youth in Mexico and musings on his mother’s decline.
Meg Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion
By Yvonne C. GarrettMuch has already been written about Meg Wolitzer’s lengthy new novel The Female Persuasion, calling it everything from the “Great American Novel” in the New Yorker to retro elitist white middle-class feminism. I would argue that this novel is neither of those but exhibits both elements of genius and significant limitations for a twenty-first century feminist novel.
Dorothy Parker with a Ph.D.
By John DominiNot only does Dubravka Ugresic’s novel appear in translation; you could say it’s about translation. The latest from a busy, brainy Croatian—her 14th book, half of them fiction—Fox consists primarily of worrying at various texts, though not all of them are literary.
In Conversation
BRIAN EVENSON
with Peter Markus
I remember the first time I bought Brian Evenson’s first book, Altmann’s Tongue. I say first time because it’s one of those books that I’ve bought multiple times since, to give out as gifts, to press into the hands of other writers.
In Conversation
TONY LEUZZI
with Pirooz Kalayeh
Tony Leuzzi’s Meditation Archipelago is an exploration into constraints, process, and memory that evokes the imagination with its super-wide-reframing of life’s in-between moments, where a constraint, haiku, or emotion can transform into improvisation, humor, or the impossible.
A Suspended G(l)aze: On Errancy & Arrivals in Camp Marmalade
By Chris CampanioniWhat is the line between distraction and concentration, and where does each converge?
Michelle Reale’s The Indispensable Academic Librarian
By Yvonne C. GarrettThis slim volume confronts what the author identifies as a fundamental issue in academic librarianship—the perception that librarians are not teachers.
Alexander Chee's How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays
By Matt GrantIn his essays, Chee writes about topics as varied as his hardships growing up as a Korean American, his sexuality, his activism for AIDS legislation in the late 1980s, the death of his father, the writing life, and more.
In Conversation
LESLIE JAMISON
with Eric Farwell
I first encountered Leslie Jamison’s writing when I was getting sober. I was twenty four and threw myself into the demanding work of my MA program in order to stave off any lapses in my ability to be in control of my life.
In Conversation
Moveable Feast:
DUNCAN HANNAH
with Frank Pizzoli
A girlfriend once told Duncan Hannah he slept with a smile on his face. That smile is still there.
