Let's Deconstruct a Story

Hi Everyone, During this episode, Shastri Akella discusses his Best American Short Story, “The Magic Bangle.” The podcast episode is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Please read the story before listening to the podcast episode. It’s available here at The Fairy Tale Review. I hope you enjoy this discussion with Shastri as much as I did! Cheers, Kelly PS: As always, I would love to hear about your favorite stories! Please send ideas anytime. Bio: Shastri Akella’s debut novel, “The Sea Elephants,” has been published by Flatiron Books (USA, Canada) and Penguin (India). He was a writing resident at the Fine Arts Works Center (2021) and the Oak Springs Garden Foundation (2023). He’s the winner of the 2022 FracturedLit Flash Fiction Contest and the 2023 Best Microfiction Contest. His writing has appeared in Guernica, Fairy Tale Review, CRAFT, The Masters Review, Electric Literature, World Literature Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD. in Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He’s an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Michigan State University. Contact him for readings and book signings at your bookstore, college, or library at shastriakella.com. Shastri Akella’s book is available here. Upcoming Podcast Schedule Free and available on Spotify, Apple, and Substack, as well as other podcast platforms. March 1st: Toni Ann Johnson April 1st: ‘Pemi Aguda May 1st: Jim Shepard June 1st: Molly Dektar Upcoming interview schedule: Paid subscribers and former guests are welcome to join me for live interviews with these writers below. Please read the story beforehand and come ready to discuss it with the author :) On February 17th at 1 pm EST, I will talk to ‘Pemi Aguda about “Manifest.” On March 4th at 1 pm: Jim Shepard: “The Queen of Bad Influences.” On April 8th at 11 am: Molly Dektar: “The Bed & Breakfast.” If you are a member of the Conscious Writers Collective with Maya C. Popa, you are also welcome to join us for the interviews. I highly recommend CWC. The instructors are amazing, and everyone is extremely supportive. I hope you will check it out! In other news, I am heading to France from March 11th to May 29th to serve as the Resident Fellow at VCCA’s Moulin à Nef campus. If you’re nearby (or heading there for a residency), I’d love to see you! Cheers, Kelly This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Happy New Year! Maura Stanton and I had so much fun discussing “School for Robots.” Please be sure to read the story first before watching this video, and check out more of Maura’s fantastic stories below. Enjoy! Kelly Bio: Maura Stanton’s Cities in the Sun was the recipient of the Michigan Literary Fiction Award. She is the author of two previous books of stories, Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling, which won the Sullivan Prize, and The Country I Come From. Stanton’s books of poetry include Glacier Wine, Snow on Snow, Cries of Swimmers, Tales of the Supernatural, and Life Among the Trolls. She teaches in the M.F.A. creative writing program at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her supernatural robot stories have appeared in Allium, Pacifica Literary Review, Baltimore Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, The Phoenix, and North American Review. Her chapbook, Interiors, won the Open Chapbook contest and was published by Finishing Line Press. With “School for Robots,” she is a two-time winner of The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award. She also won the Fall 2015 Supernatural Fiction Award for her story, “House Ghosts.” Other stories by Maura Stanton: North American Review: Tin Man The Baltimore Review: Ballerina Pacifica Review: Star Crossed The Bennington Review: MARSPAINTSDAILY A little about your host, Kelly Fordon: KELLY FORDON’s latest poetry collection, What Trammels the Heart, was published by SFAPress in 2025. Her short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. Her novel-in-stories, Garden for the Blind, was published by WSUP in 2015. She teaches at Springfed Arts in Detroit and online. What Trammels the Heart is on sale right now for 40% off at tamupress.com with the code HEART40 :) and Amazon here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com

Hi Everyone, I hope you enjoy this episode, which features Susan Shepherd discussing her Best American Short Story, “Baboons, “ first published in The Kenyon Review. Paid subscribers and Conscious Writers Collective members are welcome to join us for interviews, and I want to thank Paul Delong, in particular, for his question, which is included in this recording. Also, thanks to audio engineer Elliot Bancel for his help with this episode. **Susan recommended a memoir during the interview: The Sheep Stell: Memoirs of a Shepherd by Janet White. Upcoming Schedule: On January 1st, Maura Stanton will discuss her story “School for Robots” on the podcast. On January 14th at 12 pm, I will be talking to Toni Ann Johnson about her work. Paid subscribers and CWC members are welcome to join us—more information to come. On February 1st, Shastri Akella’s podcast episode drops. Remember to read “The Magic Bangle” first. On February 17th, ‘Pemi Aguda will join me to discuss her story, “Manifest,” first published in Granta. Thanks to Peter Ho Davies for connecting us! Paid subscribers and CWC members are welcome to join. On March 1st, Toni Ann Johnson’s podcast episode will drop for everyone. On April 1st, ‘Pemi Aguda’s podcast episode will drop. We will be discussing her story, “Manifest,” first published in Granta. Bio: Susan Shepherd’s writing has been published in the Boston Globe, Ploughshares, Story Magazine, the Chicago Quarterly, the Kenyon Review, One Story Magazine, Swamp Pink, Best American Short Stories 2024, and is forthcoming in the Harvard Review. Her story “Goats’”(Ploughshares), was a distinguished story in Best American Short Stories 2021, edited by Jesmyn Ward, and “Snakes’”(Chicago Quarterly) was a distinguished story in Best American Short Stories 2023, edited by Min Jin Lee. “Baboons” was chosen by Lauren Groff to be published in the 2024 edition of Best American Short Stories. Available now from Bookshop.org or Amazon. Susan Shepherd’s work as a producer and reporter has aired on multiple National Public Radio shows, including Living on Earth, and Marketplace. Her show, 11 Central Ave, a radio comic strip, aired on select NPR stations on Morning Edition around the country. 11 Central Ave won a Gold Medal for ‘Best Comedy’ from the New York Festivals, and a National Gracie Allen Award for ‘Best Producer, Comedy’. In other news: Have you heard about Telephone?! The brainchild of Nathan Langston, TELEPHONE is a game played by artists. It works like the children’s game of the same name. A message is whispered from person to person, changing and evolving as it is passed from player to player—a secret message is passed from art form to art form. Here are links to two artists from Australia and the Netherlands responding to my poem. This game has given me a little hope in these dire times. I hope you enjoy it. Cheers, Kelly About your host: KELLY FORDON’s latest poetry collection, What Trammels the Heart, was published by SFAPress in 2025. Her short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. Her novel-in-stories, Garden for the Blind, was published by WSUP in 2015. She teaches at Springfed Arts in Detroit and online, where she also runs a fiction podcast called “Let’s Deconstruct a Story.” http://www.letsdeconstructastory.substack.com. What Trammels the Heart is on sale right now for 40% off at tamupress.com with the code HEART40 :) and $10 on Amazon here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Katherine Damm talks about her story, "The Happiest Day of Your Life." First, be sure to read the story from The Iowa Review. There will be spoilers! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Deb Olin Unferth discusses her short story, "Wait Till You See Me Dance" with Kelly Fordon This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

I spoke with Ananda Lima about her story, Antropófaga! Make sure you read it before you listen. Enjoy the rest of your summer, and happy listening! Kelly Ananda Lima is the author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books, 2024) and Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere, and is forthcoming in Ghosts of Where We Are From, an anthology of dark fiction by Latin American authors, edited by Cynthia Pelayo (Primer Sueño/Atria Books). She is a Contributing Editor at Poets & Writers and Program Curator at StoryStudio, Chicago. Lima was a mentor at the NYFA Immigrant Artist Program and the inaugural Latinx-in-Publishing WIP Fellow, sponsored by Macmillan Publishers. She has an MA in Linguistics (UCLA) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Rutgers-Newark). Craft, her fiction debut, was longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. The New York Times describes it as “a remarkable debut that announces the arrival of a towering talent in speculative fiction.” Originally from Brazil, she lives in Chicago and New York. Purchase the book here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

* Here is Eli in a half-trench coat Sheila Heti gave him :) Hi Everyone, Well, the world might be a s%$# show, but at least we still have our stories. Today, I’m featuring the work of the brilliant Eli Sparkman, one of the member-owners of Book Suey in Hamtramck, Michigan. We had so much fun discussing his stories. I hope you enjoy this deep dive as much as I did. This is FLASH, so Eli was able to read three in their entirety before we discuss them; however, I still recommend reading and annotating them beforehand on your own. Thanks to Elliot Bancel for editing this discussion! *** Read Eli’s stories here: Crown Molding – X-R-A-Y Chew – Action, Spectacle 400,000 Lawns – HAD Daffodil – Bending Genres No Dinosaur – ANMLY *** Bio: Elijah Sparkman is a writer based in Detroit. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in ANMLY, Sleepingfish, Sundog Lit, and X-R-A-Y. He is the Program and Volunteer Coordinator for 826michigan, a youth creative writing organization. He is a member-owner of the co-op bookstore Book Suey in Hamtramck, MI. *** On August 1st, I’ll be speaking with Ananda Lima on the podcast about her story, “Antropófaga,” featured in The Kenyon Review Online. Ananda Lima is the author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books, 2024) and Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere, and is forthcoming in Ghosts of Where We Are From, an anthology of dark fiction by Latin American authors, edited by Cynthia Pelayo (Primer Sueño/Atria Books). She is a Contributing Editor at Poets & Writers and Program Curator at StoryStudio, Chicago. Lima was a mentor at the NYFA Immigrant Artist Program and the inaugural Latinx-in-Publishing WIP Fellow, sponsored by Macmillan Publishers. She has an MA in Linguistics (UCLA) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Rutgers-Newark). Craft, her fiction debut, was longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. The New York Times describes it as “a remarkable debut that announces the arrival of a towering talent in speculative fiction.” Originally from Brazil, she lives in Chicago and New York. (photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan) *** Paid subscribers can join me for a subscriber-only discussion of the story on July 16th at 4 pm by registering here. *** In Other News: I’ve revamped my poetry blog, My Personal Favorite, because I want to celebrate the work of fellow poets. A poetry community is harder to find in rural Ohio, where I spend a lot of time these days, so creating a virtual community has become a priority for me. I also have a new poetry collection, What Trammels the Heart, available from SFAPress, which can be found here. If you use the 40% discount code: HEART40, it’s a bargain! The cover artist for What Trammels the Heart was Michigan artist Kimberly Santini. If you don’t know her work, you should check it out: See you soon and Happy Summer! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone! In this episode of the podcast, Caitlin Horrocks and I interview Erika Krouse about “Jude” from her new collection, Save Me, Stranger. AND THEN…Erika and I interview Caitlin about her story “Better Not Tell You Now.” We had so much fun! And I learned so much about the craft of writing. You will too. Links to both stories are below. Please read before you listen, because we will spoil the endings :) “Jude” is available here at The Colorado Review, Summer 2024. “Better Not Tell You Now” is here at swamp pink. See below for more information on these esteemed guests, along with links to purchase their books. I’ll see you again on July 1st with Eli Sparkman. We’ll be discussing five of his flash fiction pieces (available on my Substack right now.) I hope you enjoy the episode. As always, please send your reading recommendations! Cheers, Kelly Caitlin Horrocks is the author of the story collections Life Among the Terranauts and This Is Not Your City, both New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice selections. Her novel The Vexations was named one of the Ten Best Books of 2019 by the Wall Street Journal. Her stories and essays appear in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, The Pushcart Prize, The Paris Review, Tin House, and One Story, as well as other journals and anthologies. Her awards include the Plimpton Prize and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the MacDowell Colony. She formerly served as fiction editor of the Kenyon Review. She teaches at Grand Valley State University and occasionally in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the writer W. Todd Kaneko and their three noisy kids. Purchase Caitlin’s amazing books here. Erika Krouse is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her newest short story collection, Save Me, Stranger (Flatiron Books) was hailed as “a dozen little masterpieces,” by Adam Johnson, “remarkable” by Ann Beattie, and Louise Erdrich said, “Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.” “Eat My Moose” from the collection is the winner of the 2025 Edgar Award for Best Short Story, and will be included in 2025 Best Mystery Stories of the Year and The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025. Erika is also the author of Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation (March 2022, Flatiron Books): winner of the 2023 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the Colorado Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, and the Housatonic Book Award for Nonfiction. Tell Me Everything is also a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Book of the Month Club pick, a People Magazine People Pick, named “Best Nonfiction of 2022” by BookPage and Kirkus Reviews, and “Best 10 Books of 2022” by both Slate and Jezebel. The memoir has been featured/reviewed in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, Airmail, The Week, Harper’s Bazaar, LitHub, Real Simple, ELLE, CrimeReads, BookPage, and others. Purchase Save Me, Stranger (so good!!!) here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Before listening to my interview with Christie Hodgen, please read her story, “Rich Strike,” because the interview is full of spoilers! The story is available for free here on the Story website, thanks to Michael Nye. Please consider subscribing to Story and supporting great literature here. Congratulations to Christie for winning a Pushcart Prize for this story as well. If you would like to read my annotation of the story and some background on the books discussed during our interview, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and accessing my annotation in the archives here. The interview is available for free here on Substack and Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. I can’t wait to unpack this story with you! Cheers, Kelly P.S.: I gave Christie Hodgen’s novel, Elegies for the Brokenhearted, to at least eight people one Christmas (I feel like it was more than that, but eight—at least—that I can track). It’s one of my all-time favorites. You can purchase a copy here. Bio: Christie Hodgen’s most recent novel, Boy Meets Girl, won the 2020 AWP Prize for the Novel. Her other books include Elegies for the Brokenhearted, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “the literary equivalent of a hand grenade,” as well as Hello, I Must Be Going and A Jeweler’s Eye for Flaw. Hodgen has published short stories and essays in dozens of literary journals and anthologies. Her work has received several awards, including two Pushcart Prizes, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in Kansas City and is the editor of New Letters magazine. *** I hope you enjoy this episode. If you do, please consider joining me as a yearly subscriber and/or helping to sponsor LDAS with a small donation. I would love to produce more content, but I need funds to do that. LDAS is entirely listener-supported, which allows us the freedom to create content of our choosing, and I hope to keep it that way. **Thanks also to our audio engineer, Elliot Bancel!** *** On June 15th, I will be speaking with Eli Sparkman about his flash fiction (see the archive here for his stories.) On July 1st, I’ll be speaking with Erika Krouse about her story, “Jude,” first published in The Colorado Review and later in her phenomenal short story collection, Save Me, Stranger. Caitlin Horrocks will join me for the interview, and after we discuss Jude, we will talk about Caitlin’s story, “Better Not Tell You Now,” from swamp pink. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

My guest today is Desiree Cooper, the 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow. Cooper is a former attorney. She is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and much-beloved community activist. Originally from Virginia, she currently lives in Virginia. BUT she lived in Detroit for decades and will always be an honorary Detroiter! She is much beloved here, and I am honored to call her my friend. Today’s podcast includes four stories from her award-winning flash fiction collection, Know the Mother. Cooper’s fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in The New York Times, 2023 Flash Fiction America, The Best Small Fictions 2018, Callaloo, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Rumpus, River Teeth, and Best African American Fiction 2010, among other publications. This podcast was recorded at Book Suey, a fabulous cooperatively owned bookstore in Hamtramck, Michigan. My fellow moderator was member-owner Eli Sparkman. Eli is the Detroit Program and Volunteer Coordinator for 826michigan, a youth writing organization. He is a Teaching Artist for The Moth and a Memoir Reader for Split Lip Magazine. He graduated from Northern Michigan University’s MFA program, where he was a Flash Fiction Editor for Passages North. And many many thanks to Vincent James Perrone, who edited this audio podcast—the first one I’ve hosted with a live audience. Vincent is also a writer from Detroit. He’s the author of the poetry collection, Starving Romantic. He is currently based in Charlottesville, VA, where he is pursuing an MFA at the University of Virginia. I hope you enjoy this episode and if you do, please consider joining me as a yearly member of the Substack and/or helping to sponsor LDAS with a small donation. I would love to produce more content, but I need funds to do that. LDAS is entirely listener-supported, which allows us the freedom to create content of our choosing, and I hope to keep it that way. I appreciate your support. And now for the show! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone, I had so much fun discussing “Monitor World” with Cleo Qian. In case you missed my earlier posts, “Monitor World” was first published in Shenandoah in 2021, and is available ⁠here.⁠ Please read the story before listening to our discussion! Here’s a link to Lucia Berlin, another writer discussed during our interview. Next up on Let’s Deconstruct a Story, paid subscribers will be talking about Ethan Canin’s story, “The Palace Thief,” on Thursday, February 27th at 3 pm. Cleo Qian is a queer fiction writer and poet. She is the author of the award-winning story collection LET’S GO LET’S GO LET’S GO (Tin House, 2023) and a 2024 National Poetry Series finalist. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in nearly thirty outlets including, recently, ZYZZYVA, The Sun, and The Massachusetts Review. She has been awarded residencies at Casa Snowapple and the Sundress Academy for the Arts. She is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow and will be the 2025 Notre Dame Storozynski Writing Fellow. She has taught creative writing at the low-residency University of Southern Maine Stonecoast MFA program and the Tin House Summer Workshop. Please find Cleo Qian’s fantatic short story collection, Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go here on Bookshop. Cheers, Kelly PS: All of the podcasts are free, but if you would like to support the podcast, please consider subscribing to this Substack. You’ll receive bonus material—discussions! prompts! fun Zoom discussion! Yay! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone, “The Depletion Prompts” was first published in The New Yorker on October 25, 2021, and is available ⁠here.⁠ Here’s a link to two other stories discussed during our interview: Vladimir Nabokov's “Signs and Symbols.” Virginia Woolf’s “The Mark on the Wall.” Next month, I’ll be talking to Cleo Qian about her story, “Monitor World” first published in Shenandoah. Check out our discussion here on Substack! Cheers! Kelly PS: All of the podcasts are free, but if you would like to support the podcast, please consider subscribing to this Substack. You’ll receive bonus material—discussions! prompts! fun Zoom discussion! Yay! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Kelly Fordon talks to Brad Felver about his story "Orphans" which was first published in Subtropics and later chosen for The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners by Amor Towles. For more information, and to access a PDF of the story, please visit Let's Deconstruct a Story on Substack. Brad Felver is a fiction writer, essayist, and teacher of writing. His honors include two O. Henry Prizes, the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Zone 3 Fiction Prize, and a Fellowship to the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference among others. His debut collection of stories, The Dogs of Detroit, was a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award and was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by Library Journal and the Washington Independent Review of Books. His fiction and essays have appeared widely in magazines such as One Story, New England Review, Colorado Review, Story, Subtropics, and many others. He lives in Ohio with his wife and two sons. Podcast host Kelly Fordon’s latest book is a short story collection called I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), which was chosen as a Midwest Book Award finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her novel-in-stories, Garden for the Blind, (WSUP, 2015) is a 2016 Michigan Notable Book, a 2016 Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist in the short story category. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House, (Kattywompus Press, 2019) was chosen as an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist for poetry. Her second poetry collection, What Trammels the Heart, will be published in 2025. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone, This post is a video recording of my preparation for the interview with Brad next Wednesday. If you enjoy deconstructing stories, please feel free to join me for one of these prep sessions. I’ll be recording again on November 8th as I deconstruct David Means' story, “The Depletion Prompts.” Paid subscribers will have access to the Zoom link for David Means. Paid subscriptions also include the annotations and transcript from this recording today. My interview with Brad Felver about “Orphans” will be posted on November 1st. Cheers! Kelly PS: Please consider subscribing to Subtropics. Find out more about the author, Brad Felver. Thanks, Kelly This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone, We're a little late with this episode and it's all my fault! As I mentioned in my May 1st blog post (sign up here for updates), for the first time in four years, I conducted an amazing interview with Sheila Kohler and forgot to hit record on Zoom. Sheila--the most gracious person on Earth--forgave me for wasting 45 minutes of her time and agreed to re-record the episode. Thank you to Sheila for sitting down with me twice! After I recovered from the shame, I realized this might be a great boon for readers. I loved Cracks—the short story, the novel, and the movie! You will find links to all three below. It was fascinating to talk about Sheila's adaptation from short story to novel and to hear about the making of the movie and the decision to set the movie in England rather than South Africa. I hope you have had time to read the short story and the novel. What did you think of the movie? Let me know if you have any follow-up questions or comments. I would love to hear. Here are the links: Content Warning: Sexual Assault Cracks, the short story, by Sheila Kohler Cracks, The Novel by Sheila Kohler, available at Bookshop and Amazon. Cracks, The Movie In other news... I am taking a sabbatical from the podcast this summer to rest, regroup, and figure out what direction to take this show in in the future. I love doing it, but every now and then, I think it's a good idea to reevaluate and hone in on what has been valuable and what parts need to go. My first guest in the fall is Tim Tomlinson. Although I will be talking to him about one of his short stories, he has a new book coming out this month. It looks terrific! Check out kellyfordon.com for a picture of the cover and publication information from Nirala. Cheers! Kelly Sheila Kohler Bio: Sheila Kohler was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the younger of two girls. Upon matriculation at 17 from Saint Andrews, with a distinction in history (1958), she left the country for Europe. She lived for 15 years in Paris, where she married, did her undergraduate degree in literature at the Sorbonne, and a graduate degree in psychology at the Institut Catholique. After raising her three girls, she moved to the USA in 1981, and did an MFA in writing at Columbia. In the summer of 1987, her first published story, “The Mountain,” came out in “The Quarterly” and received an O.Henry prize and was published in the O.Henry Prize Stories of 1988. It also became the first chapter in her first novel, “The Perfect Place,” which was published by Knopf the next year. Knopf also published the first volume of her short stories, “Miracles in America,” in 1990. Kohler has won two O.Henry prizes for “The Mountain” 1988 and “The Transitional Object” 2008. She has been short-listed in the O.Henry Prize Stories for three years running: in 1999 for the story, “Africans”; in 2000 for “Casualty,” which had appeared in the Ontario Review; and 2001 for “Death in Rome,” a story which had appeared in The Antioch Review. “Casualty” was also included in the list of distinguished stories in The Best American Short Stories of 2001. In 1994 she published a second novel, “The House on R Street,” also with Knopf, about which Patrick McGrath said, in “The New York Times Book Review: ” “Sheila Kohler has achieved in this short novel a remarkable atmosphere, a fine delicate fusion of period, society and climate.” In 1998 she published a short story, “Africans,” in Story Magazine, which was chosen for the Best American Short Stories of 1999, was read and recorded at Symphony Space and at The American Repertory Theatre in Boston and was translated into Japanese. It was also included in her second collection of stories,” One Girl,” published by Helicon Nine, which won the Willa Cather Prize in 1998 judged by William Gass. In 1999 she published her third novel, “Cracks,” with Zoland, which received a starred review from Kirkus, was nominated for an Impac award in 2001, and was chosen one of the best...

Hi Everyone, I'm thrilled to host Cara Blue Adams today on the podcast. We talked about her stellar short story, "Vision," available from Joyland Magazine. I met Cara years ago at the Kenyon Writers Workshop (which I highly recommend by the way...) so it was great fun to reconnect on the podcast. Cara's work was recommended by Vincent Perrone, who is a part owner of the co-op bookstore, Book Suey, in Hamtramck, MI, so he joined us for the podcast as well. See his bio below, and please consider buying from Bookshop or even directly from Book Suey to support local bookstores! Enjoy the show and see you on April 1st! Kelly Cara Blue Adams is the author of the interlinked story collection You Never Get It Back (University of Iowa Press, 2021), named a New York Times Editors’ Choice and awarded the John Simmons Short Fiction Prize, judged by Brandon Taylor, who calls it “a modern classic.” The collection was shortlisted for the Mary McCarthy Prize and longlisted for the Story Prize. Over twenty-five of her stories appear in magazines like the Granta, The Kenyon Review, Epoch, American Short Fiction, and Electric Literature, and her nonfiction appears in Bookforum and The Believer. She has received the Kenyon Review Short Fiction Prize, the Missouri Review William Peden Prize, and the Meringoff Prize in Fiction, along with a 2018 Center for Fiction Emerging Writer fellowship and selection as a Pushcart Prize Notable. She has also received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the VCCA, the Lighthouse Works, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Cara earned a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Smith College and an MFA from the University of Arizona. Originally from Vermont, she has lived in Boston, Tucson, Montreal, Maine, South Carolina, and Baton Rouge. She is a former coeditor of The Southern Review. Currently, she is an associate professor in the MFA program at Temple University and lives in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley. Purchase Cara's book at Book Suey (link above) or Book Shop or Amazon. My co-host: Vincent James Perrone is the author of the poetry collection, Starving Romantic (11:11 Press, 2018), the microchap, Travelogue For The Dispossessed (Ghost City Press, 2021), and a contributor to the anthology, Collected Voices in the Expanded Field (11:11 Press, 2020). His recent and forthcoming work can be found in Pithead Chapel, New Flash Fiction Review, TIMBER, Storm Cellar, and A Common Well Journal. Vincent lives in Detroit where he teaches at Wayne State University. He reads for Conduit and is a member-owner of the co-op bookstore, Book Suey. #shortstories #creativewriting #joylandmag #kenyonreview #booksuey This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone, We had so much fun discussing Leigh Newman's short story, "An Extravaganza in Two Acts," available here from Electric Literature. You are going to learn so much about writing historical fiction. Leigh is a hoot! The conversation moved at a clip, so I have some discussion notes for you below. Also, check out the bonus question one of my earlier guests, award-winning author and Pulitzer-prize nominated journalist Desiree Cooper, sent to Leigh after we recorded the podcast. We have a new Let's Deconstruct a Story Facebook page and Instagram page. I'd love to see you there. Please like or follow it if you have a chance, and feel free to post questions, comments, or suggestions for future guests. Here's a link to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Audible. Next month, I'll be talking to Cara Blue Adams about her short story, "Vision," available here. You might consider buying Cara Blue Adams' book, You Never Get it Back, from Bookshop because my co-host for that podcast, Vincent Perrone, is part owner of Book Suey in Hamtramck, and all sales that roll through Bookshop next month will support his store. Happy reading! Kelly PS: Do you have trouble sleeping? If so, I highly recommend Nothing Much Happens, Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups by Kathryn Nicolai. Apparently, Kathryn also lives in Michigan. I don't know her, but I'm obsessed with these bedtime stories because they are designed to put you to sleep, and her voice is very soothing, but they are also wonderful. If you are in the mood for delightful, feel-good stories, check them out here. PSS: I have to give one television show a plug...I was listening to a podcast featuring a former classmate from Kenyon, and she suggested a Swedish show called The Restaurant. IT IS SO GOOD. It's winter here in Detroit, and bleak bleak bleak, so I figured, like me, you might want to light some candles and curl up with a good drama. This one is cutting into my reading time, which is the highest praise from me. Let me know what you think!! Leigh Newman: Leigh Newman's collection Nobody Gets Out Alive (Scribner) was long-listed for the National Book Award for Fiction and The Story Prize. Her stories have appeared in the Paris Review, Harper’s, Best American Short Stories 2020, Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023, Tin House, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, One Story and Electric Literature, and have been awarded a Pushcart prize and an American Society of Magazine Editors’ fiction prize. Still Points North (Dial Press), her memoir about growing up in Alaska, was a finalist for the National Book Critic Circle’s John Leonard prize. In 2020, she received the Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize for “humor, wit, and sprezzatura." Newman's essays and book reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Bookforum, Vogue, O The Oprah Magazine, and other magazines. When not writing, she looks after her two dogs, two kids, and one cat. Goals include: goats and more chickens. Podcast Host: Kelly Fordon’s latest short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her 2016 Michigan Notable Book, Garden for the Blind (WSUP), was a Michigan Notable Book, an INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. She is the author of three award-winning poetry chapbooks and has received a Best of the Net Award and Pushcart Prize nominations in three different genres. She teaches at Springfed Arts in Detroit. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone! Welcome to Let's Deconstruct a Story! This month I'm talking to Jai Chakrabarti about his wonderful story, "A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness." Please find the link to the story at www.kellyfordon.com, It's best to read it before tuning into the podcast. Next month, I'll be talking to Leigh Newman about her story, "An Extravaganza in Two Acts," also available via a link on my website. If you have any questions for Leigh, feel free to contact me, and I will pass them along. Also, I've switched over to Let's Deconstruct a Story accounts on both Facebook and Instagram. Please follow us here: Facebook Instagram #letsdeconstructastory Cheers! Kelly Jai Chakrabarti: O. Henry and Pushcart Prize winner Jai Chakrabarti is the author of the novel A Play for the End of the World (Knopf ’21), which earned him the National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction. The novel was also recognized as the Association of Jewish Libraries Honor Book, a finalist for the Rabindranath Tagore Prize, and long-listed for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Chakrabarti is also the author of the story collection A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness (Knopf), which was included in several end-of-year lists, including The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2023. His short fiction has been published in Best American Short Stories, Ploughshares, One Story, Electric Literature, A Public Space, Conjunctions, and elsewhere and performed on Selected Shorts by Symphony Space. Beyond fiction, Chakrabarti’s nonfiction has been widely published in journals such as The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Writer’s Digest, Berfrois, and LitHub. He was an Emerging Writer Fellow with A Public Space and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College. Despite his literary pursuits, Chakrabarti is also a trained computer scientist. Born in Kolkata, India, he currently lives in New York with his family and is a faculty member at Bennington Writing Seminars. Your Host: Kelly Fordon’s latest short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her 2016 Michigan Notable Book, Garden for the Blind (WSUP), was a Michigan Notable Book, an INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. She is the author of three award-winning poetry chapbooks and has received a Best of the Net Award and Pushcart Prize nominations in three different genres. She teaches at Springfed Arts in Detroit and online, where she runs a fiction podcast called “Let’s Deconstruct a Story.” http://www.kellyfordon.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone! Welcome to Let's Deconstruct a Story! This month I'm talking to Katherine Vaz about her wonderful story, "Our Lady of the Artichokes." Please read the story (available at www.kellyfordon.com/blog) before tuning into the podcast. Also, please check out the link to her fantastic new novel Above the Salt which I read and adored. Sometimes I wish this was also a podcast about novels, but we do offer a brief preview of the book during our discussion. Purchase options are available below. Next month I'll be talking to Jai Chakrabarti about his story, "A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness," also available via link on my website. If you have any questions for Jai, feel free to contact me and I will pass them along. Have a wonderful holiday season. I'll be reaching out to my subscribers (here) in two weeks with some end-of-the-year recommendations and then we'll see you on January 1st for Jai Chakrabarti. Cheers! Kelly P.S. You can purchase Katherine Vaz's amazing new book here on Bookshop or here on Amazon. Upcoming Class: I'm offering a "Let's Deconstruct a Story" workshop in January. More details here. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe

Hi Everyone, I had the best conversation with Bonnie Jo Campbell. Can't wait to share it with you! Please read "Boar Taint" in The Kenyon Review before you listen, or our discussion won't make a lick of sense. This episode is available on Apple, Spotify, Audible or anywhere you get your podcasts. If you would like a transcript, please get in touch with me via the contact form on my website, www.kellyfordon.com. Next month, I will be talking to Katherine Vaz. See you then! Kelly PS: Looking for a great audio engineer? Contact Elliot Bancel at elliotbancel@gmail.com. Bio: Bonnie Jo Campbell is the author of the novels Once Upon a River, a National Bestseller, and Q Road. Her critically acclaimed short fiction collections include American Salvage, which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Women and Other Animals, which won the AWP Prize for Short Fiction; and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters. She was a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. Her novel, Once Upon a River, was adapted into a full length feature film and released to international critical acclaim in 2020. Her forthcoming novel The Waters (January 9, 2023) will be released by W.W. Norton; “with a ‘ruthless and precise eye for the details of the physical world’ (New York Times Book Review), Bonnie Jo Campbell presents an elegant antidote to the dark side of masculinity, celebrating the resilience of nature and the brutality and sweetness of rural life.” Her story collection American Salvage, a National Book Award Finalist, was heralded by The Guardian as a top 10 rural noir novel of all time. Please purchase Bonnie Jo Campbell's books through⁠ Bookshop⁠, if possible, or Amazon. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsdeconstructastory.substack.com/subscribe