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alt text: image is a photograph of black tires in a matrix against a white background; title card for the craft essay "Wisdom and Wisdom Teeth: Against Relatability" by Karen Babine

Wisdom and Wisdom Teeth: Against Relatability

September 30, 2022

  “The human life is individual; it is not unique.” —Bee Yang, via Kao Kalia Yang “There are two types of people in the world: them who have and them who will.” —Dad By Karen Babine • Over the years,…

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alt text: image is two book covers, HEALING CIRCLE and SUE MELL; title card for a conversation between Coco Picard and Sue Mell

Conversations Between Friends: Coco Picard and Sue Mell

September 26, 2022

  Consider the personal effects one leaves behind, the way those objects, once laid out, recall the idiosyncratic logic of a life—is there more compelling inspiration for a novel? Authors Coco Picard and Sue Mell met through the BookEnds SUNY…

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alt text: image is a colorful book cover for THIS DISCONNECT; title card for Tyler Barton's new interview with Roisin Kiberd

Hybrid Interview: Roisin Kiberd

September 6, 2022

Essay by Tyler Barton • Someone recently asked me why I set many short stories in the aughts. It’s true that I have a fascination with those years because they were my formative ones, ones in which I was not…

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alt text: image is a color photograph of textured orange stripes; title card for the craft essay "Against Twists" by Vera Kurian

Against Twists

August 30, 2022

  By Vera Kurian • How I wish I could go back and watch The Sixth Sense for the first time again, because when I first saw it, someone had already revealed the twist to me. In retrospect, it was…

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alt text: image is the color book cover for YOU NEVER GET IT BACK; title card for Samantha Dilling's new interview with Cara Blue Adams

Hybrid Interview: Cara Blue Adams

August 15, 2022

  Essay by Sam Dilling • Cara Blue Adams’s debut short story collection, You Never Get It Back, is a nuanced portrait of love, loss, and longing. The stories follow the life of Kate Bishop, the central character, from childhood,…

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alt text: image is the color book cover for WHAT'S LEFT TO LEARN; title card for Suzanne Roberts's new interview with Al Landwehr

Conversations Between Friends: Suzanne Roberts and Al Landwehr

August 2, 2022

  In 1992, when I was twenty-two and nearing graduation with a degree in biology, I somehow talked my advisor into letting me replace technical writing with a course in fiction to fulfill my requirements. That’s how I met Al…

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alt text: image is a color photograph of a few birds flying in an overcast sky; title card for the craft essay "Art of the Opening: Microcosm to Macrocosm" by Albert Liau

The Art of the Opening: Microcosm to Macrocosm

July 25, 2022

  How “The Ghost Birds” Spreads Its Wings after Taking the Leap By Albert Liau • How does a story begin to enchant us? When speaking with First Draft host Mitzi Rapkin, Richard Powers seems to suggest an answer: “You…

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alt text: image is two book covers in bold reds; title card for Courtney Harler's interview with Alan Heathcock

Interview: Alan Heathcock

July 19, 2022

  CRAFT is thrilled to welcome Alan Heathcock as guest judge for our 2022 Short Fiction Prize. Heathcock is the author of Volt, a collection of short stories from 2011, and 40, a debut novel that publishes on August 2,…

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alt text: image is a color photograph of tangled thread; title card for the craft essay "In the Expanded Field: The Lyric Essay & Genre Queerness" by Katy Scarlett

In the Expanded Field: The Lyric Essay & Genre Queerness

July 15, 2022

  By Katy Scarlett • In 1979, Rosalind Krauss published her now-famous essay “Sculpture in the Expanded Field,” which explored how new forms of three-dimensional art-making borrowed from sculpture, monument, architecture, interior and landscape design. She writes, “as the 1960s began…

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alt text: image is the cover of a book called HOLLOWS; title card for Jill Witty's new interview with Tommy Dean

Interview: Tommy Dean

July 5, 2022

  In Hollows, Tommy Dean’s first full-length flash fiction collection, the narrative lens captures everyday humans at a pivotal moment, where one decision will change everything. Three boys enter the woods carrying a gun. A divorced teacher borrows money from…

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