Interviews, my reading life

F. Scott Fitzgerland is Debut Author Haili Blassingame’s Literary Daddy

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F. Scott Fitzgerland is Debut Author Haili Blassingame’s Literary Daddy

Haili Blassingame’s debut novel, They All Fall in Love at the End, follows Cat St. Clair, a twenty-four-year-old writer trying to balance an open relationship, artistic ambition, and the chaos of the 2024 election. What begins as a quest for freedom and self-determination spirals into a complicated love triangle involving her boyfriend’s best friend and his girlfriend, forcing Cat to confront the consequences of pursuing everything she wants. Set against a backdrop of political tension and creative uncertainty, the novel explores nonmonogamy, desire, identity, and the challenge of imagining new possibilities for love and liberation.

Blassingame is a producer for NPR’s 1A and has written for publications including The New Republic and The New York Times, where her Modern Love essay “My Choice Isn’t Marriage or Loneliness” went viral. She previously worked on NPR’s Code Switch and Weekend Edition and is pursuing an MFA in creative writing from American University.

We asked Blassingame to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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Interviews, my reading life

P.C. Verrone read through all of Toni Morrison while writing Rabbit, Fox, Tar

by AdamLeave a Comment on P.C. Verrone read through all of Toni Morrison while writing Rabbit, Fox, Tar
P.C. Verrone read through all of Toni Morrison while writing Rabbit, Fox, Tar

P.C. Verrone’s debut novel, Rabbit, Fox, Tar, is a fable-like story about a mysterious young Black woman whose arrival in a tightly knit neighborhood threatens to unravel its foundations. When Baby appears in Original Hill and begins a romance with the ambitious Lucius “Lucky” Foote, her presence upends a contentious city council race and intensifies long-simmering tensions over a Black neighborhood destroyed decades earlier to make way for a highway. As Baby becomes entangled in the lives of the community’s residents and begins questioning her origins, the novel explores race, power, belonging, memory, and the stories communities tell about themselves.

Verrone’s work has appeared in FIYAH, PodCastle, Nightmare, and numerous anthologies. He has been a Tin House Resident, a Playwrights’ Center Fellow, and a WNDB Black Creatives Revisions Workshop winner.

We asked Verrone to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped his life and influenced his writing.

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News

See the cover for Hafa Adai by E.E. Hussey

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See the cover for Hafa Adai by E.E. Hussey

E.E. Hussey is a Philippine-born writer and professor whose work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, PANK, and elsewhere. She has received support from Goodyear Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia G. Piper Center, Tin House, and the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference. Currently, she lives in North Carolina. 

Hussey’s debut novel, Hafa Adai, explores sisterhood, identity, and death. It will be published by Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press on January 15, 2027, and is available for pre-order now.

Debutiful is honored to reveal the cover of Hafa Adai, designed by Morgan Krehbiel, along with a Q&A with Hussey about its creation.

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Interviews

Boyhood, Bruce, and Boots: Steven Pfau Discusses Say Nephew

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Boyhood, Bruce, and Boots: Steven Pfau Discusses Say Nephew

When I received my galley of Steven Pfau’s Say Nephew: On Boyhood, Unclehood and Queer Mentorship. I was really excited to read it. Book covers are my love language, so when I saw the cover of Steven’s book, I thought, This is going to be a good read. I chatted with Steven over Zoom about being under the tutelage of his loud, humorous, and swagger-filled Uncle Bruce. We chatted about nephews, guncles, and cowboy boots. 

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Interviews

Joe Bond on Hope House, Psychology, and the Troubled Boys of 1980s Kentucky

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Joe Bond on Hope House, Psychology, and the Troubled Boys of 1980s Kentucky

Hope House, Joe Bond’s debut novel, dares to wish for more than the world can offer to the “troubled boys” at its center. The boys – AWOL who runs away, Karvel who’s in charge, and Damico who just had a child – are limping towards adulthood and the five phases needed to graduate from their treatment home in 1980s Kentucky. Together their interweaving narratives paint a picture of a home that is on the verge of closing, a father who would sacrifice everything for his court-ordered sons, and a world where hope can be written on the nametag of a fast food uniform.

Joe Bond grew up in these places and gives them an earnestness that no other writer could. He can make a story turn in one five-letter sentence, revealing a morsel of information that demolishes what you previously thought about a character, a situation, a worldview.

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Interviews

Exploring Body, Queerness and Music with The Maidenheads Author Benny Peterson

by AdamLeave a Comment on Exploring Body, Queerness and Music with The Maidenheads Author Benny Peterson
Exploring Body, Queerness and Music with The Maidenheads Author Benny Peterson

If Kate Bush and Björk had a baby, it would be The Maidenheads, the debut book from Benny B. Peterson. This novel is a queercore punk symphony of the human heart and limbs. Benny and I discuss trans resilience, art, and the soundtrack of our lives. This book is front row to the concert where you are checked out, and move with body and soul. We dive deep into queer history, and hope for the trans youth of today. 

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Interviews, my reading life

Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child

by AdamLeave a Comment on Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child
Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child

Canon, the debut novel from poet Paige Lewis, is about two damaged outsiders trying to earn God’s favor in a violent world split between “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys.” Yara, isolated after family rejection and a toxic relationship, is chosen for a divine mission to kill a feared army leader, while Adrena, a prophet desperate for heaven and recognition, pursues her own dangerous vision of heroism. As their paths converge, the novel becomes an irreverent, emotionally charged exploration of faith, destiny, power, and what it means to deserve salvation.

We asked Lewis, who previously released the poetry collection Space Struck and is the coeditor of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance, to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped their life and influenced their writing.

Continue reading “Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child” →