Chris Brokaw is one of the most searching, prolific, expressive musicians I know. Switching between guitar and drums, he’s left an indelible impression in bands like Codeine, Come, Charnel Ground, and The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries. He’s also been a sought after sideman with the likes of the Lemonheads and often tours the world playing solo, in between scoring independent films like I Was Born, But…
Colleen Louise Barry is a Seattle-based artist and poet whose latest project COLLEEN is more glittering web than stereotypical poetry book. Published by After Hours Editions, a small press run by Eric Amling and Sarah Jean Grimm–who for the last several years have consistently put out gorgeous cult poetry books–the book’s cover draws you in with its coy retro rodeo font. And COLLEEN’S charms don’t stop there. Barry’s expansive practice involves inviting other artists to work in response to her poems, which take self-representation, celebrity culture, and self-actualization as their themes. We discussed the book’s aesthetics and evolution over Google Docs in the winter of 2022.
SARA RAUCH is the author of What Shines from It: Stories and the autobiographical essay XO (forthcoming). Her fiction and essays have appeared in Paper Darts, Hobart, Split Lip, So to Speak, Qu, Lunch Ticket, and other literary magazines, as well as in the anthologies Dear John, I Love Jane; Best Lesbian Romance 2014; and She’s Lost Control. She has covered books for Bustle, BitchMedia, Curve Magazine, Lambda Literary, The Rumpus, and more. In 2012, she founded the literary magazine Cactus Heart, which ran through 2016. She holds an MFA from Pacific University. Sara teaches writing at Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop and Grub Street and also works as an independent editor and manuscript consultant. She lives with her family in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Maurice Broaddus’s bibliography covers a lot of ground, rethinking familiar genres and transposing certain storylines into radically different contexts. For his latest book, Sweep of Stars, Broaddus has written the first volume of Astra Black, an Afrofuturist trilogy that abounds with space exploration, political intrigue, and transformative technology. It’s a thoroughly immersive, deeply compelling work of fiction, and I spoke with Broaddus to learn more about its origins and how it relates to the rest of his work.
MATTHEW VOLLMER is the author of two short-story collections—Future Missionaries of America and Gateway to Paradise—as well as three collections of essays—inscriptions for headstones, Permanent Exhibit, and This World Is Not Your Home: Essays, Stories, & Reports. He was the editor of A Book of Uncommon Prayer, which collects invocations from over 60 acclaimed and emerging authors, and served as co-editor of Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, “Found” Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts. His work has appeared in venues such as Paris Review, Glimmer Train, Ploughshares, Tin House, Oxford American, The Sun, The Pushcart Prize anthology, and Best American Essays. He teaches in the MFA program at Virginia Tech, where he is a Professor of English. His next book, All of Us Together in the End, will be published by Hub City Press in 2023.
ASHLEY MARIE FARMER is the author of the new essay collection Dear Damage (Sarabande Books, 2022), as well as three other collections of prose and poetry. Her work has been published in places like TriQuarterly, The Progressive, Santa Monica Review, Buzzfeed, Flaunt, Nerve, Gigantic, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Best American Essays notable distinction, Ninth Letter’s Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Review’s Short Fiction Award, as well as fellowships from Syracuse University and the Baltic Writing Residency. Ashley lives in Salt Lake City, UT, with the writer Ryan Ridge.
Don’t take the Instagram account Publishers Brunch at their word when they assure you in their bio that “this is a joke i promise.” Not to say the account isn’t full of publishing in-jokes. Charming lo-fi memes targetting pay inequity, hackneyed market trends, brand-conscious novelists, and lucrative book deals for far-right demagogues don’t correct systemic injustices and a culture dedicated to poor taste, but PubBrunch is clearly motivated to highlight the industry’s wrongdoings and spark interest in collective employee actions like walk-outs, salary-sharing, and union organizing. Publishers Brunch is a shitposting account, but a deadly serious one. “Wait, it’s about unionizing?” asks the astronaut looking out at an Earth labeled “publishing meme accounts.” “Always has been,” replies his pistol-wielding colleague.
MEG TUITE is author of five story collections and five chapbooks, including White Van (Unlikely Books, 2022). She won the Twin Antlers Poetry award for her poetry collection, Bare Bulbs Swinging, and is included in Best of Small Press 2021. She teaches writing retreats and online classes hosted by Bending Genres, and is also the fiction editor of Bending Genres and associate editor at Narrative Magazine.