Lisa K. Friedman is an American writer. Her novel Hello Wife, about a woman who becomes addicted to opioids, was published in 2025. Lisa has written for The New York Times, Huffington Post, and People, among others. She teaches creative writing for adults and children, and mentors fiction writers. She enjoys sailing with her dog. …
Continue reading Shining a Light on Addiction: An Interview with Lisa K. Friedman
Translated from German by Ross BenjaminPublished by riverrun, 2023, 333 pages. Original version published in 2023. The book begins with Franzl Wilzek, an old man with dementia, being taken to a television studio, where he is interviewed by Heinz Conrad, a well-known host. He is confused about why he is there and unsure of what …
Published by Penguin Classics, 2022, 203 pages. Original stories published 1894–1905. A dying wife summons her husband’s youngest concubine under the guise of handing over her husband’s welfare to the young woman; a monk wandering in a desolate landscape is persuaded by a poor man to spend the night in his home; and a dead …
Photo: Nikki May Chigozie Obioma is a Nigerian novelist. He has written three novels: The Fishermen (2015), An Orchestra of Minorities (2019), and The Road to the Country (2024). The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Road to the Country was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates …
Continue reading Drawing on Nigerian History and Folklore: An Interview with Chigozie Obioma
Published by SFWP, 2025, 251 pages “My wedding dress was made by a costume designer I met while buying weed at the 7-Eleven one February, which is also where I met Jimbo, my husband to be. I went to the 7-Eleven every day. I liked standing around the counter, drinking coffee and talking to Plots, …
Published by University of Hawai'i Press, 2019, 358 pages “The work remains of breaking down myths and building up re-visioned ones that empower rather than demean. It remains to tell new stories that are really ancient ones, persisting in our blood, paradoxically and endearingly both familiar and breathtakingly novel, stories that deconstruct the lies and …
Published by Jonathan Cape, 2025, 301 pages The United Kingdom, 2119. Tom Metcalfe, an academic, studies the 1990s to the 2030s, a period he romanticizes. Looking back, this was a time of plenty: when you could go into a supermarket and buy anything you wanted, walk for miles on dry ground, and be surrounded by …
Nilima Rao is a Fijian Indian Australian writer. Her first book, A Disappearance in Fiji (2023), won the 2024 ALA Reading Award for Mystery Fiction; was one of Booklist’s Top 10 Debut Mysteries and Thrillers in 2024; Amazon Top 20 Debut in 2023; and Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine’s 2023 Best Debut Winner of the Year. …
Continue reading Focusing on Fiji: An Interview with Nilima Rao
Translated from Estonian by Adam CullenPublished by Pushkin Press / Peter Owen Publishers, 2015, 364 pages. Original version published in 2010. Tallinn, 1409. A knight is beheaded and the murderer walks away, leaving no trace. To put the story into context: sea traffic between Estonia, Germany and Scandinavia was at an unprecedented level. This was …
Continue reading The Secret of Saint Olaf’s Church: Indrek Hargla
Published by Riverhead Books / Centre Point Pub, 2021, 384 pages. Published in the US as Concepcion: An Immigrant Family's Fortunes. “Our stories guide and protect us. Without their lessons, warnings, and triumphs to root us to the past, we float aimlessly, taken by whatever opportunistic forces are quickest to grab, mold, and exploit.” Albert …
Continue reading Concepcion—Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family’s Fate: Albert Samaha
