Interviews

The thing about cults, they indoctrinate. They whitewash. They blind us to better alternatives.

Sport is seen as characterizing a nation. If there’s a sense of injustice and inequality in the fabric of what a nation says it is, then how does that trickle down to everyday life?

“Debut” holds the ring of promise, where disappointment feels intrinsic to the word “sophomore.” For better or worse, people love to call second books “sophomore” novels, with all its accompanying connotations.

I am moved by the revelation that comes but does not announce itself, as a powerful ending or climax might, but waits to be returned to and recognized.

I don’t think we can find a way forward without facing what we have done to each other and our home.

To me [metaphor] feels connected to the heart of fiction: I’m making a whole fantastical thing in order to capture the essence of a real state or feeling, in order to give myself a language for it.

Poetry is the form of brevity. I wonder if his artistic view ultimately inspired me.

How am I complicit in this moment? How might I do better the next time I’m faced with a similar moment of choice?

Sometimes the book had to reveal itself to me, advice I really hated that I received but is so true.

I think language will always fail in some ways, that no matter how well we write, the words will ultimately never fully capture and convey an experience.

Nature is scary-beautiful, especially in the backcountry. I always carry a simmering fear of what I’ll find or what will find me alone on the trail: bears, storms, men.