Interviews

Tools used in Haenyeo diving are hung on a rack.

“As a writer, what history or current events do I have permission to write about?”: An Interview with Jihyun Yun

Weaving together her experiences of womanhood, of her Korean-American heritage, of her place within diaspora, poet Jihyun Yun goes beyond simple dualities, privileging instead what remains irreducible in the face of neat labeling.

The book cover of The Lucky Ones Get to Be People featuring a peacock with a woman's head

“Men have imagination, but women just have experiences”: An Interview with Rachel Haley Himmelheber

Rachel Haley Himmelheber’s recent collection is a critique of society’s desire for well-behaved women—her characters riot and fight against the odds, either out of habitual necessity or because putting up a fight is easier than letting your guard down.

The cover of "When Rap Spoke Straight to God" side by side.

“Sometimes you just need to be told about yourself”: An Interview with Erica Dawson

Heraclitus, the “Weeping Philosopher,” described Sybil as “[a] frenzied mouth [that] utter[s] things not to be laughed at, unadorned and unperfumed, yet reaches to a thousand years with her voice by aid of the god.” Erica Dawson’s remarkable new book describes our tumultuous present with all the tenacity of Sybil.

A photograph of Havana from 1991

“What It Means To Be Cuban in the Island”: An Interview with Dariel Suarez

Suarez opens his 2018 short story collection with a dive into the bizarre nature of Cuba: “Stealing the giraffe wasn’t the problem. Transporting it from the city to the countryside-even at two a.m. on a Wednesday night with a few bribed cops clearing the path-that was another story.”