Recently Published Nonfiction
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George Saunders
“Some problems are really stubborn, and they don’t just go away because you decide to face them,” George Saunders told Michelle in an interview for Willamette Week.
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Tess Gunty
Right before The Rabbit Hutch won the National Book Award for fiction, Tess Gunty talked with Michelle about avoiding the trauma trope and how she created compassion for characters – even the ones with disturbing behaviors.
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Ottessa Moshfegh
“I hate not feeling safe,” Ottessa Moshfegh told Michelle in an interview for the San Francisco Chronicle. “But I always seem to go to a place that feels dangerous, because that’s where you start running. And I need to be running.”
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Rachel Kushner
In that same double-header SF Chronicle interview, Rachel Kushner told Michelle she only wants to write about cold-button issues, and that “By pulling back and writing about niche subjects, I feel like I have more control over what I’m doing, and the things that I’m producing as nonfiction seem more like me.”
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Diana Goetsch
“Some of the most important events were only discovered as I wrote them,” Diana Goetsch told Michelle for Writing Workshops, where they talked about memoir writing and structure.
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Ling Ma
Ling Ma talked about her new short short collection, Bliss Montage and told Michelle that reading Karen Russell was an ah-ha moment that inspired her to start writing speculative fiction.
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Marlon Williams
Marlon Williams talked with Michelle about the inspirations behind My Boy and his ever-growing passion for acting.
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Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Van Etten talked with Michelle about her album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong.
✜ How Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart made me think of Joan Didion.
✜ Review: Roxanna Asgarian's We Were Once a Family for the SF Chronicle.
✜ In an interview for Willamette Week, filmmaker Jon Meyer said, “The joy of watching these episodes is watching change.”
✜ Poet Kaveh Akbar discussed his recovery-minded virtual writing class, The Break.
✜ Michelle had a lot of fun photographing Robert Plant and Alison Kraus and writing a two-part piece on their second album together.
✜ Sávila’s Brisa Gonzalez spoke with Michelle about their documentary and 2021’s album, Mayahuel.
✜ Chelsea Bieker gave some book recommendations, talked about her short story collection Heartbroke, and told Michelle, “I’ve felt that so much in my life and understand the nuance of what it’s like to have, say, parents who are alcoholics and really mired in their own addiction—and still really love them despite reason.”
✜ The places Aldous Harding takes her listeners, and how her 2022 album Warm Chris took the New Zealand musician to yet another level of fascinating.
✜ The Chats’ boys on their 2022 album Get Fucked. Shed rock bangers!
✜ “I feel like I’m in the shell of a firework and it’s being lit,” Dehd’s Emily Kempf told Michelle.
✜ Guam activist and writer Julian Aguon talked about the uncategorizable nature of his work and why he wants to write pieces where there is no hiding.
✜ Andy Shauf talks story songs and The Neon Skyline for Earmilk.
✜ Director Adam Dubin spoke with Michelle about his documentary Murder in the Front Row for The Bay Bridged. They talked all about Metallica, nasty bar moments and the Bay Area’s thrash metal scene.
✜ Mastering engineer Piper Payne talks mastering and a whole lotta lacquer cutting.
✜ Thunderpussy, LAKE and Robert Auld talk about how to mic your livestream.
✜ In this “Writer’s Block” column for Into the Void, Michelle talks Joan Didion and the importance of jotting.
✜ Eileen Myles talks about how anything can work its way into a poem, even a fart. - Five80split (print only)
✜ Paul Harding talks winning the Pulitzer and why he never listens to music while writing. - Five80split (print only)
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