my reading life Archives - Page 4 of 7

Jacob Rollinson’s debut book The Truth of Carcosa is an homage to The King in Yellow

January 19, 2026January 19, 2026by AdamLeave a Comment

Jacob Rollinson is an English librarian and writer who has completed a creative and critical writing PhD at the University of East Anglia. His work has appeared in  Spoonfeed, Moxy, Critical Quarterly , and the Brixton Review of Books. In 2021, he released his novella, Late King in Yellow Wood.

Now, his debut novel, The Truth of Carcosa, has been published. An homage to The King in Yellow, the book follows evil books, shadowy corporations, and interdimensional monsters as they collide in a metafictional and horrific tale of corruption and power.

We asked Rollinson to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped his life and influenced his writing.

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Interviews, my reading life

I Could Be Famous author Sydney Rende shares the books that shaped her life

January 13, 2026January 12, 2026by AdamLeave a Comment

Sydney Rende‘s short stories and travel writing have appeared in Joyland, Carve Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and Who What Wear. The writer, who earned her MFA in fiction from Syracuse University, has now published her debut collection of short stories.

I Could Be Famous is a collection of ten stories that follow ten ambitious women and one male superstar as they pursue their (sometimes delusional) dreams and desires.

We asked Rende to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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My Reading Life: Jennifer Sears on the books that shaped her life

November 25, 2025November 23, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

What Mennonite Girls Are Good For, the debut short story collection from Jennifer Sears, won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, judged by the novelist Margot Livesey. Through eleven connected stories, Sears asks how faith influences and informs our lives. Each story is a subtle and nuanced look into a life that spans the globe but is always searching for one thing.

Prior to releasing her debut, Sears MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. She currently is an associate professor of English and creative writing at New York City College of Technology/City University of New York where she co-coordinates the Minor in Creative Writing with the poet Robert Ostrom.

Debutiful asked her to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her debut book.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes author A.M. Sosa wants everyone to read Hurricane Season

November 19, 2025November 19, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

A.M. Sosa is a queer Mexican-American whose work has appeared in Zyzzyva and the Santa Monica Review and they received an MFA from UC Irvine. Their debut novel, And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes, is an explosive coming-of-age set in Stockton, Calif., in the early 2000s.

We asked Sosa to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know them and the works that shaped their life.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Christian Moody is Lost in the Forset of Mechanical Birds

October 13, 2025October 12, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

Christian Moody, author of the debut story collection Lost in the Forst of Mechanical Birds, has had his work appear in Esquire, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Cincinnati Review, the Best New American Voices anthology, and the Best American Fantasy anthology. He lives in Indianapolis and works as Brand Director for an e-commerce company.

In his collection, he writes about climate change, surveillance, privacy, and technology. Mechanical Birds was the 2023 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize winner.

We asked Moody to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know him and the works that shaped his life.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Herculine author Grace Byron loves Wicked for the gay sex

October 7, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

Grace Byron is a writer and critic whose work appeared in The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Nation, and Vogue. Her work has explored topics ranging from what the current administration’s policies mean for trans travelers and their passports, gun ownership in the trans community, and the state of trans healthcare.

Her debut novel, Herculine, is about a woman who seeks refuge at an all-trans commune in rural Indiana, only to discover buried secrets that force her to face her own demons and the ones she was running from.

We asked Byron to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know her and the books that shaped her life.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Great Disasters author Grady Chambers wants teens to read more contemporary books in school

September 30, 2025September 28, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

In his debut novel, Great Disasters, Grady Chambers traces the lives of six men coming of age in early-2000s Chicago, as friendship, first love, protest, and war shape the bonds that push and pull them. Chambers captures the humor, heartbreak, and hope that can be found even in moments of loss and devastation. He is also the author of the poetry collection North American Stadiums, which won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, and his work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, and The Sun.

We asked Chambers to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped his life and what influenced his debut novel.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Sing Me a Circle author Samina Najmi is illuminated by Bapsi Sidhwa

September 29, 2025September 28, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

In her debut memoir-in-essays, Sing Me a Circle, Samina Najmi traces her life across Pakistan, England, and the United States, reflecting on the people, places, and stories that shape her vision of the world. Through essays on memory, displacement, and the enduring ties of family, Najmi forges an identity as a professor, mother, and writer.

We asked Najmi to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and what influenced her memoir.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Happiness & Love author Zoe Dubno thinks Martin Amis can get boys hooked on reading

September 18, 2025September 17, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

In her debut novel, Happiness & Love, Zoe Dubno follows a young woman who, after returning to New York for her former best friend’s funeral, is drawn into a downtown dinner party that spirals into chaos. Prior to releasing her debut novel, her fiction has appeared in Granta and Muumuu House and NY Tyrant. She’s published nonfiction in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, The Nation, Vogue, and BOMB.

We asked Dubno to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and what influenced her debut novel.

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Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Fetishized author Kaila Yu reads and writes about body

September 16, 2025September 14, 2025by AdamLeave a Comment

In her debut memoir-in-essays, former model Kaila Yu writes about being an object of Asian fetish with a sharp eye and eye-opening candor. Throughout Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty, Yu peels back the curtain on the personal, cultural, and historical forces that shaped her self-image, exposing how pop culture, colonialism, and desire intertwined to distort both her sense of beauty and her sense of self.

We asked her to answer our My Reading Life questionnaire so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her debut book.

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Category: my reading life

Jacob Rollinson’s debut book The Truth of Carcosa is an homage to The King in Yellow

I Could Be Famous author Sydney Rende shares the books that shaped her life

My Reading Life: Jennifer Sears on the books that shaped her life

My Reading Life: And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes author A.M. Sosa wants everyone to read Hurricane Season

My Reading Life: Christian Moody is Lost in the Forset of Mechanical Birds

My Reading Life: Herculine author Grace Byron loves Wicked for the gay sex

My Reading Life: Great Disasters author Grady Chambers wants teens to read more contemporary books in school

My Reading Life: Sing Me a Circle author Samina Najmi is illuminated by Bapsi Sidhwa

My Reading Life: Happiness & Love author Zoe Dubno thinks Martin Amis can get boys hooked on reading

My Reading Life: Fetishized author Kaila Yu reads and writes about body

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