Category: my reading life

Interviews, my reading life

Notes on a Heartbreak author Annie Lord knows that great books don’t have to be “perfect”

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Notes on a Heartbreak author Annie Lord knows that great books don’t have to be “perfect”

In her debut memoir, Notes on Heartbreak, Annie Lord reveals the unraveling of a five-year relationship and the emotional aftermath of losing the person she believed she would spend her life with. Throughout her memoir, Lord examines love, obsession, and recovery in the wake of devastating heartbreak.

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

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Interviews, my reading life

YA horror got Hemlock author Melissa Faliveno through puberty

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YA horror got Hemlock author Melissa Faliveno through puberty

Melissa Faliveno is a longtime Debutiful favorite (listen to our 2020 conversation with her). Her essay collection, Tomboyland, was one of 2020’s best debut books, and now Faliveno is debuting in fiction.

In Hemlock, Faliveno brings readers to a cabin deep in the Wisconsin woods, where a sober Sam has a sip of a beer. As the quick cabin getaway turns south, the woods around her close in, her dependence awakens, and she begins a battle she isn’t sure she can win. It’s a deeply moving book, and the more I sit with it, the more convinced I am that this isn’t just a book of the year contender, but a book of the decade contender.

Faliveno answered the recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her book.

Continue reading “YA horror got Hemlock author Melissa Faliveno through puberty” →
Interviews, my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “Jacob Rollinson’s debut book The Truth of Carcosa is an homage to The King in Yellow” →
Interviews, my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “I Could Be Famous author Sydney Rende shares the books that shaped her life” →
my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Jennifer Sears on the books that shaped her life” →
Interviews, my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes author A.M. Sosa wants everyone to read Hurricane Season” →
Interviews, my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Christian Moody is Lost in the Forset of Mechanical Birds” →
Interviews, my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Herculine author Grace Byron loves Wicked for the gay sex” →
Interviews, my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Great Disasters author Grady Chambers wants teens to read more contemporary books in school” →
Interviews, my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Sing Me a Circle author Samina Najmi is illuminated by Bapsi Sidhwa” →