Studio Archives – Page 5 of 5

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Ramiro

by Patricia Engel

March 16, 2021

Posted on March 16, 2021 (March 15, 2021) by Zack Ravas

Ramiro will tell you himself he was just another slum kid from El Cartucho. He lived in a one-room apartment with his mother and another family of seven who let them take up a corner. They’d come from Pereira with Ramiro’s father when Ramiro was just beginning to walk, but his father got stabbed beneath

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Locking Down with the Family You’ve Just Eviscerated in a Novel

by Julian Tepper

March 9, 2021

Posted on March 9, 2021 (March 8, 2021) by Zack Ravas

On March 13, 2020, I was in Los Angeles, having flown there from New York for the launch of my latest novel. The event would take place at Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard, and we—my father, four brothers and stepmother, all locals, as well as my mother and son, who had come out west for

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In This Annihilated Place

by Wanda Coleman

February 9, 2021

Posted on February 9, 2021 (February 8, 2021) by Zack Ravas

“Cast ’em out! For he deceives us all!”Some call him Preach, others call him Crazy John. We’ve called him out of his Christian name so much we’ve forgotten it. Most of us snigger at his ranting, sometimes to his face, daring the retort if he’s bold enough to make one. At those moments, he tightens

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My Brain’s Too Tired

by Wanda Coleman

Posted on February 9, 2021 (February 8, 2021) by Zack Ravas

Mrs. Jackson, we’ve sat in silence for over five minutes. Perhaps you need additional time to gather your thoughts. Would you like to continue our session or should we reschedule?Continue. I’m sorry I stopped talkin’. But the mere thought of what I have to say exhausts me. It’s so heavy, Dr. Flowers. It’s as if

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Ini Y Fati

by Carribean Fragoza

Posted on February 9, 2021 (February 8, 2021) by Zack Ravas

You would think that such an event, a bolt of lightning shooting out of the sky to strike a little girl in a vacant lot, would call immediate attention from the neighbors. But it did not. Only the dogs pointed their snouts to the sky and howled. Birds were startled into flight from their power

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The Manuscript in the Corner: A Conversation with Wendy C. Ortiz

by David L. Ulin

January 11, 2021

Posted on January 11, 2021 (January 11, 2021) by ZYZZYVA

Wendy C. Ortiz and I met when she was an MFA student and I became her graduate mentor. She was working on the first draft of the manuscript that would eventually become Excavation (Future Tense; 2014), and even then, it was clear that this was remarkable work. Ruthless, self-interrogating, resolute in its unwillingness to look

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Paragraphs on Ice: Episode 1

by ZYZZYVA

Posted on January 11, 2021 (January 11, 2021) by ZYZZYVA

Paragraphs on Ice: Andrew Sean Greer & Daniel Handler

How do certain sentences work on us as readers? What can we say about the beauty found in select pieces of prose? Daniel Handler and Andrew Sean Greer—best-selling authors and friends—take you along with them as they delightfully explore their favorite passages of writing in their video series for ZYZZYVA Studio.

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