“It was important to me that the ‘villains’ in the book were ordinary people, because readers are ordinary people, and people who do terrible things are often ordinary people.”
interviews
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Writing
‘I’ve Always Been Either Praised or Accused of Ambition’: An Interview with Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver takes a rigorous, scientific approach to her novels’ subjects — but, as a woman writer, her authority is often challenged.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Writing
‘As a Grown Woman, I Still Have To Continuously Learn To Say No’
Memoirist Tanya Marquardt talks about consent, trauma, and investigating our memories in the age of #MeToo.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Unapologetic Women
Women Are Really, Really Mad Right Now
Rebecca Traister talks about the revolutionary power of women’s anger.
Posted inBooks, Profiles & Interviews, Story, Uncategorized
‘I Didn’t Have the Language to Call It Racism’: An Interview with Nicole Chung
Nicole Chung wants white parents of transracial adoptees to grapple more candidly with the reality of racism in America.
Posted inBooks, Profiles & Interviews, Story
Falling in Love with Chicago at Night: An Interview with Jessica Hopper
In “Night Moves,” Jessica Hopper is 80% on her bike and 20% at a show, memorializing a young adulthood spent in just one of “a million Chicagos” — but one that shaped a wide network of artists and writers.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
Eli Saslow on the Slow-Motion Toppling of Derek Black’s White Supremacism
Eli Saslow says the push and pull of resistance (from angry classmates) and civil discourse (with others willing to be kind to him) is what changed Derek Black.
Posted inBooks, Profiles & Interviews, Story
An Interview with Sarah Smarsh, Author of ‘Heartland’
The author of “Heartland,” a National Book Award longlisted memoir about growing up poor in rural America, gives her views on politics, identity, and cultural appropriation.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
People Sorting: An Interview With ‘Personality Brokers’ Author Merve Emre
Merve Emre on the history of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Science Fiction, Story, Uncategorized
Putting a New Stone on the Grave: Sjón Brings the Golem to Iceland
Sjón’s “CoDex 1962” is the fulfillment of a pact he made with the Maharal of Prague in the Old Jewish Cemetery almost three decades ago.