Emily Choate | writer

Here’s the first of two pieces on New Orleans-related books I’m privileged to do this month. Wendell Pierce’s memoir, The Wind in the Reeds, brings together so many threads of what makes NOLA indelible—art, grief, joy, and fidelity to what’s most improbable and necessary in the heart. I hope artists of many disciplines and backgrounds read this book. You may know Pierce from his fantastic performances on “The Wire” and “Treme.” My review is up today at Chapter 16.

For Chapter 16, I recently reviewed Appalachia Now, which has gathered up a fascinating sampling of short stories from today’s Appalachia. When I read a book like this, becoming a southern writer seems to have been a pretty good life choice. The anthology includes writers like Charles Dodd White (co-editor), Chris Offutt, Darnell Arnoult, Mark Powell, Jacinda Townsend, David Joy, and Mesha Maren. You can read the review now at Chapter 16.

I’m thrilled to share my Q&A with poet Christina Stoddard, focused on her debut collection, Hive. Stoddard’s poems are brave on some subjects dear to my heart, and I admire her technical skills as well. The poems of Hive are narrated from the point of view of an adolescent Mormon girl whose religious inheritance stands at sharps odds with her experience of the brutal world around her and with her emerging knowledge of her own mind. The Q&A is now up at Late Night Library!

I’m excited to have asked Lily King some questions about her most recent novel, Euphoria, released in paperback this spring. It’s such a pleasure to find a novel like Euphoria, which I gulped down in two sittings. Stuffed with intellectual ideas, it’s also suspenseful, sexy, and compassionate. My Q&A with Lily King is up now at Chapter 16. 

I was pleased to review Jill Alexander Essbaum’s debut novel, Hausfrau, for Chapter 16. Essbaum has written anthologized erotic poetry, and in her debut novel, this background shines through. If you loved Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, but always wondered how it might roll if the naughty, steamy bits were described (in literary ways, since we all know that’s way hotter), then you’ll enjoy Hausfrau. My review’s up now at Chapter 16.

I had the chance to interview with Portland-based author Megan Kruse about her debut novel, Call Me Home. In her answers, Megan went into thoughtful depth about the process of creating her three main characters and their voices, as well as what it meant to her to create a portrait of queer youth in the rural West. Now you can read the interview over at Late Night Library.

I’m very pleased to get to review Denton Loving’s debut poetry collection Crimes Against Birds. These poems have something true and unique to say about living in nature, specifically southern Appalachia. The review is now up at Chapter 16.

My short story, “Stump Winter, Indian Summer,” is now available in the latest issue of Tupelo Quarterly. The story was chosen as a finalist in their Prose Open Contest. You can read the story and the other fine offerings online in Tupelo Quarterly 6.

I’m thrilled to say that a short story of mine, “Stump Winter, Indian Summer,” will appear in the upcoming issue of Tupelo Quarterly! I’m thrilled that this story has found just the right home–a beautiful, adventurous journal run by lovely people. The issue is scheduled for release on March 1st.

It’s so exciting when a new novel manages to surpass all the great buzz coalescing around it. That’s the case with M. O. Walsh’s debut novel My Sunshine Away. I was glad to review it here, at Chapter 16.