Hi Everyone, I’m so happy to share ‘Pemi Aguda’s short story, “Manifest,” with you. Please read the story before you listen to the podcast, because there will be spoilers! Read “Manifest” here on Granta (or here: https://granta.com/manifest/). Let’s Deconstruct a Story is available here on Substack, as well as Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bio: ‘Pemi Aguda is from Lagos, Nigeria. She has an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. Her short stories have won O. Henry Prizes, a Nommo Award for Short Story, a Henfield Prize, and the Writivism Prize. Her work has been supported by an Octavia Butler Memorial Scholarship, and her novel-in-progress won the 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. She was a 2021 Fiction Fellow with the Miami Book Fair, a 2022 MacDowell fellow, and is the current Hortense Spillers Assistant Editor at Transition Magazine. Ghostroots, her debut story collection, was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Awards in Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. W. W. Norton, Virago, and Masobe published Ghostroots in 2024 and will publish her novel, One Leg on Earth, in 2026. I hope you enjoy this episode! Cheers, Kelly Upcoming Podcast Release Schedule: May 1st: Jim Shepard Please read “The Queen of Bad Influences” before you listen to the episode. JIM SHEPARD is the author of seven previous novels, most recently The Book of Aron (winner of the 2016 PEN New England Award, the Sophie Brody medal for achievement in Jewish literature, the Ribalow Prize for Jewish literature, the Clark Fiction Prize, and a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award) and five story collections, including Like You’d Understand, Anyway, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and won The Story Prize. His short fiction has appeared in, among other magazines, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, Esquire, Tin House, Granta, Zoetrope, Electric Literature, and Vice, and has often been selected for The Best American Short Stories and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with his wife, three children, and three beagles, and he teaches at Williams College. June 1st: Molly Dektar: Please read “The Bed and Breakfast” before listening to the episode. Molly Dektar is the author of two novels, The Absolutes and The Ash Family. Her short stories have been published in the Best American Short Stories 2024, the Yale Review, N+1, the Harvard Review, Ploughshares, and the Sewanee Review, among others. The recipient of a Dakin Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and a residency at Hawthornden, Brooklyn, she is from North Carolina and lives in Queens, NY. Follow her on Instagram here. In July and August, we will be on summer hiatus, working on the fall schedule. Please feel free to send suggestions! Cheers, Kelly Paid Subscribers: One last chance this season to join us for a live discussion. On April 14th at 11 am EST, I will be talking to Molly Dektar about her 2024 Best American Short Story, “The Bed and Breakfast.” First read: “The Bed & Breakfast.” Then bring your questions! The Zoom link for paid subscribers is posted here. We Need You! Live Discussions with the author are one good reason to become a paid subscriber! Another good reason to become a paid subscriber? Access to the video recordings. Yet, another? Annotated texts. A fourth, and final reason: I would love to produce more podcasts. Currently, I can only afford to produce one per month. I hope that will change someday soon. There are so many wonderful stories out there. Cheers, Kelly This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe
