Interviews

side by side series of the cover of Thirty Names of Night

“Much of this novel is about queer and trans people fighting to see ourselves as sacred”: An Interview with Zeyn Joukhadar

In Joukhadar’s new novel, during the search for what seems almost to be a mythical bird, and for an explanation as to how exactly a disappeared artist and the protagonist’s mother are linked, Nadir also begins searching for his transgender identity—a separate and daunting migration all his own.

the book cover for Stay True, featuring a photograph of a young person taking a photograph, set against an orange background

“Those who are still around have an obligation to honor that tragedy but turn it into something else”: An Interview with Hua Hsu

Hua Hsu’s new memoir ends with his decision to go to therapy to attend to his irrational guilt over his friend’s death. It helps him come to the realization that what he wanted to write was not a eulogy but a “true account of the deceased,” one filled with joy.

the cover for The Book of Form and Emptiness

“If an object entered my life somehow, I would put it in the book and see what happened”: An Interview with Ruth Ozeki

Objects are characters in Ruth Ozeki’s latest novel. And as her masterful structure makes clear, we the readers, like the book’s protagonist, are hearing voices too: the Book has a mind of its own.

the book cover for Nuclear Family featuring a photograph of colorful ribbons from close up

“Fiction became a place I made to learn for myself what we have endured”: An Interview with Joseph Han

Joseph Han’s debut novel can be described in a myriad of ways—it’s a ghost story, an immigrant novel, a meditation on the legacy of the Korean War and colonialism, a multi-generational saga, an eco-Hawai’i novel, even a humorous stoner manual.

the book cover for Ma and Me featuring a yellow background, a black illustration of an alligator, and a red illustration of a tiger

“In memoir writing, vulnerability is the highest rigor”: An Interview with Putsata Reang

Putsata Reang’s new memoir delves into the realization that many of her greatest struggles are rooted in the past, under the weight of inherited trauma and filial duty. Even so, Reang unshackles herself from family history and forges an identity of her own.

a black and white drawing of a fox by Annie Hartnett

“Grief with animals isn’t the same, and we can learn something from that”: An Interview with Annie Hartnett

By combining the voices of the dead with the experiences of the living, Annie Hartnett builds a sense of community. Her characters are not navigating hardships in isolation but with the support of family and friends, animals and the dead.