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Behind the Words: Kasie Whitener
Kasie Whitener’s short story “Two Trunks” introduces readers to a character whose physical discomforts on a sweltering day at the zoo serve to inflame the frustration she feels over the state of her marriage. Kasie generously answered some questions about how her story came together, and she also filled us in on her vibrant South Carolina literary community and her two novels. Veronica Montes: It’s been some time since your story, “Two Trunks,” was published in Spry Lit, so I thought we’d start this interview with the present and work our way back to it. You’re currently working on a cool project that provides creative resources for...
Read MoreBehind the Words: Risa Denenberg
Risa Denenberg’s poem Twenty Years of Dead is stark, beautiful, minutely detailed, aching, and honest all at the same time. She paints not only a narrative, but an immersive setting in this piece, and it’s easy to lose yourself in it and feel as if you knew Jon, the individual referenced just before the poem starts. For those who have lost someone, Denenberg’s lines both resonate and linger; I should never have read your journals. Your love/was hilarious and full of grand gestures and/caution tossed… In the interview below Risa delves into her creative process, writing about the loss of a loved one, and growth as a writer. Sarina Bosco: What is your process...
Read MoreBehind the Words: Richard Prin
Rare Soul’s author, Richard Prin, finds oases of nature in the city to craft his writing. There is a duality to Rare Soul that reflects the dual elements of Prin’s daily life; trees, subways, helicopters, apricots, wings, Windex…it’s a fascinating combination of nature vs. a somewhat twisted nurture, with Prin returning to nature throughout: Remember, if I die, to plug me in a/tree. In the following interview, he tackles both the organic side of creating poetry as well as the necessary “work” that needs to be done. A fluent speaker of Swahili, Prin has an incredibly interesting writing & translation career in the works that shows just how versatile a...
Read MoreBehind the Words: Jennifer Martelli
Jennifer Martelli (she, her, hers) is the author of The Queen of Queens (forthcoming, Bordighera Press) and My Tarantella (Bordighera Press), awarded an Honorable Mention from the Italian-American Studies Association, selected as a 2019 “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and named as a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. She is also the author of the chapbooks In the Year of Ferraro from Nixes Mate Press and After Bird, winner of the Grey Book Press open reading, 2016. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem a Day, The Tahoma Literary Review, Thrush, The Sycamore Review, Cream City Review, Verse Daily, Iron Horse Review...
Read MoreBehind the Words: Jessica Kidd
Jessica Kidd’s flash non-fiction piece, “A Half-Formed Moon,” defies its title by being a piece full to bursting—with imagery, with detail, and with what is left unsaid. In her words: “I’m a licensed massage therapist and weekend chef from Lexington, Kentucky. I received my MFA from Spalding University in 2013. In the years since my essay was published, I’ve done a lot of soul searching, drank more water, and found my other half. Actually, he found me, because without my husband I’d be a trash human that never leaves the house.” DEvon Bohm: I was stunned by how much your piece packs into so few words—I would say it goes further than flash fiction and...
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