Ten Questions for Sarah Thankam Mathews

“Writing, I now believe, is both a confidence trick and an alchemical process.” —Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of All This Could Be Different
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“Writing, I now believe, is both a confidence trick and an alchemical process.” —Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of All This Could Be Different
“I needed to live all of the change and movement and multiplicity that the book wound up being about in order to write it.” —Caylin Capra-Thomas, author of Iguana Iguana
“A reader who truly needs these stories might not come to them for weeks, months, or even years.” —Isaac Fitzgerald, author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional
“This book really fought me, or I fought it, for the first couple of years.” —Safia Elhillo, author of Girls That Never Die
“I think it was essential that I turn further inward, that I trust the ‘quieter’ poems.” —Zeina Hashem Beck, author of O
“Write because you want to, not to define yourself for the benefit of other people.” —Maya Marshall, author of All the Blood Involved in Love
“I was struck by the freedom of third person, how I could roam and jump and skip around, and cozy up to characters and then back away.” —Ottessa Moshfegh, author of Lapvona
“I wanted to write female friendship in a way that felt honest to me.” —Christine Kandic Torres, author of The Girls in Queens
“When you’re in that in-between stage, between starting something and gathering speed, a piece of chipped nail polish is the most riveting thing in the world.” —Sloane Crosley, author of Cult Classic
“I have to lock up my phone every day—in a box designed for locking up cookies—during the hours I’m writing. Text messages ruin me.” —Lydia Conklin, author of Rainbow Rainbow