'If you can surprise yourself with your writing then it’s a lot more fun, and it’s a lot more interesting. That often involves creating characters you’ve never met or writing people that are not like you.’
Granta Magazine’s Luke Neima speaks to Rachel B. Glaser about being one of Granta’s 2017 Best of Young American Novelists.
They discuss the mystery of fiction, constructing stories out of Lego blocks, and the importance of surprising yourself with your writing.
Read Rachel’s story Day 4 in Granta 139.
Order a copy of her novel Paulina & Fran .
‘We meet at various points in the great swathes of the past that neither of us were alive to witness.’
Allen Bratton on a daytrip to a castle with his older boyfriend.
‘Listening to three white poets, whom I suspect are academics, talk about the state of poetry.’
Oluwaseun Olayiwola eavesdrops on an older generation.
‘I’d been dubious about his company at first.’
Sarah Moss on watching Shakespeare with her twelve-year-old son.
‘She didn’t trust us because, to her, tenants were like children.’
Kate Zambreno on negotiating with her older landlady.
‘A moment now swallowed in embarrassment, I asked a question only a young person might ask an older one.’
Lynne Tillman on trying to understand what makes a generation.
‘She sat sweating on the curb as her mother’s narrow face hovered over the parking lot like a hologram.’
‘When she reached her hand into his underwear, again she felt the turtle.’
‘Fiction is like those amazing robots that build other robots.’
Rachel B. Glaser shares five things she’s reading, watching and thinking about right now.
‘Confusion is the only natural response to the world, the alternative would be to just fall in with everyone else’s plans.’
‘What happens to a dancer when they stop dancing?’
Diana Evans on dancing and writing.
