A lot of your work in medical history examines people and conditions which are considered by the larger society to be “monstrous” or “freakish.” What do you think it means to “monsterize” these people? I think humans are fascinated by differences, including extreme differences, and also have a tendency to want to say to themselves …
Alexandra Watson is the executive editor of Apogee, a journal of literature and art that engages with identity politics and social justice. Published in July 2016, Issue 07 of Apogee holds poetry, nonfiction, fiction, art, and interviews majorly confronting the idea of mourning. Bound by a stunning cover of a watercolor-skinned silhouette with clear eyes, this …
This is the second installation of a two-part interview with poet Christopher DeWeese; read part one here. STORY: Can you talk about Alternative Music a bit more? How you are remixing the songs? DEWEESE: It’s hard, because the premise is I can only do this with songs that I remember well enough that I can …
This is the first of a two-part interview with the poet Christopher DeWeese; read part two here. Something brilliant happens when a poet tangles with philosophy; he plunges into questions he knows are unanswerable, with a hypersensitive awareness of perspective. I have been lucky enough to witness this entanglement twice recently. The first time was while reading the …
On Thursday, September 17, 2015, I met novelist Justina Ireland at lunch with the Story staff and several York College of Pennsylvania students. She was visiting as part of the college’s cultural series of lectures and readings, and she had agreed to do an interview with me after lunch for the Story website. When we arrived at the …
When I was a child, there was a monster under my bed. It was there when I was born, and when I was old enough to move from my mom’s bedroom to my own it moved in with me. I thought sometimes that together we took up too much room, but neither of us wanted …
On his Othrppl podcast, Brad Listi calls Steve Almond, “a really good priest.” Although it’s hard to picture Almond’s lanky frame in a vestment, his long neck in a starched white clerical collar, there are a few humans who call him father. Steve is forty-eight, a father of three, with twelve books under his belt …
Jim Shepard’s was the first story I ever read in a literary magazine; it was “Climb Aboard the Mighty Flea,” in a 2002 issue of The Paris Review. I found it in college while wandering around in the library between classes. The story is about a group of lunatic German Messerschmitt 163 test pilots during WWII. It begins: I am Oberleutnant …
Last week in Part One of our interview with James Hannaham, we reflected on “High Five,” his work that was recently published in Story. He discussed his inspiration for the piece as well as his ideas of fame and his work following the tragedy of 9/11. This week, we conclude the interview, discussing Hannaham’s new, upcoming …
Later you would call it an accident, when the guests found you in the kitchen bleeding into the duck confit. When that didn’t work, you blamed me, just to save your own skin. Yet we know the truth, don’t we? And when we hear your confession, my name will be cleared once and for all, …