Tag: my reading life

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

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

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.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Happiness & Love author Zoe Dubno thinks Martin Amis can get boys hooked on reading” →
Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: The Other Wife author Jackie Thomas-Kennedy is inspired by Judy Blume, Toni Morrison, and John Cheever

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My Reading Life: The Other Wife author Jackie Thomas-Kennedy is inspired by Judy Blume, Toni Morrison, and John Cheever

Jackie Thomas-Kennedy‘s writing has been selected for NPR’s Selected Shorts, and she was a 2014 Stegnar Fellow as well as the winner of the 2019 Stella Kupfer­berg Memorial Short Story Prize. Her debut novel, The Other Wife, follows Zuzu, a biracial woman in her late thirties, as she reflects on the choices that shaped her life, including her career and marriage to Agnes. A sudden loss sends her back to her hometown where she must confront her past and face the what could have beens face to face.

We asked Thomas-Kennedy to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that influenced her life and inspired her debut book.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: The Other Wife author Jackie Thomas-Kennedy is inspired by Judy Blume, Toni Morrison, and John Cheever” →
Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Jamaica Road author Lisa Smith was guided by Annie John and Swing Time 

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My Reading Life: Jamaica Road author Lisa Smith was guided by Annie John and Swing Time 

Lisa Smith’s debut novel, Jamaica Road, is a story about two best friends who grow up, grow apart, and try to find their way back to each other. Set in a close-knit British-Jamaican community, the novel traces one couple’s connection across a decade of upheaval, from the streets of South London to the shores of Calabash Bay.

Smith holds an M.A. in Creative & Life Writing from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she won the Pat Kavanagh Prize. She was the recipient of the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize for “Auld Lang Syne” and was named a London Library Emerging Writer in 2020.

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

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Jamaica Road author Lisa Smith was guided by Annie John and Swing Time “ →
Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Absence author Issa Quincy wept finishing Journey to the End of the Night

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My Reading Life: Absence author Issa Quincy wept finishing Journey to the End of the Night

Issa Quincy’s debut novel, Absence, is a haunting and atmospheric exploration of memory, connection, and the lingering traces of the past. Told through the lives of seemingly unconnected characters, including an aging doctor in Cyprus, a child in the English countryside, and a hotel guest returning each year in grief, this lyrical novel gradually reveals the mysterious thread binding them all: a recurring poem that passes from person to person like a ghost.

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

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Absence author Issa Quincy wept finishing Journey to the End of the Night” →
Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Sympathy for Wild Girls author Demree McGhee wants Bless Me, Ultima to be the classic high school assignment

by AdamLeave a Comment on My Reading Life: Sympathy for Wild Girls author Demree McGhee wants Bless Me, Ultima to be the classic high school assignment
My Reading Life: Sympathy for Wild Girls author Demree McGhee wants Bless Me, Ultima to be the classic high school assignment

Demree McGhee is currently pursuing her MFA at San Diego State University, and her debut story collection, Sympathy for Wild Girls, is already on bookstore shelves. The collection is a knockout selection of stories that move between reality and the surreal. McGhee takes readers to places rarely visited on the page, and the stories dance between fever dreams and stark truths.

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

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Sympathy for Wild Girls author Demree McGhee wants Bless Me, Ultima to be the classic high school assignment” →
Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Mouth author Kerry Donoghue wants to choose her own adventure

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My Reading Life: Mouth author Kerry Donoghue wants to choose her own adventure

Earlier this year, Kerry Donoghue‘s debut short story collection Mouth was published by Unsolicited Press. Prior to publishing this collection, her poetry and stories have appeared in Ninth Letter, Painted Bride Quarterly, Permafrost, The Louisville Review, and The South Carolina Review.

She is also part of the Poets & Writers Get the Word Out publicity incubator, which Debutiful announced last December.

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

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Mouth author Kerry Donoghue wants to choose her own adventure” →
Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Hello Stranger author Manuel Betancourt needed more books about queer desire in his teens

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My Reading Life: Hello Stranger author Manuel Betancourt needed more books about queer desire in his teens

Manuel Betancourt‘s debut book, The Male Gazed, somehow didn’t cross my path until well after it came out. The book, which takes a critical eye toward pop culture and queer desire, originally came out in 2023 and is now available in paperback. After reading and discovering his book, I invited him to the First Taste Reading Series to read and discuss his book.

His second book, Hello Stranger: Musings on Modern Intimacies, is out now. Publishers’ Weekly calls it “steamy and cerebral” while Kirkus says Betancourt is a “witty, intuitive observer of human behavior.” I 100% agree with both of those statements. While Debutiful is dedicated to debut books, but is also focusing on emerging and early career writers because when someone is a damn good writer, we don’t care when you discover them, as long as you do discover them.

Below the author answered our My Reading Life questionnaire, for you to learn about the books he was obsessed with, what helped him through puberty, and what he’s reading next.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Hello Stranger author Manuel Betancourt needed more books about queer desire in his teens” →
Interviews, my reading life

My Reading Life: Softie author Megan Howell is a Toni Morrison stan

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My Reading Life: Softie author Megan Howell is a Toni Morrison stan

Megan Howell‘s debut collection Softie is filled with fantastical stories that both have a sheen to them and a gloom hanging over them. She balances melancholy and the preposterous extremely well. Howell’s website says she “writes stories for sad ppl” — and this collection proves it.

We wanted to get some recommendations from the writer and see what books shaped her childhood, got her through puberty, and helped her write this book. Welcome to the new, recurring My Reading Life questionnaire.

Continue reading “My Reading Life: Softie author Megan Howell is a Toni Morrison stan” →