Mud Season Review
Fiction editor Josh Michael interviews Issue #55 fiction author Talbot Hook. “My goal is for the language to initially sow confusion in the reader, to put them ever-so-slightly off-kilter, but for them to eventually get used to it.” ~Talbot Hook “Gone from the World” is deeply entrenched […]
Art Editor Kristin LaFollette interviews featured photographer Mane Hovhannisyan on the social perceptions of body, movement, and spirituality in transparent and tangible realms. “Inspired by her phantom-like movements, I wanted to convey the inner sense of transparency, the merging of the body with the space…” Mane Hovhannisyan How did you […]
Poetry Editor Malisa Garlieb interviews featured poet Gwen Hart about personifying anxiety. “I value writing that takes anxiety seriously, but also lessens the stigma and helps people to find new ways to cope.” Your three poems in MSR explore and express anxiety, yet you unexpectedly flavor them with humor. Could you talk about what led […]
Suzanne Guess interviews Issue #55 Creative Nonfiction author Rachele Salvini. “I am trying to reach out to the ‘authentic’ self… But I do want to know when a scene is made-up, when a writer is speculating or imagining potential scenarios.” Rachel Salvini What do you hope your readers will […]
Ann Fisher interviews Issue #54 Fiction author Nicholas LaMendola, regarding his piece “to my love, a portrait.” “The world is complicated! I constantly catch myself oversimplifying, flattening other people’s points of view, disregarding the challenges and nuances that make people the way they are.” Nicholas LaMendola What inspired you to write “to my love, a […]
Steven Lausier interviews Issue #54 Creative Nonfiction writer Rhiannon Catherwood, regarding her piece “Mr. Sick.” “I was the very quiet kid who spent recess huddled in a little alcove writing and writing. I still remember the day I got so wrapped up I forgot to come inside for a couple of hours.” Rhiannon Catherwood One […]
Kristin LaFollette interviews Issue #54 artist Linnea Ryshke on the imperative of human kinship with all animals, going out of her comfort zone for a medium, and etymology in her titles. As gently and tenderly as I could, I separated out the bones, ground them to dust with the head of a hammer, and then […]
Malisa Garlieb Interviews Issue #54 Poet Michelle Hulan. “While writing, I find I have to resist the urge for resolution, even sometimes preferring anti-resolution.” Michelle Hulan In “Sonnet for Fat Purple Figs” the speaker states, “I will consume enough versions of myself to fill a century.” I found that all three poems resist fixed identities […]
“My wish is that people will say this to themselves after reading my stories: “Someone understands. I am no longer alone.”
Blake Johnson
“ …An absence, in this case the absence of love, could swallow a life—. “
Brenden Wolfe
“When I wrote these poems, I was clinking cup with my past and nodding at the future.”
Ernest Ogunyemi
“When I started exploring mark making rather than just color, my first focus, I applied paint with all kinds of objects.”
-Andrea Lewicki
“My poems want a better place, a better country, better lives.”
Creative Nonfiction reader Suzanne Guess interviews writer Megan Saunders about the importance of creativity within personal narrative.
Jana LaChance is a working artist from a coastal town in southern New Hampshire. She earned a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design. Her art is inspired by the dichotomy of New England’s inconstant natural landscapes and the muted experiences of every day life. Her work has been exhibited in an assortment of galleries and printed in several publications.
Fiction editor Ann Fisher interviews Bari Lynn Hein about perspective and the writing process for “Curtain Call,” her story of resilience and healing in challenging times. Tell us about how “Curtain Call” came to being. “Curtain Call” had been in my head for some time. When the pandemic hit, I decided it was time […]
Poetry editor Malisa Garlieb interviews our featured poet Christine Butterworth-McDermott about her poems, exploring loss, transformation, and recovery.
Grier Martin and Elaine Pentaleri interview
Rebecca Starks, Danielle Thierry, Lauren Bender and Erin Post
As we transition to new editorial leadership, we invite previous Mud Season Review editors to share some of the journal’s early history, and the lessons learned about launching and growing a literary journal.
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You mention that your landscape work “depicts an apocalyptic world.” Can you talk a bit more about how you see this theme coming through in your work? I tend to work on my abstract paintings when I am in an emotional crisis. A lot of these feelings are in reaction to things I read about […]
Fiction Reader Josh Michael interviewed writer Iris Litt about her piece “Return or Exchange” which appears in Issue #50. Here is Iris’s tongue-in-cheek commentary about marriage and relationships. “Return or Exchange” is a tongue-in-cheek commentary about marriage and relationships, where future coupling has most, if not all, of the emotion taken out of it. […]
Nonfiction reader Sidra Ansari recently interviewed nonfiction writer Joumana Al Tallal about her piece “The Long Middle” which appears in Issue #51. Here is what Joumana has to say about love of one’s home country, loss, matters of the heart and being an Iraqi woman in America. We thought this was an intimate, thoughtful […]
Kristin LaFollette interviews
Austyn Sullivan
Art editor Kristin LaFollette recently had this exchange with Issue #50 featured artist Austyn Sullivan. Here’s what Austyn had to say about how the intersection between music and art in his life, what he likes about collage as an artistic medium, the influence of New Orleans on his work, and more…
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Abi Newhouse interviews
Rémy Ngamije
Nonfiction reader Abi Newhouse recently had this exchange with Issue #50 featured nonfiction writer Rémy Ngamije. Here’s what Rémy had to say about the structure of his essay, Namibia’s first literary magazine, his literary influences, and more…
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Aurora Nowak interviews
Joel Peckham
Poetry co-editor Aurora Nowak recently had this exchange with Issue #49 featured poet Joel Peckham. Here’s what Joel had to say about his experimentation with form, his literary influences, what he’s working on now, and more…
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Josh Michael interviews
Bill Bruce
Fiction reader Josh Michael recently had this exchange with Issue #49 featured fiction author Bill Bruce. Here’s what Bill had to say about his revision process, the inspiration for the characters in his story, what he’s working on now, and more…
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