About a quarter of the way through Emily Grandy’s gorgeously written and expertly plotted debut novel, Michikusa House, her protagonist Winona (Win) asks: “Why does art always have to be about suffering?” Grandy’s novel answers the question by enacting another type of art. As the book opens, Win is a college nutrition major in recovery…

In a class on the novel, my teacher, the writer Douglas Glover, wrote in large letters across the blackboard: The Novel is a Poem. Rejecting the idea that the novel reflects reality only in its plot and characters, Glover  (following his own teacher, Robert Day) contends that the novel additionally operates according to “patterns” that…

Donna Miscolta’s new book Living Color: Angie Rubio Stories, a novel in stories, portrays the coming-of-age journey of Angie Rubio in witty prose that pays particular attention to smaller moments of discrimination, their impact, and the different ways Angie and her family members respond. It is a book that meets the national moment in which…

Longlisted for the 2019 PENRobert W. Bingham Prize for Short Story Award, Jenn Scott’s Her Adult Life is a standout on the list and worthy of more attention. Scott’s riveting emotional book stands out for the strength of its writing and for its portraits of small town waitresses, factory workers and fast food restaurant managers…