In our April Web Exclusive story, "The Mother's Portion," a woman with a husband and six children goes to extreme measures to reclaim herself. It's a surprising story; it makes triumphant that which we think of as affliction. We talked with author Suzanne Morrison about liberation, our mutual love of Maggie Nelson, and the importance of telling our survival stories. Erin McReynolds: We're used to seeing overeating as a disorder, and we're familiar with the trope that some anorexics (usually ... [READ MORE]
NOTEBOOK
Web Exclusive Interview: Jensen Beach
David Foster Wallace said that fiction is “one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted and relieved.” In our March Web Exclusive story, “To God Belongs What He Has Taken,” Jensen Beach deftly places us in the mind of a Stockholm woman caught up in a fantasy about a stranger. It is a subtle and detailed snapshot of a form of loneliness so universal that, in its confrontation, we find some relief. We talked with Jensen about how that’s done by writing other people, other ... [READ MORE]
Things American: At the Mountains of Loneliness
I went to the Arctic Circle because of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. I went there to work on a novel, too, but I wouldn’t be writing a novel—wouldn’t even still be a writer—without Lovecraft. While in the Arctic, I thought about Cthulhu. I carried a protective charm a friend had stitched for me in case I encountered any Old Ones. I stared into the fissures of three-hundred-foot-tall glaciers and expected to see a tentacle lash out before slithering back into the dark, icy recesses. And every so ... [READ MORE]
The American Short(er) Fiction Contest: Now Closed
We are thrilled to announce that Amelia Gray will be judging this year’s American Short(er) Fiction Contest. The prize recognizes extraordinary short fiction under 1,000 words. The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication, and the second-place winner will receive $250 and publication. All entries will be considered for publication. Previous winners of the Short(er) Fiction Prize have gone on to be anthologized in places such as The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small ... [READ MORE]
Web Exclusive Interview: Kathryn Scanlan
Winter is a time for compression—shortened days, confinement indoors, a turning inward. But compression produces something nuclear-hot and energetic, and our February Web Exclusive, "The Hungry Valley," is a stellar example of this. Author Kathryn Scanlan helps us explore how this is achieved in writing. "The Hungry Valley" also appears in our Winter issue. Erin McReynolds: In addition to an MFA in writing, you have a BFA in painting, which isn't surprising, given how visually rich ... [READ MORE]
Coddled, Sexting Millennials: Jennifer duBois Interviews Tony Tulathimutte
Tony Tulathimutte’s Private Citizens is a searing and savagely smart dissection of the life and opinions of a group of San Francisco millennials: bipolar autodidact Henrik, ruthless aspiring writer Linda, porn-addicted romantic Will, and hazily embattled activist Cory. With relentless intelligence and wit—and prose that’s earning comparisons to David Foster Wallace—Tulathimutte examines his characters’ anxieties and aspirations, vanities and self-hatreds, and the gap between private ... [READ MORE]