interviews

Author Q&A with Kenton K Yee

What I learned is that life and everything in it—especially poetry—is a journey, not an end-goal or trophy, so one had better enjoy the journey, which means one has to pay attention. With each poem, I learned to pay closer attention, attention to every pattern, turn, break, word, comma, and surprise…

Author Q&A with Ayoung Kim

Although this essay came from a memory, the danger is transcribing it instead of allowing space for other images and narratives to come through. I first wrote this three years ago, and have periodically returned to it with fresh eyes. Each time, a bit more would reveal itself. Also, there is the part of me…

Interview with Kelsey Smoot

I certainly wanted the concept of soulmate to function in this collection as a tool, a lens through which we can see ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, and also our political orientations more clearly, and determine how to embody a practice of love that is less about predestination and romantic alignment and much more…

Author Q&A with Shayna Brown

I wrote my first pieces of fiction when I was about ten. I was homeschooled and obsessed with becoming a novelist. That continued until college, when life got too busy for written exploration. In my early adulthood I focused more on creative non-fiction, but not in a serious way. When Covid hit, I started writing…

Author Q&A with Annie Rachele Lanzillotto

I examine at these public interactions where strangers argue, fight, cast microaggressions on one another.  Every day walking the streets of Manhattan I experience many of these moments. My superpower is to immediately peel back all the layers between the you/I ness of these encounters and laser in to connect, cross the vast oceans of…

Author Q&A with Wasima Khan

Writing is a powerful way to cultivate empathy and understanding. It allows me to step into other people’s lives and worlds, and I hope to bring readers along on that journey. 

At the same time, it is a way for me to reclaim agency over my own life and experiences. Too often, I have been…

Author Q&A with Matt Mason

I hope what they take is just a minute in someone else’s perspective. That’s what poetry is about for me and that’s why I really believe if there was more poetry in our daily lives we’d have a more connecting us to one another. I read poetry not just for enjoyment but to also get…

Author Q&A with Frank Gaughan

We understand through story. In good stories, we also empathize. If I can create a story where there was nothing before and also have that story that help someone understand and empathize, I’ve done my job….