BackStory: Three Questions with Barbara Buckley Ristine Author of Faerie Coffins What inspired you to write this ‘Faerie Coffins’? I spent a day in the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh, and I was fascinated by an exhibit about the miniature…
BackStory: Five Questions with H. A. Eugene
BackStory: Five Questions with H. A. Eugene Author of Awake Since ’78 What inspired you to write ‘Awake Since ’78’? Police reports are descriptions of events (crimes) based on witness statements. They are intended to be objective; the problem is, they…
BackStory: Five Questions with Mileva Anastasiadou
BackStory: Five Questions with Mileva Anastasiadou Author of rEVOLt What inspired you to write ‘Revolt’? The Polytechnic Uprising took place in Greece in November 1973, starting as a students demonstration against the military junta imposed in 1967, and ending on…
BackStory: Eight Questions with Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi
BackStory: Eight Questions with Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi Author of This House What inspired you to write ‘This House’? The Ife/Modakeke crises in the south-western part of Nigeria. Were there any interesting facts, details, or turns of phrase that didn’t quite…
BackStory: Six Questions with Mehreen Ahmed
BackStory: Six Questions with Mehreen Ahmed Author of East Bengal, 1971 What inspired you to write ‘East Bengal, 1971’? I was reading an article on the Bangladesh Independence movement of 1971 one day in a newspaper. The article was about…
BackStory: Four Questions with Cathy Ulrich
BackStory: Five Questions with Cathy Ulrich Author of Something That Can Never be Held What inspired you to write ‘Something That Can Never be Held’? I recently got a new book about Bonnie and Clyde (side note: it’s fine, but…
BackStory: Five Questions with Carolyn Oliver
BackStory: Five Questions with Carolyn Oliver Author of Infanta What inspired you to write ‘Infanta’? I intended this piece as a companion to Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess, a stately dance that, thanks to its title, tends (for me,…
BackStory: Five Questions with Philip Charter
BackStory: Five Questions with Philip Charter Author of The anatomy of a hurdy-gurdy What inspired you to write ‘The anatomy of a hurdy-gurdy’? I had an idea about a musician who plays a hopelessly old-fashioned instrument and settled on the…
BackStory: Four Questions with Anne Summerfield
BackStory: Four Questions with Anne Summerfield Author of Not a Rehearsal How much research did you do while writing and editing this piece? Did you discover anything that surprised you? The majority of the research I did was fact checking…
BackStory: Five Questions with Christine Collinson
BackStory: Five Questions with Christine Collinson Author of Boye What inspired you to write ‘Boye’? The Civil Wars era is such a complex, vivid period – societal divisions, widespread conflict, and some fascinating personalities. Finding a unique perspective was challenging…