Esmé Weijun Wang is the author of the novel The Border of Paradise and the best-selling essay collection The Collected Schizophrenias, published in January. Called “riveting” by NPR and “mind-expanding” by the New York Times Book Review, The Collected Schizophrenias offers an intimate and rigorously nuanced exploration of the myriad meanings of schizophrenia—cultural, sociomedical, and personal. In this interview, we talk structure, subjectivity, and liminality. — Jennifer duBois: Can you talk … [Read more...] about Against Arguments: An Interview with Esmé Weijun Wang
NOTEBOOK FEATURE
A Person Who Looks: An Interview with Lacy M. Johnson
Houston-based Lacy M. Johnson’s recent essay collection, The Reckonings, grapples with vital questions: the concept of evil, police killings, the BP oil spill, and the complexity of speaking truth to power. Finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in the category criticism, Johnson’s essays move between the personal and the political with deftness and precision. This interview was conducted via email where we talked about Johnson’s curatorial project, the Houston Flood Museum, … [Read more...] about A Person Who Looks: An Interview with Lacy M. Johnson
Editorial Outtake: If You Leave Me
Editorial Outtakes is a series in which we publish excerpts from recent books that you won’t find anywhere else because, prior the publication, these sections were cut. This installment of Editorial Outtakes features an original chapter from Crystal Hana Kim's debut novel If You Leave Me. A moving story of love during wartime, the novel's poses difficult questions about whether it's better to choose security over love and safety over freedom. Here, Kim shares her thoughts—and an example of a … [Read more...] about Editorial Outtake: If You Leave Me
The Stars at Night 2018: A Celebration of Writing and Community
[Please note: this event has passed. Keep your eyes on our website for information about the Stars at Night 2020!] Join us on Thursday, October 11th, for The Stars at Night 2018, a bright Texas evening of songwriting, honky-tonk, and literary splendor. Come for the live country music and readings, and stay for the open bar, delicious food, silent auction, and the historic charm of Mercury Hall, complete with beautiful gardens and rambling live oaks on a bright starry lawn. The evening will … [Read more...] about The Stars at Night 2018: A Celebration of Writing and Community
Web Exclusive Interview: Nathan Go
In May's Web Exclusive, "The Blind Oracle of Mactan," author Nathan Go takes us to an island in the Philippines, to a fantastical man who just, as it turns out, wants what any of us wants. The prose is light and funny, winding lithely around something that reveals itself to be as profound and enduring a problem as human beings have ever known. Even a human who has lived many, many lifetimes over. We talked with Nathan about how this strange and wonderful story came about. Erin McReynolds: The … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Nathan Go
Tomorrow or Forever: An Interview with Jack Kaulfus
In Jack Kaulfus’s debut story collection, Tomorrow or Forever, the Austin-based author examines life, the afterlife, and the identities we may take on in those spaces and beyond. These nine stories move through a variety of settings, from the cramped inside of a plane to a mystical small town sculpture garden, painting backdrops that are alternately recognizable and otherworldly. In these eclectic stories, tension lies between what’s known and unknown—about the worlds we exist in and about our … [Read more...] about Tomorrow or Forever: An Interview with Jack Kaulfus