MELODY NIXON interviews RUSHI VYAS
Growing up in the suburban US, as a brown person in white suburbia, we are taught to make grief palatable. Expressions of sorrow are permitted, so long as we “move on” or “move forward.” There is the assumption that, no matter who it is that died or how they lived, once they are gone we are to only “remember the good times.”

SARA FREEMAN
I was certainly interested in exploring the liminal spaces Mara inhabits (the seaside setting, the bar, hostel, and marina) and its workers and inhabitants, while also staying true to the protagonist’s more internal preoccupations: the recursive, often claustrophobic space of her mind.

MELODY NIXON interviews MENSAH DEMARY
The personal reinforces the physical world; collective crisis and reawakening are terms that all lead back to death—our anxiety in realizing our lives will end, and we cannot predict how, or when, and the mortal threat the physical world poses to us.

MELODY NIXON interviews JONATHAN MOODY Poetry can be used as a tool of activism whether you have military wives posting pictures of poems written on their naked bodies as a way to promote awareness of PTSD, or Cave Canem poets using social media to post video footage of them reading poems about police brutality.

MELODY NIXON interviews CLAIRE MESSUD | You know, when I’m teaching writing I always say the to the students, “If you can not write, don’t. If you can have as good a life, and feel fulfilled without writing, don’t. Why would you?” Some people – who are very talented – can be as happy not writing. And then there are the people who can’t; it’s how they stay alive.

MELODY NIXON interviews BENJAMIN ANASTAS Of course, I was living the story out—I had no idea how things would resolve with my girlfriend, my writing life, my money crisis—so any ending I chose for the memoir would have to be provisional. Once my writing career is done and all of the books are lined up on the shelf, I expect that unresolved endings are going to be a common thread.

MELODY NIXON interviews JUSTIN TAYLOR | I believe that all work is necessarily of its specific time. There’s just no getting around that, even if you’re consciously writing historical or speculative fiction. I’m not interested in zeitgeists, but I am interested in the way that people live, think, and speak; the technologies we use; our experience of ourselves and each other in everyday life.

MELODY NIXON interviews RICH BENJAMIN | I would definitely describe myself as a “journalist-adventurer.” I like to write about things that haven’t been written, and that require some form of mental and physical adventure. I don’t like to go on assumptions about what people think is going on.

MELODY NIXON interviews CARRIE TIFFANY | I think when it comes to writing, all the dreaming should be about the writing, and not the awards. My first book was rejected by every major publisher in Australia before it was finally published. That, in some ways, made me quite cynical about the publishing industry. And the prize industry as well.

Why Teach The Common? Teach The Common in your classroom and receive discounted subscriptions, a free desk copy, and lesson plans. A classroom subscription includes two issues for every student, and a virtual class visit from Editor in Chief Jennifer Acker or a participating author. Learn more about teaching The Common or contact us for