Category: Interview

BackStory: Four Questions with Karen Walker Author of The 1796 Spinning Wheel List What inspired you to write ‘The 1796 Spinning Wheel List’? Looking for my ancestors in The 1796 Spinning Wheel (also known as The Irish Flax Growers) List.…

BackStory: Five Questions with Nicola Davison Author of Der Bibliophile What inspired you to write ‘Der Bibliophile’? I was searching online for something completely unrelated when I came across a photograph of book burning in Germany, 1933. It stole my…

BackStory: Four Questions with Q.Y. Tie Author of The Peony Hairpin What inspired you to write ‘The Peony Hairpin’? For a while, harem dramas—period dramas centred on palace intrigue among the emperor’s concubines—were all the rage in mainland China. You…

BackStory: Five Questions with Lindz McLeod Author of Harald Hardrada Intensifies What inspired you to write ‘Harald Hardrada Intensifies’? I’d been thinking about Harald Hardrada for a while; he’s quite the character! I’d been teaching myself Danish ahead of a…

BackStory: Four Questions with Katie Oliver Author of Fragments What inspired you to write ‘Fragments’? This originally appears in an as yet incomplete novella-in-flash I have languishing in my drafts. I was writing about Eve’s life, which features an event…

BackStory: Five Questions with Patience Mackarness Author of Enkidu’s Harlot What inspired you to write ‘Enkidu’s Harlot’? I first read the Epic of Gilgamesh while living on the island of Bahrain, sometimes identified with the mythical land visited by Gilgamesh…

BackStory: Three Questions with Avra Margariti Author of All the King’s Puppets and All the King’s Strings What inspired you to write ‘All the King’s Puppets and All the King’s Strings’? I was talking with a US-based friend about the…

BackStory: Five Questions with P Akasaka Author of Haori What inspired you to write ‘Haori’? My grandmother was a seamstress and I always wanted to write something about that life. Wearing a haori was a great status symbol among young…

BackStory: Five Questions with Salena Casha Author of This is not a story about my grandfather What inspired you to write ‘This is not a story about my grandfather’? I grew up hearing a piece of family lore related to…

BackStory: Five Questions with J.B. Stone Author of Amber Rose What inspired you to write ‘Amber Rose’? I originally wrote Amber Rose as a submission to an Anne Sexton-themed submissions call from the folks over at Fairy Tale Review. I…