The Peak

Associate editor Moriah Katz and author Theresa Sylvester discuss the creative process behind Sylvester’s short story, “Atonement,” featured in volume 73.1. of Shenandoah. Read “Atonement” here. Who are you and how did you find your way to writing? I’m a Lusaka girl. I was raised in a suburb called Olympia Park and […]

Morgan Hamill, author of After and somewhere to rest, featured in Volume 73.1 of Shenandoah, discusses her writing process, inspirations, and upcoming work in a conversation with Shenandoah intern Ryan Doty. Ryan: I appreciate you taking the time to write back and forth with me! The first few questions I had concerned your […]

Sara Marchant, author of “Haunted” in Volume 70.2 of Shenandoah, published her debut full-length novel, Becoming Delilah, on August 15, 2023. Here, she speaks with nonfiction editor DW McKinney about the book and writing about early girlhood and womanhood. What was your inspiration for Becoming Delilah? It’s based on my 2018 novella […]

Athena Dixon, author of the nonfiction essay “Distillation,” featured in Volume 70.2 of Shenandoah, discusses horror video games as writing inspiration, finding curiosity in life, and reexamining loneliness during her experience writing The Loneliness Files, in the essay below. Read “Distillation” here. How do you write a book about loneliness when all the world is at […]

In an interview with student interns Jed Heald and Eli Hirshberg, Allison Lee candidly explores her upbringing’s literary influence, the art of revision as an extension of creativity, and the profound personal story behind her flash non-fiction piece Song of the Sandia Mountains. E: To start, we wanted to ask about your upbringing […]

Huge congratulations to Majda Gama for winning Shenandoah’s Graybeal-Gowen Prize this year for her poem “In Great Aunt Noor’s Salon”! Judge Anna Maria Hong said, “I’m enthralled by this poem’s movements recollecting recent wars and their reverberations through our current catastrophes, the collateral and casual destructions of empire, as the poet deftly traverses time and place, melding […]

A Chance to Play Robert James Russell, author of the comic “How to Make a Full English” from volume 73.1, speaks with editor DW McKinney about losing and finding his way back to comics. For those unfamiliar, what is an English breakfast? An English Breakfast is traditionally like bacon, […]

Willie Lin discusses the process of writing and putting together her book, Conversation Among Stones, which was published in November 2023. Her piece, “Object Lesson,” was featured in Volume 68.2 of Shenandoah. Read “Object Lesson” here. Can you tell me the story of this book: When did you start working on it? What were some […]

Tracy Sierra, author of “The Burr” from Volume 73.1, talks about new motherhood, scary stories, and her debut novel, Nightwatching.