(Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2019) We Lived Happily during the War And when they bombed other people’s houses, we protested but not enough, we opposed them but not enough. I was in my bed, around my bed America was falling: … Continued
(Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2010) I’ve always loved moments of crisis in literature—episodes that force characters to reevaluate and redefine themselves, and to recognize the false pretenses of their previous existences, or of any claim to personal consistency. (One of … Continued
(Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 2009) “Even now it is an impossible idea, that we are all connected, all of us,” writes Eula Biss in Notes from No Man’s Land: American Essays, a provocative exploration of race in America. Biss is … Continued
When I saw Jeff Allen in Miami this fall, he gave me a copy of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s great book Americanah, in which the protagonist, a blogger, writes “Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, … Continued
(Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2012) As a writer, I create yearlong, but because of my position as an instructor of English composition, summer remains my season of “play,” three months when I treat writing like a full-time job. The giddiness … Continued
(The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Mood, Masochism, and Murder. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2009) In my husband’s family if you’re reading a book and put it down on the coffee table to go get a snack, your book is fair game. … Continued
(On Immunity: An Inoculation. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2014) In July of 2014, employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered, in a cold storage facility unused for decades, several vials that contained living strains of the smallpox virus. When confronted with the … Continued