Stephanie Austin [Host: Holly Pelesky]

On today's episode of The Lives of Writers, Holly Pelesky interviews Stephanie Austin.

Holly Pelesky is the author of the essay collection, Cleave, from us at Autofocus Books. She also writes fiction and poetry and co-edits Vast Chasm literary magazine.

Stephanie Austin is the author of Something I Might Say, a short essay collection now available from WTAW Press. Her work has been published in more than 25 literary journals in the United States and Canada including The Sun, American Short Fiction, Bending Genres, Wigleaf, Pithead Chapel, and others. 

An  essay from Stephanie's collection, Kill Floor, was originally published by us at Autofocus.

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PART ONE, topics include:

-- assistant property management

-- sending out a novel for 15 years

-- agonizing less over writing CNF

-- the short essay collection SOMETHING I MIGHT SAY

-- a lot of loss in a short period of time

-- health anxiety in general and especially during the pandemic

-- watching a parent's body die

-- caregiving for others and (not) taking care of the self

-- getting (and enjoying) a low-res MFA

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PART TWO, topics include:

-- growing up in a small rural town in Illinois

-- things shattering after a move 

-- reading and writing about ghosts and vampires as a kid

-- healing and whether one actually heals

-- the things you've been trying to do for 20 years being possible

-- a rejection that turn into publication for Something I Might Say 

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Podcast theme music provided by Mike Nagel, author of Duplex. Here's more of his project: Yeah Yeah Cool Cool.

The Lives of Writers is edited and produced by Michael Wheaton.