Interviews

"From the Workshop to War": An Interview with Janine di Giovanni

Tue, 01/31/2017 - 1:43pm

Christopher Merrill

When I was reporting on the war in Bosnia, I always read the dispatches of John Burns, Roger Cohen, and Janine di Giovanni, who seemed to me to understand not only the political and military dimension of the unfolding tragedy, but also its human consequences. Each in their own way practiced the working methods of a photographer friend who told me she liked to “get into people’s beer,” that is, to spend time with those she wished to portray. What resulted were intimate photographs of people in extremis; showing their human faces.

Meet the Artist: An Interview with Shaun Tan

Wed, 12/07/2016 - 10:43am

Robyn Henderson

Shaun Tan is a children’s book author and illustrator whose work includes The Arrival, Tales from Outer Suburbia, and The Red Tree, among others. Known for his detailed, fantastical drawings and imaginative worlds, Tan has won awards for his fiction, including a Hugo Award and an Academy Award for the short film adaption of his book, The Lost Thing. The Iowa Review published an excerpt of his recent work, The Singing Bones, a collection of sculptures based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, in the Fall 2015 issue. Tan currently resides in Melbourne, Australia, and recently answered some questions via e-mail about his work and process.

TIR: How did you decide which stories you wanted to sculpt for The Singing Bones?

Meet the Author: An Interview with Sarah Coates

Thu, 10/27/2016 - 12:20pm

Hannah Soyer

Sarah Coates has led an intriguing life so far. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, Coates has since had 75 pounds of wood fall on her head, worked at a toilet factory, been hit by a car, fallen in love, worked as a grants manager at a public foundation, did some "art things," and fallen in love. We recently caught up with Coates to talk about the inspiration for her story "Bang!", which is forthcoming in The Iowa Review's winter issue.

TIR: Your story "Bang!" is going to be in our upcoming issues. What would you say inspired this story?

Interview with Katherine Schifani, author of "Pistol Whip"

Mon, 10/17/2016 - 2:21pm

In March 2015, TIR intern Erin Marshall interviewed Kate Schifani, whose essay "Pistol Whip" won our 2014 Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans.

EM: Could you discuss why you decided to write about your military experiences?

KS: I’ve always been writing ever since I was a little kid. It started when I was still there [in Iraq], and it was kind of a way to send things out to my friends and family to let them know I was still alive. I would just summarize what was going on. Halfway through my deployment, I started getting e-mails from friends of friends. When I got back, I started to think more seriously about what I was trying to do with writing.

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