Amid the loud, enthusiastically positive reception to writer, attorney and Democratic organizer Anjali Enjeti’s essay collection Southbound, I was able to ask some questions of the writer of this vital book.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 43: Wendy C. Ortiz)
WENDY C. ORTIZ is the author of Excavation: A Memoir (Future Tense Books, 2014), Hollywood Notebook (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018), and Bruja (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016), a “dreamoir.” Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, StoryQuarterly, FENCE, and elsewhere.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 42: Steve Anwyll)
STEVE ANWYLL is the author of Welfare (Tyrant, 2019). Follow him: @oneloveasshole.
“Cowboy Notes” and Space Rock: An Interview With numün
For the last year or so, I’ve been seeking out music that pushes towards the blissful, the contemplative, and the immersive. Cue the band numün and their 2020 album voyage au soleil, which brings together a sense of the cosmic with some virtuosic playing. I’m a fan of the other bands in which these guys play, including SUSS and Gamelan Dharma Swara, and I was eager to hear what this configuration would come up with. When I finally did, I was ecstatic; last fall, I spoke with the trio over Zoom to learn more about their approach to ambient music.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 41: Babak Lakghomi)
BABAK LAKGHOMI is the author of Floating Notes (Tyrant Books, 2018). His fiction has appeared or forthcoming in NOON, Ninth Letter, New York Tyrant, and Green Mountains Review, among other places. Babak currently lives and writes in Hamilton, Ontario.
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 40: Alex DiFrancesco)
ALEX DIFRANCESCO is a multi-genre writer who has published work in Tin House, The Washington Post, Pacific Standard, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The New Ohio Review, Brevity and more. In 2019, they published their essay collection Psychopomps (Civil Coping Mechanisms Press) and their novel All City (Seven Stories Press), which was a finalist for the Ohioana Book Awards. Their short story collection Transmutation (Seven Stories Press) is forthcoming in 2021. They are the recipient of grants and fellowships from PEN America and Sundress Academy for the Arts, and serve as an assistant editor at Sundress Publications.
Suburban Fiction and Sharing Words: Alice Kaltman On Writing “Dawg Towne”
Dawg Towne, Alice Kaltman‘s latest and most multidimensional book to date, centers around a series of mysterious canine disappearances in no-name east coast suburbia. Told through the eyes of various eccentric townspeople, all of whom are searching not only for their dogs, but for some inner truth, it’s like The Affair meets American Beauty with a hefty helping of kibble, and all the signature Kaltman heart and humor
Currents, an Interview Series with Brian Alan Ellis (Episode 39: Ryan Ridge)
RYAN RIDGE is the author of five books, most recently New Bad News (Sarabande Books 2020). He has received the Italo Calvino Prize in Fabulist Fiction, the Linda Bruckheimer Prize in Kentucky Literature, and the Kentucky Writers Fellowship for Innovative Writing from the Baltic Writing Residency. His work has appeared in American Book Review, Denver Quarterly, Passages North, Post Road, Salt Hill, and Santa Monica Review, among others places. Ridge is an assistant professor at Weber State University, where he codirects the creative writing program. He also edits the literary magazine Juked.