Blog / Interviews

10 Questions for Charles Swift

July 16, 2018 - By Sarah Lofstrom

Alan pulled up in his new car, watching his father hunched over near the curb, grateful the old man had some pants on. His father was sitting on a stack of boxes put out for the garbage truck, looking at a yel¬lowed copy of the local newspaper, making sure no one could get near the boxes before they got hauled off." -From "Boxes" Summer 2018 (Volume 59 Issue 2) 

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote. 
The White Knight Versus the Black Knight. I was about eight-years-old. Cranked it out on my parents’ ancient Underwood typewriter by typing in each quadrant of a page, four pages thick with three sheets of carbon paper in between (no photocopiers in the mid-sixties), then cutting the pages and stapling them...

10 Questions for Andy Sia

July 12, 2018 - By Edward Clifford

“Once a security guard caught me practicing my art
in the nearby park. He instructed me to stop my obscene
driveling. I paid him no heed, sent a bubble towards him
like a free-spirited man in a parachute. He was
unmoved. I lose hope, sometimes. I grow weary…”
—from “At age 10, I showcase my ability by blowing spit bubbles,” Summer 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
I began writing poems in high school, and I still remember the first poem I wrote. It came about after a long drive home alone one night. It was late and I’d not taken this route before, and the quiet road glowed orange and stretched on and on like a dream. When I got home, without...

10 Questions for Molly Quinn

July 10, 2018 - By Sarah Lofstrom

" The Double Dealer is back in the hospital. He stands at attention in his three-piece suit, waiting to greet the incoming staff. I’m his favorite nurse because my name starts with D. " —From "Therapeutic Recreation" Summer 2018 (Volume 59, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
The very first story I remember writing was about a princess whose kingdom is terrorized by a dragon. She sets out on a mission to fight him, but when they finally meet she gives him a hug instead.

What writer(s) or works have influenced the way you write now?
I’m sure everything I read influences me, but I’ve never tracked my style. I read as widely as possible and approach...

10 Questions for Gerald Williams

July 3, 2018 - By Edward Clifford

"In 1960s Paris, racism to many new expatriates may have seemed nonexistent. Graffiti in several Left Bank metro stations, however, stubbornly indicated otherwise:

À BAS LES NÈGRES
JUIFS DÈHORS
MORT AUX ARABES
(Down with Negroes, Oust the Jews, Death to the Arabs)

Somebody was busy."
—from "Down with Negroes!...And Others," Summer 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote....

10 Questions for Claire Chambers

June 26, 2018 - By Edward Clifford

"Shamsie condemns Britain’s rising xenophobia and ideas about British purity, but also trum­pets London’s convivial diversity, replete as her fictionalization of the city is with Iranian neighbors, Scottish political assistants, and Latin American bodyguards. Despite her focus on acts of terror, this is a quiet, reflective novel, preoccupied by sound yet out of it creating lyricism rather than fury."

—from "Sound and Fury: Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire," Summer 2018 (Vol.59, Issue 2)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
My mother is a hoarder who has discovered the Japanese art of decluttering, with the result that she is joyfully recluttering my house. She has recently returned...